Laytown Ready For Yearly Bash

Officials at Laytown are not anticipating any problems ahead of the once-a-year beach meeting on Thursday.

Racecourse manager and secretary Kevin Coleman and his team have a limited time to construct the racecourse, which is nearly 30 miles north of Dublin.

However, both the forecast and tides appear unlikely to affect the jamboree this year.

'The weather seems to have settled and we know years in advance what the tides will be. High tide will be at 8am and then 8pm,' said Coleman.

'It is a romantic notion that we will be affected by the tides, but the statistics show there is little diversity.

'We have a three-acre site on a field overlooking the beach, with the bars, weighing room, racecourse offices and so on, and they are all under canvas.

'You have to wait until the tide comes out to make the actual track and on the day we block the storm water outlets so the racing surface remains smooth.

'Then we construct the course. We have two furlongs of rails, and the rest will be flagged. It will be a long day, but we shouldn't have any problems.'

(C) PA Sport