Further to recent messages on the Raid Australia Facebook page, the committee has deliberated and concluded that there are too many impediments and unresolved issues for us to run the Raid in August 2021. These include:
- Australian Government restrictions on anyone entering Australia, meaning that
they will have to self-isolate for 14 days, - The possibility of State Governments closing their borders again to travel from
other states, - The uncertainty as to the rollout times for vaccines and the uncertainty as to how
effective they will be at preventing the spread of the virus, - The need to give overseas Raiders plenty of notice to plan their trip to Australia.
The latest information from the Australian Government has indicated that things will not be back to normal until some time in 2022. Therefore it seems impossible for us to run the Raid in 2021.
It has been decided to postpone Raid Australia 2020 for one more year, to August 2022, with a likely start date of 1 August 2022.
Raiders who have registered already will receive an email giving them the opportunity to either have their entry money refunded, or to leave it in the Raid account to preserve their place for the postponed Raid in 2022. Maximum numbers have not yet been reached, so there is still some space for new Raiders to join.
We regret to have to make this decision, but we feel there is no other option, under the current circumstances. It is proposed to still call this raid, Raid Australia 2020, even though it will be run in 2022. The route and itinerary are expected to remain the same.
Cheers,
Chris Bennet, Raid Leader for 2020
Author: Chris Bennet
Raid Leader for Raid 2020