ORGANISERS of a half-marathon have blamed new legislation for having to postpone the annual event.
The Dune half-marathon, which last year ran between Newry and Dundalk, is the only such race that crosses the border.
Road closures for sporting events were previously carried out by the PSNI for free under general policing powers.
New legislation came into force in September 2017 giving powers for many events to the north's 11 new councils.
Councils are now charging hundreds of pounds for some applications for sporting, social or entertainment events on public roads.
Organisers of the Dune half-marathon, which was due to take place next month, have blamed the change in procedures for having to postpone the race.
They said on Facebook: "We still haven't received the relevant permission in which we could order our medals and organise logistics allowing us to proceed. To do this with no firm permission would be madness.
"Due to new legislation including time frames we can't meet, and because of having to seek permission from authorities, the race is not feasible."
They said they hope to find another date for the race for later on in the year.
"We'd like everyone to know that our local council is not responsible for the race not going ahead. In fact they haven’t said no, it's really down to the new legislation and new procedures in place.
"On our end it just takes longer than we anticipated to get approved."
A spokesperson for Newry Mourne and Down District Council said: "We received and processed an application from Dune half marathon, the application was subsequently voluntarily withdrawn by the event organisers."
The council said a statutory public consultation period of 21 days and a suggested time frame of 12 weeks for application processing is necessary.
“NMDDC has considered the role of charitable events and has agreed not to charge application fees to charitable organisations,” it added.
