Regional Victorians will be able to compete in this weekend’s Tatts Finke Desert Race after all, following the last-minute lifting of a hotspot declaration by the Northern Territory Government.

Consistent with Victoria’s move to lift the lockdown outside of Greater Melbourne, there are now no travel restrictions into the Territory for those who have only visited regional areas of the southeastern state.

The move comes just in time for entrants who had withdrawn to recommit to the event, by today’s close of business in Alice Springs.

“The Tatts Finke Desert Race welcomes the newly announced health advice from the Northern Territory Government around reopening the Northern Territory border to Regional Victoria,” read a statement from the event.

“As previously announced, the Finke Desert Race Committee extended refunds and entries from the waitlist through to Wednesday 9 June.

“With the announced change declaring Regional Victoria no longer a COVID-19 Hotspot, the Finke Desert Race Committee will be allowing entrants who had originally withdrawn to re-enter the event by 5pm CST [17:30 AEST] Wednesday 9 June 2021.

“We please ask for everyone’s patience as we work through the backlog of emails and phone calls that have come in since the Northern Territory Government’s announcement was made.

“The Finke Desert Race Committee is working with Northern Territory health officials and acknowledges the incredible importance of ensuring the health and safety of the public. The event will be going ahead as planned, however unfortunately without a number of our Finke Family from Victoria.

“Everyone must continue to adhere to the directions of the Northern Territory’s Chief Health Officer and contact the Northern Territory COVID-19 Hotline on 1800 490 484.”

Registrations are already underway in Alice Springs, with scrutineering on Friday and the prologue on Saturday.