ORGANISERS of the “Race to the Border” at Brockweir have said issues over insuring the soapbox derby forced its cancellation this year.

The organisers Adam Sinfield, Dave Peacey, Keith Orchard, Rachel Davies, Tom Slater said in a joint statement that this was also the end of the road for the Brockweir Soapbox Derby.

The organisers said: “It is with regret that Brockweir Community Interest Company organisers must announce the cancellation of the Brockweir Soapbox Derby 2023 event, which was due to take place on September 16 this year.

“We began planning for the 2023 event in January and were assured by our insurers that they were very confident that Insurance would be able to be put in place for this year, they had seen a relaxation of the stipulations of underwrites from previous Covid years and we therefore proceeded to plan the event on the basis that we were happy this wouldn’t create an issue for us this year.

“However, as the months have passed the broker became less confident on being able to secure the insurance for us, but continued to approach different underwriters in the hope of being able to proceed with this.

“As a committee we also approached other insurance providers and unfortunately have received the same message.

“Our provider was still looking at options for us today but given how close we are to the event date we have had to make the decision as organisers to cancel the event.

“In light of this, and all of the efforts of the committee, and our insurance provider to obtain insurance for us for the past two years for this event, we have sadly come to the conclusion that the Brockweir Soapbox Derby event has come to a close and there will not be another event of this kind organised by us.”

Since 2016, the soapbox derby has built up an army of enthusiastic fans as a variety of home built contraptions descended down Mill Hill, beginning at the Mackenzie Hall and finishing at the near the Brockweir Country Inn.

The Brockweir Soapbox Derby Race for the Border ran for four years between 2016 and 2019 but was cancelled due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.

In the following two years, the event had to be cancelled due to the difficulty in obtaining insurance.

The organisers said they would welcome ideas for other events in addition to the existing events that it already runs.