While the majority of sports will have to wait a little longer to return to action, the planned return to Covid-19 Alert Level 3 brings with it several more physical activity options.
The official Covid-19 website lists activities such as surfing, tramping, mountain biking, swimming and kayaking as approved Alert Level 3 activities.
All require individuals to be experienced and have conditions attached, such as using easy trails, maintaining social distancing and staying as local as possible.
They are the first signs of progress towards a return to sport.
Team sports, gyms and activities involving people from different bubbles will have to wait for Alert Level 2 and its 100-person gathering limit.
That is putting increasing strain on several winter and spring seasons.
Rugby’s National Provincial Championship and Farah Palmer Cup have now missed two weeks of their seasons.
When either will return is uncertain, given the Auckland and Northland-based teams are likely to stay under heightened restrictions for longer.
Otago Rugby Football Union chief executive Richard Kinley said yesterday the last information he received was that New Zealand Rugby hoped to complete all domestic competitions in full.
The national body was working through what that would look like.
However, that update had come late last week, and Kinley was hoping to receive further details this week.
North Otago rugby players will also be eager to get some idea of when the Heartland Championship can begin.
While the club rugby season has finished, the lockdown has put strain on other winter codes trying to complete their campaigns.
Dunedin netball, hockey and basketball were all in the final week of their seasons when alert levels forced them to suspend play.
Dunedin Netball operations manager Lee-Anne Anderson said finals were now scheduled for September 11.
However, that was dependent on a drop to Alert Level 2 and court availability at the Edgar Centre. If those conditions were unable to be met, the finals would not be played.
Otago Hockey general manager Andy McLean said it was hard to make any specific decisions given the uncertainty around alert levels.
He said Otago Hockey remained committed to playing its finals.
However, it was conscious of ensuring it was safe to do so and wanted to give players time to return to the game and prepare for the finals before they were played.
Basketball Otago is taking a similar approach.
Game development manager Greg Brockbank said it was hoped the finals could go ahead.
However, they would need to be played at Alert Level 2 or lower and include a reasonable return-to-play timeframe that did not impact on university exams or summer sport.
The Dunedin finals of the Professional Bowls Association have been delayed until September 19.
The national finals weekend in Auckland will now be played on October 8-10.
Both are contingent on being in Alert Level 2 or lower.
- While sport remains on hold, horse racing is set to resume.
Racing, which can be held behind closed doors at Alert Level 3 if it follows strict rules, will resume with gallops at Ashburton and Matamata tomorrow.
There is scheduled to be a harness meeting at Invercargill on Thursday.
