Flood forces Ripon Racecourse to end season early (From York Press)

Flood forces Ripon Racecourse to end season early

11:56am Thursday 27th September 2012 in Sport

LARGE parts of Ripon Racecourse have been flooded forcing Saturday’s meeting – their last of the year – to be abandoned.

The track has seen 100 millimetres of rain since Sunday and the nearby River Ure burst its banks, leaving large parts of the track and buildings flooded.

Clerk of the course James Hutchinson said: “On Tuesday evening the river on the far side of the racecourse burst its banks. The water then comes across the road, over the track and into some of the racecourse buildings.

“It’s started to subside now but probably 40 per cent of the track is under flood water.

“In terms of damage, the track will recover and the water will dry away, but we will need to go through the buildings. There may be some carpets that need to be replaced or dried out, but hopefully the buildings will dry out okay.

“The main bar that we refurbished last year is a bit wet and the sofas are damp but hopefully they will dry out. If not, we are obviously insured.

“It was our last meeting of the year and we were all looking forward to it and the weather for Saturday is actually forecast to be good.

“We are not going to get dried out in time though.”