News - Mon 8th Jun 2020 - 2020 event postponed to September 2021 - Salomon Skyline Scotland

2020 event postponed to September 2021

8th Jun 2020

Despite our very best efforts and mitigation planning, we no longer believe it is feasible to go ahead with Salomon Skyline Scotland® this September, and we are postponing the event until the 18-19th September 2021*. 

 

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation, resulting in an extremely challenging and uncertain environment for many business and individuals. Despite our very best efforts, we no longer believe it is feasible to go ahead with this event. We would like to thank all our participants for their patience and trust as we have worked with the various event stakeholders to come to this decision. It has not been easy.

We wanted to communicate this news as early as possible to allow everyone to focus on what’s important right now, avoid any further uncertainty and minimise our participants costs. We are mindful of the impact this will have on our community of participants, suppliers, freelancers, event volunteers and people and businesses of Kinlochleven and surrounding areas.

We are also making other cancellations and postponements to our remaining 2020 calendar of events and will not be organising any further events this year. We recognise that this is a very demanding time for many people and businesses, and the events industry among many others is going to be massively impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak.

We will be contacting all participants directly by email to clearly lay out their options. This will be a choice between a transfer to the 2021 edition, a credit, a charitable donation or refund.

 

Salomon Ring of Steall - First Female - Judith Wyder - Finish Line 4 - Copyright No Limits Photography

Salomon Skyline Scotland has established itself as an iconic bucket list weekend on the global stage of mountain running. That’s not surprising when you consider the incredible playground that the Scottish Highlands offer, and year after year 100% of participants state in post event survey that intend to come again ©No Limits Photography

 

We would now like to take the opportunity to explain in more detail the key reasons why we have decided to postpone Salomon Skyline Scotland 2020®:

 

Health and Safety
The health and safety of everyone involved with Salomon Skyline Scotland® trumps all other considerations and quite simply, we believe the only responsible decision at this point in time is to cancel the event. Our health and safety considerations include not just the participant and event team but also the rural host communities that will inevitably interact with the event. As it stands today, the Covid-19 public health restrictions would prevent an event like the Salomon Skyline Scotland® from taking place. There is currently no clear road map for unlocking these restrictions.

Travel Restrictions
On a practical level there are still travel restrictions within the UK, within Europe and mandatory quarantine for inbound travellers to the UK. If we were to go ahead there would be a large number of people who currently would be unable to attend through no fault of their own. Salomon Skyline Scotland®attracts people from across the UK, Europe and the World each year. At this point in time, we do not believe it is responsible to encourage unnecessary travel and intermingling of people. Additionally, we do not believe it is reasonable to expect participants to finalise their travel arrangements (incurring more costs), when the event remains at the mercy of international government policies focused on reducing the spread of the pandemic.

Spirit of the Event
Salomon Skyline Scotland® is an international festival of mountain running. It is an exciting, vibrant and stimulating event to attend where you can meet and enjoy the company of your running friends. The very sociable environment is a strong part of the brilliant overall event experience. Clearly the evolving situation with Covid-19 would overshadow this key element of the event. Looking forward to 2021, we would hope that there is a greater possibility that the event could be run in its usual format allowing for a fun and sociable atmopshere. However, we will of course always take into account any government guidelines if some form of social distancing for events is still required in 2021.

Risk Minimisation
Whilst we recognise that it might be possible to organise an event later this year, it would almost certainly only be possible with yet unknown Covid-19 mitigation regulations and rules in place. Whilst these would certainly dampen the atmosphere of the event, they would also add unknown compliance costs. Combined with the normal costs relating to the event, the risk that the Covid-19 restrictions may still not allow the event to take place at all, the risk that many participants may be unwilling or prevented from travelling to the event, we risk making a terrible commercial situation even worse by simply hoping we can make the event work. Therefore, the most prudent course of action is one of risk minimisation so that we can ensure Ourea Events is still in business next year.

 

As ever, thanks for placing your trust in us, and we really hope to see you at the 2021 Salomon Skyline Scotland® on the 18-19th September 2021*.

 

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"it's an incredible event in the perfect location. I went for the first time last year, I booked my race entry for this year as soon as they went live and it's quickly becoming my favourite weekend of the year"
©No Limits Photography

 

*this will very likely be the postponed event date, but is ultimately to be confirmed

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