2026 South West Road Races Cancelled :
The Athea Club have announced via Social Media that the 2026 South West Road Races are cancelled :
It is with absolutely broken hearts that we have to announce that the South West Road Races are cancelled.
Everything was ready to go, but unfortunately our track inspection did not go to plan. While the general areas and corners were completed, issues remain on the back road and there is simply not enough time to carry out the necessary repairs.
We cannot put into words the turmoil and devastation within our club right now. We have invested an enormous amount of time, work and money into making this event happen, and unfortunately this situation was completely out of our hands.
All tickets sold will be refunded. We would respectfully ask everyone to please give us a little time to process these refunds, as they will have to be dealt with individually. We promise we will work through everyone.
We would also ask all sponsors, traders and anyone who has made payments directly to the club to please contact us at [email protected] so we can begin arranging repayments.
Our hearts are genuinely broken. The financial loss from this cancellation is devastating. We put everything we had into getting these races to the start line, and to lose it at this stage is extremely difficult to comprehend.
To every sponsor, trader, competitor, volunteer, marshal, supporter and spectator who stood behind the South West Road Races, we are truly sorry.
Please bear with us while we work through the refunds and repayments. We will get back to everyone as quickly as we possibly can.
The club will issue a further more detailed statement later today outlining the issues which it feels need to be addressed in order to prevent a similar situation occuring in the future.
South West Road Races
Following the news the Club released a full detailed statement :
Resignation of the Public Relations Officer :
After all that it didn’t stop there. The Public Relations Officer then announced their resignation on Facebook :
‘Resignation as PRO South West Road Races Athea
Effective immediately, I resign as Public Relations Officer of South West Road Races Athea.
And before the rumour mill gets the opportunity to invent its own version of why, I will make my reasons perfectly clear myself.
I have put up with enough.
For months I have tolerated the bitching, backstabbing, whispering, ridicule, undermining and what I can only describe as a constant attempt by certain people to sabotage both individuals and the work being done within this club.
I kept my mouth shut.
Not because I didn’t know what was going on.
Not because I didn’t know what was being said about me.
And certainly not because I was afraid to answer it.
I kept my mouth shut because every time I was tempted to respond, I reminded myself that I was there to do a job and that the success of South West Road Races Athea was more important than getting involved in childish bullshit.
Well, that courtesy ends today.
I have been growled at, ridiculed, talked about and apparently discussed as far away as Cartagena by people who seemingly had nothing better to occupy themselves with. The irony is that some of the loudest experts would hardly have a hand to wipe their own arses with, but by Christ they’d give you a ten-point presentation on how you should wipe yours.
There is no shortage of experts when somebody else is doing the work.
The sabotage was apparent to me from day one.
The hatred some people within this club have towards certain other members is honestly pathetic. Grown adults carrying grudges, taking sides, stirring shit and behaving like children in a schoolyard while supposedly trying to run and promote a road race.
I saw it.
I heard it.
I knew about far more than people realised.
And time after time, I ignored it for the good of the club.
That was my mistake.
Some people apparently interpreted my silence as weakness. Let me correct that misunderstanding now: I was silent because I had better things to do.
While others were talking, I was working.
While others were criticising, I was working.
While others were deciding who they hated this particular week, I was working.
While others apparently had enough spare time to discuss me at home and abroad, I was working.
I gave this club hour after hour after hour of my time. My own business took a back seat on more occasions than it ever should have because I believed in what we were trying to accomplish.
I came into South West Road Races Athea for one reason: to drag its public presence into the 21st century and breathe some life back into it.
I believe I did exactly that.
I didn’t join for a title.
I didn’t need a committee position to make myself feel important.
I joined because I knew what I could bring to the table, and I brought it.
The publicity, promotion, momentum, communication and profile didn’t magically appear. Somebody had to sit down and do the work.
That somebody was very often me.
Did I get everything right? Of course not.
Could somebody else have done things differently? Absolutely.
Then they should have stepped forward and fucking done it.
Because there is something particularly irritating about being lectured by people who contribute a fraction of the effort but somehow possess twice the opinions.
If you don’t like how somebody does a voluntary job, there is a remarkably simple solution:
Take the job yourself.
Put your own business aside.
Give up your own evenings.
Answer the messages.
Make the calls.
Deal with the public.
Chase what needs chasing.
Promote the event.
Take the criticism.
Sort out the problems.
And then, when you’ve finished all of that, listen to people who did none of it explain everything you supposedly did wrong.
