A YORK man is stepping down after a remarkable half a century spent going to the races for his day job.

Brian Paul, from Huntington, is celebrating a 50 year career at RaceTech, a firm which provides broadcast services for the horse racing industry.

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They have a base at York Racecourse - which coincidentally is Brian’s favourite track and he is well-known across the racecourses where he has spent much time at the helm of outside broadcast unit 1 during.

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He said: "I will really miss the job, because I truly do enjoy it, but everything has to come to an end. It's a new chapter for me.

"We have had all sorts of things to contend throughout my working life from the Foot and Mouth crisis to changes in the industry, but we are still here."

Brian joined RaceTech in February 1973 as an 18-year-old trainee camera operator with A-level passes and O-levels in economics, physics and maths.

The firm is responsible for the outside broadcast coverage of all British Horse Racing including the Grand National, Derby, Cheltenham Festival, providing live daily coverage to satellite and terrestrial television.

Kate Hills head of marketing with the London-based firm, said: "We still have his application letter and acceptance letter in our archives. 

"As one of the most popular members of our team, Brian quickly worked his way up through the ranks at RaceTech becoming a senior and valued member of staff.

"His skills have covered photo-finish operator, outside broadcast engineer, unit manager and he is expert across all things RaceTech such as photo-finish, camera operations and live sports broadcasting. 

"His career has taken him through an amazing period of change and development in technical evolution and TV production which makes him a walking encyclopaedia! 

"Brian has seen and worked through analogue to digital, black and white to colour, the introduction of high definition and much more."

69-year-old Brian will be celebrating with colleagues and family with a party at the Principal Hotel in York on Saturday, March 4.

Throughout his career Brian has trained and helped many new recruits and team members.

Last year he received the Northern Lifetime in Racing Award from UK charity, Racing Welfare at York Racecourse.

He said at the time: “It was a total shock, I never expected anything like this to happen. Racing Welfare do so much to support racing’s workforce and it is an honour, not just for me, but my close colleagues at RaceTech who have been part of my journey. It has been a pleasure working with lovely people”.