ADVERTORIAL
This article has been supplied by the Countryside Alliance as part of a paid advertising package. The views and opinions expressed are those of the Countryside Alliance and do not necessarily reflect those of The BV.
The ever-popular Countryside Alliance point-to-point returns to Badbury Rings on Sunday 22nd February, promising another superb day of competitive racing. Tickets are available to purchase online in advance HERE. Gates will open at 10am, with the first race due off at 12 noon, giving racegoers plenty of time to arrive, soak up the atmosphere and make the most of everything on offer.
Visitors can browse the shopping stalls, enjoy the on-course entertainment, meet friends and family, and, for those inclined, place a bet with the bookmakers ahead of the opening race.
Future in the balance
The Badbury Rings point-to-point – along with more than 100 other similar race meetings held at around 80 courses across the country throughout the point-to-point season – are organised by groups of volunteers connected to trail hunts. With a government manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting, we look at what impact a ban might have on the future of grassroots racing. Point-to-pointing continues to welcome thousands of supporters to fixtures taking place throughout the season, but their success depends entirely on volunteers, of which large numbers are required in the lead-up to the events, with even more needed on raceday itself.
The sport is not sustained by paid staff or large sponsors, but by a network of those willing to give their time freely: preparing courses, building fences, stewarding, providing hospitality, parking cars and managing race days. A very large proportion of those volunteers come from the hunting world.
As Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance recently explained: ‘It would be wholly impossible to run a point-to-point without the massive amount of voluntary support that hunts give.’
This is a reality that is often ignored when the future of trail hunting is considered. A ban would not simply affect hunts and their supporters, it would have a knock-on effect on rural pubs as well as the farming community which benefits from the fallen stock collection that many hunts provide, but, it would also weaken the foundations on which point-to-pointing stands. There is no alternative volunteer base ready to step in, and no realistic way to replace that knowledge and manpower without fundamentally changing the nature of the sport. Strip away the hunting community, and the consequences for amateur racing would be catastrophic.
Those who care about the future of point-to-pointing must recognise this reality. Protecting amateur racing means understanding what underpins it – and that includes the continued place of hunting and hunt supporters within our rural communities.
Find out how you can take action to protect the future of trail hunting and point-to-pointing HERE.
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