Special Recognition for Ground Staff at Bangor on Dee Racecourse

 

On the night of 18 November 2009 the bank of the River Dee, which runs adjacent to Bangor on Dee Racecourse, breached causing two thirds of the racecourse to be flooded for the next 10 days.  Once water stopped flowing through the breach the first job for the Groundstaff Team was to work with local farmers to repair the breach as quickly as possible.  This was achieved before the river levels rose again, which would have caused further flooding if the repairs had not been completed.

 

The team then turned to focus on the track itself.  With racing only 10 days away, the track had been left with silt deposits in two areas, and the team decided that to ensure racing could continue they would concentrate only on the hurdles course and run an all-hurdle card.  They used diggers to scrape away the silt and turf from the affected areas and applied a 2-inch layer of fibresand to the track.  Their sterling efforts paid off and racing was able to take place

 

Clerk of the Course, Ed Gretton said “Nature can always throw some interesting challenges at you, but to see 2/3rds of the course flooded overnight last November was difficult to take in. This recognition of the work that the Bangor-on-Dee ground staff put in to get the racecourse operational and racing again is very well deserved and much appreciated. They love their racing and take great pride in the racing surface that we provide for each raceday - it was a real race against time to mend the river bank and then deal with the serious damage to the course and so this acknowledgement of the hard work is very well received."

 

On behalf of the sponsors, John Richards of Pitchcare commented “We felt that the work of the Groundstaff team at Bangor on Dee was exceptional and over and above their normal course of duty.  Their priority was getting the course fit for racing as quickly as possible and we felt they deserved recognition for their valiant efforts”