Manawatu Standard

More events canned by Covid

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The Palmerston North Tough Guy and Gal Challenge has been canned because of crowd restrictio­ns.

Level 2 restrictio­ns limit ticketed events to 100 people, as long as there is one-metre physical distancing, contact tracing and good hygiene procedures.

It is not yet clear to what extent that would loosen under level 1 and how long restrictio­ns will last.

An Events Promotions spokeswoma­n said it decided to cancel the Palmerston North Tough Guy and Gal Challenge scheduled for August 1.

The junior challenge planned for July 30 and 31 has been postponed until October 19.

‘‘We fear that with the event being only a couple of months away it has the potential to be hugely impacted by the restrictio­ns and we will be unable to run the event to the high standard we set ourselves— that’s if we could operate at all.’’

She said the firm made the decision to cancel as early as possible. ‘‘The last thing we want to do is lead competitor­s on and cancel-postpone only a couple of weeks out from the event.’’

The scenic railway at Palmerston North’s Victoria Esplanade will also not return during alert level 2, due to difficulti­es with social distancing and elderly volunteers.

Railway society president Grant Taylor said it was too difficult to sit people one metre apart and clipping people’s train tickets also posed difficulti­es.

‘‘We are really playing it safe because of the age of our volunteers. Most, if not all, are over 60 and a decent percentage are over 70.’’

Taylor said the railway did not know when the train would be up and running again, and would wait and see what level 1 restrictio­ns looked like.

It had to cancel its Easter bunny train that usually gave rides to 3700 passengers in four days, and its Mother’s Day train that would host 500-800 people on the day.

Its next big event was the Halloween train in October and Taylor was expecting business as usual by then.

The Lions Book Sale in Dannevirke is determined to go ahead for its 31st year.

Book sale spokeswoma­n Barbara Ferguson said it was planned for July 22, but if the alert level rose operations would cease.

She said there would be fewer tables, disposable gloves provided at the door and social distancing would be observed with floor markers.

Its usual bumper raffle would go ahead, but proceeding­s were eftpos only.

Ferguson said numbers of people would be monitored and Lions members would be around to help with carrying books.

‘‘Each year we have been amazed despite all the electronic devices people still want to hold a book in their hands and our sales have increased with every year.’’

 ??  ?? The Junior Tough Guy and Gal challenge at Linton Military Camp is postponed until October, but the adults’ challenge is cancelled. Left, The scenic railway at the Victoria Esplanade will not return during alert level 2.
The Junior Tough Guy and Gal challenge at Linton Military Camp is postponed until October, but the adults’ challenge is cancelled. Left, The scenic railway at the Victoria Esplanade will not return during alert level 2.
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