In an email sent to students, parents, and other members of the NICA community in Utah, the Board of Director’s of the Utah High School Cycling League announced that the 2020 season would proceed as scheduled.
The text of the email is as follows:
Dear Utah High School Cycling League Community,
With much thought and consideration, the Board of Directors and league staff decided to continue the 2020 Race Season as scheduled. The decision to begin racing was not taken lightly. We will conduct our races with strict adherence to the restrictions and guidelines published by the Utah Department of Health and under the requirements and permission of county health departments.
An important part of the decision to have a race season is based on strengthening the physical and emotional health of our student-athletes. Our races provide a positive environment that encourages and challenges each of our riders. The benefits of being outside, doing physical activity, learning to be a team member, and competing, even against oneself, is important to youth development.
This will not be a normal race season. We understand the risks involved by racing during the current pandemic. We are all in this together, but it is up to each individual to follow the COVID-19 precautions as specified by the league. Masks must be worn, and all other stated precautions must be complied with at our events. We will not hesitate to sanction anyone who chooses to do otherwise at our permitted venues. Head coaches will also have the latitude to sanction team members if the coach feels their behavior jeopardizes the team and the ability to hold practices and attend races. We will continually monitor the critical coronavirus metrics across the state and the communities where we race. We reserve the right to cancel the race season at any time if we believe we cannot conduct races safely.
The Utah League is proud to be the largest NICA league and as such we are a leader in the national mountain biking community. We need to set the example. It is going to take extra work and vigilance by our whole community this year to provide a meaningful race season for our wonderful student athletes.
Sincerely,
Jim Wedge
President, Board of Directors
Dallen Atack
League Director
The league also posted policies for how they plan to mitigate the continued spread of COVID-19.
I love that you guys are racing. We are in colorado and all racing was cancelled. I think it’s a hard decision but for the emotional health of the kids this year I think it’s more important to get together and be careful. Kudos to you. Wish we lived in Utah right now
can I ask how many riders there are at races?