Another popular event on Bermuda Day, the Sinclair Packwood Memorial Cycle Race, is under threat of being cancelled again.

New restrictions by the health department forced the postponement of mountain bike Marathon Cross-Country Race at Ferry Reach yesterday. That followed last weekend’s postponement of the KPMG Team Trial-Trial along North Shore, an event that attracted 106 participants.

Peter Dunne, the president of the Bermuda Bicycle Association, fears the Sinclair Packwood race could go the same way. “I don’t have a lot of hope at the moment,” Dunne said.

“The bike race is intended to be a part of a big community day. We can have a bike race any day of the week, but the Bermuda Day is more special than any other race.

“It’s the shortest race, but it’s a beautiful day to be a part of the community, and what makes it so amazing is that along the route and into Hamilton to the finish there are thousands of people.

“The event is easy. It’s the things that we are used to having that we didn’t have to do any work for — closing Hamilton, getting the police in place, paying for the police, getting the buses to reroute. All those things were largely done on the back of the Community and Cultural Affairs office.”

Dunne wonders what will be left of the holiday after the Bermuda Day Parade was cancelled by the health department last week.

“The parade is the backbone of the logistics of the day, so if you saw the police orders on the day they are almost all dedicated to the time during the parade,” he said. “But the marathon, our bike race as well as the youth race all benefit from that.

“If there is no parade, are they going to close down Front Street, Queen Street, Church Street and North Street, the whole race route?”

The mountain bike national championships, set for Ferry Reach on April 11, are also doubtful, in the wake of a successful mountain bike series at various parks.

“We’re in the process of applying for permission to hold that event,” Dunne said. “Sunday’s race has already been postponed, but after that everything on the calendar is up in the air.

“My effort [this week] is to talk to the authorities in the health department to explain how some of our events like the time-trial would be compliant with the maximum of ten people.”