Sri Lanka Race Postponed by Election

Rob / 12.02.2004

There are some things you can’t account for when planning a race, and a snap General Election is one of them, as the organisers of The Sri Lanka Adventure Quest have just found out.

Everything was looking good, the island promised to be an amazing place to hold the first race, planned for March 31st to April 3rd, there was $50,000 US dollars prize money in place and some of the world’s top teams had entered, including both Nike ACG and Seagate. Then came the announcement that a General Election would take place during the race, and in a country that has had political unrest in recent years a postponement was unavoidable.

Barry Siff of race planners, MountainQuest Adventures made the following statement. “This past weekend, the President of Sri Lanka dissolved Parliament and has scheduled a new general election for April 2. This would be Day 3 of the Sri Lanka Adventure Quest. As a result of this major occurrence within the country, and the focus of the Government and citizenship within Sri Lanka, we must announce the postponement of the Sri Lanka Adventure Quest.”

He continued; “Please be assured that Sri Lanka remains an amazing setting for a truly challenging and memorable Adventure Race; however, the timing right now is just not right.”

Subsequently it was announced on the MountainQuest Adventures website that a new date will be announced on May 1st, though the race site hasn’t yet been updated.