THE ISLE of Wight sporting programme has largely been suspended with most events due to happen this weekend cancelled — such as the Tour of Britain — or postponed, as a mark of respect for the Queen, who died on Thursday.
The Island's football programme and Wessex League fixtures have been postponed today (Saturday), as have three rugby matches — Overton v Ventnor and Havant III v Isle of Wight (Counties Hampshire 3) and Hook and Odiham v Sandown and Shanklin II (Counties Hampshire 4).
Fans of teams in the Premier League, Championship and EFL leagues will have no game to attend either following the FA's cancellation of weekend fixtures.
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The GKN Charity Sportive cycling event from East Cowes today has been cancelled, with the event due to be rescheduled for spring next year.
The popular annual Brambles cricket match, due to be played at Brambles Bank, Cowes, on Monday, has been postponed until, provisionally, Sunday, October 9, as a mark of respect for Her Majesty.
But the biggest event to be cancelled was the much-vaunted and anticipated eighth and final stage of the Tour of Britain, which was due to be held across the Isle of Wight tomorrow (Sunday).
They also cancelled the sixth and seventh stages.
Following the announcement of the Queen's death on Thursday evening, organisers put out a statement saying: "The Tour of Britain organisation, alongside the teams, riders and officials involved in the event, are deeply saddened by the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
"We would like to send our deepest condolences to the whole of the Royal Family."
Some sports events are going ahead, however.
The Isle of Wight Fell Series went ahead from Ventnor seafront at 11am this morning.
There was a smaller than expected entry of around 100 runners — ten of them from the Island — for the first of two fell runs today, namely the gruelling 3.8km St Boniface Fell.
The second one, which gets underway at 3pm, will be the 12km The Ventnor Horseshoe.
Tomorrow morning will be the biggest of the three fell runs — the 21km Wroxall Round, which starts at 9.30am.
Medina IOW Parkrun went ahead as usual at Seaclose Park, Newport, this morning.
This afternoon, Sandown and Shanklin RFC get their Counties 2 Hampshire season underway with a home game against New Milton.
Kick-off at Fairway Park is 3pm, which is expected to be preceded by a period of silence to mark the Queen's passing.
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