Cheltenham Festival weather update – seriously chilly temperatures forecast on a bright and breezy first day
CHELTENHAM Festival punters are getting ready for a bright and breezy first day of action – but will need to wrap up warm against the seriously chilly temperatures.
There is at least some rain forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to the Met Office.
But the famous roar that accompanies the opening race – which has been remixed as part of this toe-tapping dance track – looks like it could come under rays of sunshine.
After a bleak initial outlook and a snow-covered track late last week, the sun should be poking through on Tuesday.
Although temperatures won’t feel like it.
The Met Office say it will be around 7C when the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle gets underway at 1.30pm.
But due to whipping winds with gusts of up to 29mph it will feel as chilly as 4C.
Clerk of the course Jon Pullin expects the Festival to start on ground described as soft.
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He said: “The going has been updated to soft [from soft, good to soft in places] on the Old course and soft, good to soft in places [good to soft in places, soft in places] on the New course and cross-country course.
“We have a blustery day today – we’re forecast gusts of 40-45 mph but as yet have not seen that – with another 2-3mm of rain and a light shower in the early hours of tomorrow but nothing too significant and then tomorrow it should be mainly dry through the day.
“If we get the rain that’s forecast today we’ll be soft ground going into day one.”
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Meanwhile, the economic impact of last year’s Festival was estimated to be £274million, according to the results of a special report undertaken by the University of Gloucestershire.
The figure is nearly three times the estimated total for the event in 2016, when Jump racing’s most prestigious four days secured approximately £100m for local businesses.
Ian Renton, The Jockey Club’s Regional Managing Director for the West Region, said: “We welcomed a record crowd of 280,627 over the four days of The Festival in 2022 and it is very satisfying to see that have such a tremendously beneficial effect on the wider economy in the Cheltenham area.
“Our links with the local community are strong and earlier this week we announced an enhanced version of the ‘Love Our Turf’ campaign at The Festival to put engagement with and the needs of our local residents and businesses at the heart of the event.
“I would like to thank everyone at the University of Gloucestershire who worked on this project – it has provided us with so many useful insights to help us plan for future Festivals.”
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