Then come back and tell me how easy it is.
I have thick skin. Anyone who knows me knows that. I can take criticism and I have absolutely no problem being challenged.
But there is a difference between criticism and abuse.
There is a difference between disagreement and disrespect.
And there is a massive difference between working together for the benefit of a club and deliberately trying to undermine the people actually doing the work.
I will not tolerate the latter anymore.
I have spent months biting my tongue for the sake of South West Road Races Athea. I overlooked comments. I overlooked attitudes. I overlooked behaviour that I would never tolerate in my own business or anywhere else in my life.
Enough is enough.
The club can now be brought into the 22nd century by all the experts who apparently knew better from the beginning.
The floor is yours.
The keyboard is yours.
The phone is yours.
The workload is yours.
And, most importantly, the excuses are yours.
I genuinely wish the decent people involved with South West Road Races Athea every success. There are good people involved, people who worked, helped, supported and actually wanted to see something positive happen. They know who they are, and they have my respect and my thanks.
As for the rest?
You wanted something to talk about.
Now you have it.
I leave knowing exactly what I contributed. I know the hours I worked, the sacrifices I made and the results I produced. I don’t need a committee meeting, a WhatsApp group or the opinion of somebody sitting on the sidelines to validate any of it.
The work is there for everyone to see.
So after months of turning the other cheek for the benefit of the club, I am finally doing something for my own benefit.
I’m done.
Effective immediately, I am no longer Public Relations Officer of South West Road Races Athea.
To whoever takes over
Best of luck.
Something tells me you’re going to need it.’
Resignation of the Club President :
With the Public Relations Officer stepping aside the President of the Club then announced their resignation :
‘Following a huge amount of disgusting comments aimed personally at me following the release of the open and honest statement by our club yesterday evening, I have made the decision to resign as President of South West Road Races Athea, with immediate effect.
After everything that has come to light over the last few months, and especially what has been said publicly on social media over the last few days, I have had enough.
I know there are people who did not like me or agree with how I chose to run things. That is fine. There is no obligation on anyone to like me or agree with the decisions I made but no person should be subjected to the poison and hatred that I have had to experience in the past 12 hours.
I am a family man who lives in a small tight community. My children and my wife may now be subjected to different treatment due to these vile comments made about me.
It is despicable how anyone could think that it is acceptable to treat another person with this level of hatred over a motorcycle race.
To the people making these comments, and, to those who like or laugh at them. You are nothing more than cowards hiding behind false profiles and names.
I really hope that you receive the level of self gratification from them that you obviously expect. You should all hang your heads in shame.
The level of hatred being shown towards me for volunteering to enhance the community in my own time and at my own expense is frightening.
I have no issue with constructive criticism and I have no issue with people disagreeing with me.
But my family should not have to deal with the fallout from it.
My wife and children should not have to see their husband and father being spoken about, laughed at, named and dragged through the mud on social media. They did not volunteer for any of this. I did.
I also find it very disappointing to see people liking and laughing at these comments or joining in.
It might only be a click on a phone to you, but there are real people and real families on the other side of it.
We are volunteers. We give our time freely to try to put on a motorcycle race. Nobody should have to accept this kind of treatment for doing that.
I am not saying I got everything right. I am sure I didn’t. But I made the decisions I believed were right at the time, and those decisions are absolutely legitimate targets for criticism but to believe that utilising actions which could destroy my family is nothing short of deranged.
My family comes before any committee, title or motorcycle race, and I will not allow this to continue affecting them.
For that reason, I am resigning as President of South West Road Races Athea with immediate effect.
You did not have to like me or agree with me.
But this level of personal hatred and disrespect over a motorcycle race is something I cannot understand, and my family certainly did not deserve to be caught in the middle of it.
We volunteered for a motorcycle race. We did not volunteer for this.
To all those that supported me. Thank you.’
A full refund process is now underway and all who bought tickets, sponsored bales and flag posts etc are currently receiving their refunds in full.
It’s an awful situation for the event and the Club, hopefully they are able to work with their committee, statutory bodies and fan base and get things sorted for the future and a hopefully we will see a return of the South West Road Races in the not too distant future.
Keep up with all the latest News on the South West Racing Facebook Page and the Official South West Racing Website.
The TBNI Road Racing Calendar will be updated as soon as new information comes to light so make sure you are subscribed to that : https://tbni.blog/road-racing-calendar/
You will also find new information as soon as it is available through the TBNI Facebook Page and TBNI Twitter Feed.
So Follow those also.
