THE CALL should offer relief and a boost in Ballarat pride.
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Our city secured one of the state's first major events, certainly the first major regional event, in a steady move towards COVID-normal.
And the event is not quite normal. Well, not quite how we know it.
AusCycling Road National Championships' February fixture creates a whole new game of sorts for Ballarat.
The program itself largely follows what we had last January, but success in the February date will still strongly rely on us, the community, in putting on a good show.
There are the uncontrollables. Australia's top elites have little to entice them back to Buninyong from overseas bases with the world-class Tour Down Under, Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and top national Sun Tour all chopped amid the pandemic.
There are the opportunities. Victorian criterium championships will be moved on to the national Sturt Street course to lead into the Australian titles. Ballarat-Sebastopol Cycling Club has hosted the state criterium title in Victoria Park the past two years but this move aims to boost nationals interest.
The Bay Crits are also highly touted for a return and the Melbourne to Warrmabool is also on the cards to both strengthen a domestic summer of cycling and RoadNats potential.
And there are the unknowns. Like February.
It was interesting some Buninyong businesses welcomed the RoadNats move to February. Business owners cited the need for down time after New Year and the chance to tap into an added buzz with children back at school and adults back at work.
This seems the perpetual sticking point.
RoadNats by nature attracts tourism in a time when many people tend to have time off work. Tourists add life to the city in a time when most locals clear out to the beach.
Tourists want to explore and there is no denying the disappointment in some closed shop-fronts when they rock up on course.
If there are to be less top elites - and there are reports some have already flagged they would not return - then there is likely to be less tourists in town, particularly if they are back in work-school mode, too.
Ballarat, now more than ever, we need to show up.
There is no room to get complacent about RoadNats. This columnist spouts this every summer, but really this is a more coveted event than many Ballaratians might realise - especially with a nation of metropolitan and regional hubs in push for pandemic economic recovery.
For Ballarat to secure a major event like RoadNats when the state is yet to start opening up in its entirety is a great coup.
Even adult racing in Victoria remains barred, being deemed a contact sport.
A February fixture, with time for athletes and the state to properly prepare, will be important. We need to ensure it counts.
Cycling, along with running and walking, has been a mainstay to help us get through lockdowns this year.
Now we need to channel that reignited inspiration and keep peddling RoadNats right through to February.
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