Australian four-cross series round 4 postponed

Ongoing bad weather has forced the organisers of round 4 of the Australian National Mountain Cross Series - originally scheduled for this weekend in Armidale, NSW - to postpone the event until early next year.

Armidale's race director, Dave Rugendyke, said although the race track is in good condition, due to the unusually high amounts of rainfall in the area over the past month, the rain soaked event site surrounding the four-cross course has unfortunately suffered badly.

Glen Jacobs from MV Australia flew into Armidale late yesterday afternoon for an urgent inspection, and recommended the event be postponed to a later date. "With event vehicles, trucks, lighting towers and work crews driving across the course and surrounding grasslands setting up the infrastructure for a major event, the site will become unusable," Jacobs said. MTBA chief executive officer, Tony Scott has agreed that this seems the best option for Armidale as well as the riders.

Rugendyke and Jacobs said they regretted the decision, but would use the time before the rescheduled event to improve the track. "Now that we have some extra time available to us, we can use this window to make some exiting new additions to the famous Armidale site," Jacobs said.

The new date will be announced in the coming week.