POWER FAILURE BRINGS MEETING TO A CLOSE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, November 21, 2009

A power failure in the area forced the abandonment of the last three races at the Friday twilight meeting at the Sunshine Coast.

The power failure occurred after race five. After an initial delay race six was rescheduled and went off some twenty-five minutes after the advertised time. A further delay ensued while Stewards sought advice from Energex with regard to their options going forward. The news, when it came, was not positive and it forced the hand of the Stewards who called the meeting to a halt.

Chief Steward Wade Birch explained the reasons behind the decision.

Birch: “We got advice from Energex at about 7.15pm saying there is a faulty switch on the grid that runs the lights in the straight. They estimated that it would be two hours before power would be restored. We’d given it every chance until then, but that information left us with no other option but to abandon the rest of the meeting.

“The reason we persisted with trying to keep the meeting going for so long is that we understand stakeholders travel a long way to race their horses and support the club, so we wanted to give the meeting every opportunity to proceed. Unfortunately under the circumstances we had to abandon the remaining races because safety is paramount.”

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