Endurance Riding Ireland

<< Back to all events

St Patrick's Coast (CANCELLED)

Classes:

ERs, CTRs & PRs

Date:

Sat 05 Sep 2020

Location:

Downpatrick Race Course, 24 Ballydugan Road, Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 9TE
Click for Map

Branch/
Organiser:

Ulster
Name: David Cunningham
M: 078 3186 6276
T: 028 9751 1294
A: 57 Drumreagh Road, 57 Drumreagh Road, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 6LD

More Details:

St. Patrick's Coast and covid-19...

It is with great regret that we have to announce that St. Patrick's Coast Ride 2020 has had to be cancelled as yet another casualty of the current covid-19 global pandemic. This decision has not been taken lightly but our first priority has to be the safety of everyone involved.

We have been in consultation with our venue and key supporter, the Racecourse, and also with other relevant bodies and landowners. We have to abide by the limiting protocols from Horse Sport Ireland and the Racecourse has similar obligations to Horse Racing Ireland. There are obviously overheads and huge efforts involved in running this ride and, unfortunately, with so much uncertainty as to the protocol situation in September we have had to make this decision to cancel the 2020 ride.

The event requires an immense amount of "volunteer" work to be done over several months in the lead up to the ride, as well as a massive administrative burden and also financial commitments. The current protocols would increase this administrative burden and financial commitment so we felt it prudent to make a decision now as there is no way to anticipate what the covid-19 situation will be in September.

We are so grateful to our sponsors who have steadfastly supported us. Our thanks also go to all the people who have volunteered to help and, rest assured, we will keep you all on the list for next year! We are also indebted to the landowners, both for their help in past years and for their willingness to support us again this year. A special thanks must go to the team at the Racecourse who are themselves struggling to salvage what they can of their 2020 race programme in this most difficult year.

Taking all these factors into account we have decided to put our resources into running a bigger and better ride in 2021. We will announce a provisional date soon but it is likely to be early September again and will depend on tides, prospective race meetings at Downpatrick and the training plan for the ranges at Ballykinler.

St. Patrick's Coast ran the best attended Home International and Celtic Challenge competitions in Ireland in 2016 and had offered its services again in 2020 - the team stands ready to welcome the Home Internationals and Celtic Challenge events back in 2021 in the event that the competition reverts to Ireland.

Once again, our sincere thanks to all our supporters, competitors and volunteers, for their support and encouragement and we are just sorry we cannot pull it off this year.

#WeWillRideAgain

For more details see St. Patrick's Coast Ride's dedicated web site here

After last years great success with huge interests and vastly increased entries we are looking at the possibility of running a two ride in 2020 - watch this space and St. Patrick Coasts Ride's own Web site.

Note: For St. Patrick's Coast Ride - ALL entries must be made on-line including PLEASURE RIDERS.

Downpatrick Racecourse host the St. Patrick's .Coast Ride. Facilities include access to building for indoor ride office, stables, camping and of course (weather permitting) a chance to ride on the hollowed turf of the racecourse as well as hosting the evening function.

Access the racecourse from the Downpatrick side, take the Clough/Newcastle Road and it is about 1 mile from the town. Approaching from the other direction, Ballynahinch, Castlewellan etc. head for Downpatrick from the Clough Roundabout and the racecourse is about 5 miles.

St. Patricks Coast Ride