Wagga's World Championship Gumi Race and Mighty Murrumbidgee River Duck Race have been cancelled for 2021 due to coronavirus.
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The announcement was made on Monday by South Wagga Apex's Joshua Paul, who said it was a sad day for Wagga beachgoers.
"This has been an extremely hard decision for our members to make, as we strongly believe the World Championship Gumi Race and Mighty Murrumbidgee River Duck Race is an event the Wagga community is extremely proud of and an event that brings our community together for fun on the water, whilst showcasing our beautiful Murrumbidgee River," Mr Paul said.
"We do however have full faith that in the coming months and into the 2022 these events will come back bigger and stronger and again like years before we will be providing our towns and cities with fun and exciting events."
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Mr Paul said it was "not impossible" to go ahead with the event under the current rules, but said that it was prohibitively difficult to meet all of the government's regulations.
It has been a rough few years for the Gumi Race, which was cancelled in 2020 and 2019 due to drought and the subsequently low river levels.
In those years it was replaced by the duck races, which have since become a mainstay in the Wagga calendar.
The money raised from last year's rubber duck sales will go towards communities that were affected by last year's bushfires.
On Wednesday the club will donate $3000 to the Tumbarumba Rotary Club, which will be using the money to aid in the bushfire recovery effort.