The brakes have been applied to the 2011 SIT Zero Fees Milford Mountain Classic cycle race.
Chairman Don McFarlane confirmed today the inaugural event, scheduled to take place on January 12, 2011, was reluctantly postponed by the management committee following a meeting in Te Anau on Friday (December 10).
"While we have had fantastic support from our major sponsors, key stakeholders and the wider Te Anau community, we have struggled to get the commitment of enough riders to be confident that we would have a viable race to run in January," he said.
"We believe it is our over-riding responsibility to ensure we deliver a significant event in the inaugural year."
The time taken to "build" the event, including securing sponsorship, community consultation and working through logistics regarding racing on the highway course between Milford Sound and Te Anau, had impacted on entries.
"The consequences were the opening of entries in October now seems to have been too late to gain the attention of our cyclists, many of whom had made alternative arrangements over the holiday period," Mr McFarlane said.
The committee was confident the event would be staged at a later date and had the advantage of all operational aspects being in place.
"Feedback has been universally positive to the concept of the Milford Mountain Classic event from all sectors of the community and the cycling fraternity," he said.
"Everyone's telling us it's a fantastic idea and this committee continues to have confidence in our ability to produce a dynamic event in 2012 that is both successful and enduring."
A re-launch in March 2011 was planned which would give riders ample time to commit to a 2012 fixture.
