Punchestown start times

A great success on the first day....if you ignore the drop in numbers in the corporate section, the actual numbers paying through the gates were up on last year....over 16,000.
 
That surprised me some tbh Gal - it wasn't like they'd delayed the start till 5:30pm or so ala Galway and the summer festivals where they can make these wholesale changes if need be - it had been put back an hour, still mid-afternoon when everyone is working. Even taking a half day most of the locals could get there for a 2pm start.
 
Irish Stamp said:
That surprised me some tbh Gal - it wasn't like they'd delayed the start till 5:30pm or so ala Galway and the summer festivals where they can make these wholesale changes if need be - it had been put back an hour, still mid-afternoon when everyone is working. Even taking a half day most of the locals could get there for a 2pm start.
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I did not even need to take a full day off work...just a couple of hours. Very handy.
 
It does seem a bit strange to me to announce the change in start times less than a month before the Festival starts - as has been mentioned, what about people who have already booked flights/accommodation? The difference in finishing times may well interfere with return flights already booked or mean that, having previously booked accommodation they struggle to book an extra night's stay if they decided the finish is too late to return after.

The most certainly does appear to revolve around satisfying those for whom the object of the exercise is to get as pissed as they can.
 
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Shadow Leader said:
It does seem a bit strange to me to announce the change in start times less than a month before the Festival starts - as has been mentioned, what about people who have already booked flights/accomodation? The difference in finishing times may well interfere with return flights already booked or mean that, having previously booked accomodation they struggle to book an extra night's stay if they decided the finish is too late to return after.

The most certainly does appear to revolve around satisfying those for who the object of the exercise is to get as pissed as they can.
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Ticket sales were down and the sponsors wanted prime time tv slot...thats why it was moved to encourage more racegoers.

I can honestly say I did not see one person drunk at the races today.
 
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