Copy of letter to Dorset Council

As a resident of Dorchester classed by the Government as “a vulnerable person” and having been shielding and in isolation it dismayed me to receive through my door a leaflet advertising the Ironman event to be held in Weymouth in September.

Now we are all really hopeful and clinging, for our sanity, to the belief that Covid-19 will be, if not gone then definitely on the wain by September/October time and I do realise that we are fortunate to live in a part of the country with one of the lowest rates of infection in the country.

But, and it’s a big BUT, if we allow thousands of visitors into not only the county but one particular area, namely Weymouth, then surely the risk of cross infection and the rise of the infection rate across the area surely cannot be dismissed as being not as important as staging a race.

I quote from the website “IRONMAN 70.3 Weymouth will bring thousands of athletes to England’s South Coast in September for the ultimate one-day test of endurance.”

Thousands of athletes and presumably a few more thousand support staff and vehicles not allowing for fans and onlookers. Nothing can realistically be done to ensure these persons are all “safe” and free from the virus which will put all other people in the area at risk as well as the major disruption to traffic.

I do not suppose for a minute that this missive will go any way at all towards getting the event cancelled or at least postponed until this pandemic is over. Again, looking at the website many of their other events have been either cancelled or postponed so why not Weymouth?

It’s difficult enough coping with the summer influx of visitors to Dorset ordinarily let alone in these times.

I intend to try and drum up all the support I can to try and get this thing postponed at least.

Graham M Wilson

High Street

Fordington

Dorchester