Etape is moved to September
The Etape Caledonia closed road cycle race is being postponed until September.
Organisers confirmed this week that the Perthshire race, due to take place on Sunday, May 16, has been moved because its usual Pitlochry start and finish point, a `Riders Village’ at the Atholl Road car park, will be needed as access and parking for a vaccination centre.
They gave assurances that everyone already expecting to be in the race will be automatically deferred into the Sunday, September 19 event for free along with any additional purchases, such as iTAB or parking.
The move caught much of the hospitality industry in the region off guard, as competitors rushed to change bookings.
In a letter to those already entered for this May, Etape Caledonia said the vaccination centre would be in operation for at least three months, but also said holding the event later in the year made them “much more confident” that they could provide the “full event experience”.
Hotels and caravan parks near the route reported multiple calls on Monday when Etape announced to those already signed up for the cycle race that the event had been moved.
And they also expressed hope the race would go ahead, potentially paving the way for other events to follow.
Ian Hay at Faskally Caravan Park said he got wind of the change only because his nephew had entered the Etape and was one of the first to be contacted.
“I’m glad it is seemingly going ahead later in the year, that’s better than it being called off,” said Ian.
“But it would have been nice if the organisers had let us know that we would be dealing with big numbers of people wanting to move their booking to the autumn, we could have been better prepared.”
Ian explained that to deal with the existing bookings that now had to shift, the dates in September were closed off to new customers online.
At Milton of Fonab Caravan Park, owner Jill Scougall also had to quickly get on top of the new situation.
Jill said: “It took all of us accommodation providers/ shops/residents in Pitlochry totally by surprise when the date for Etape was changed.
“It would have been great if we and the town had maybe had a bit of a heads up to enable us to have staff available to assist with the demand.
“Many of our customers had originally booked for May 2020 then moved to May 2021 and are now having to move to September 2021.
“We are hopeful that if Etape is proceeding this year then the Highland Games, golf events, street party and the Enchanted Forest will be able to also.
“With all of these events being outdoors, hopefully with a few minor alterations to the set up and layout, they can go ahead.”
Regarding the rest of the holiday season, Jill told the PA uncertainty was having a negative effect: “We were still getting bookings coming trickling in but that stopped last week after the announcement `don’t plan to holiday abroad or at home [at Easter].’
“I am in the process of collating an email to send out to our March arrivals that it is highly unlikely that we will be open as planned and offering to hopefully transfer their bookings to alternative dates later in the season.”