Race meeting goes ahead despite rain

Sat, 13 Jul, 2002 - 02:00

Donal Hickey, IN spite of wet weather, one of the country's oldest holiday race meetings is going ahead as planned next week.

The four-day meeting is due to get underway in Killarney, Co Kerry, on Monday.

Race company secretary Michael Doyle yesterday rubbished speculation that the event was threatened by the foul weather. "We're definitely going ahead," he said.

"As far as I know, there's no course inspection planned for the next few days and the weather forecast seems to be okay,'' he added. In the week just ended, meetings scheduled for Navan, Tipperary, Sligo and Roscommon, were all called off. In preparation for the Killarney meeting, all fences have been pulled out, which makes more track space available.

The meeting attracts crowds from many parts of the country. Apart from the racing, with the 37,000 Murphy's Handicap Hurdle being the most valuable event, TV 3 newsreader Gráinne Seoige will judge the Dawn Dairies Queen of Fashion competition, on Thursday, with Limerick model agency owner Celia Holman Lee.