News

Arena Leisure, the group which owns Folkestone racecourse presently has two of its tracks at Southwell and Worcester, under several feet of water, while at Folkestone, the oldest stand has been taken out of service because, according to one theory, of the impact of the recent earthquake which caused millions of pounds of damage to the town.

Arena carries out regular structural checks on its buildings and the 120-year-old stand was reported to have been perfectly sound until its most recent inspection, shortly after the earthquake struck.

Shutting it down, maybe forever, has come at the wrong time for a course enjoying a boom, with a record 7,500 crowd attending its most recent meeting.

Tomorrow's meeting should have no shortage of suggestions for a solution. Appropriately, the theme of the meeting is “Builders’ Day” and it's reported a number of local construction bigwigs will be there.

The group must be hoping the wet weather doesn't cause the track to flood too. The racecourse is being used to accommodate overnight campers wanting a good view of the riders in the Tour de France as race their way to Canterbury the following weekend.