Sports journalists and racegoers are in agreement that the Cheltenham races shouldn’t have gone ahead in March 2020. This comes after Boris Johnson, ex-prime minister, responds to questions at the Covid inquiry.
The Cheltenham Races are arguably one of the biggest sporting events with around 50,000 people in attendance. With an unknown disease rising in 2020 there was a lot of nervousness surrounding the Event. Sports Journalism Lecturer Chris Ford said he remembers feeling extremely uncomfortable whilst he was attending the event, and ended up leaving after a couple of races. “We managed to get some tickets so that our students could go and get some work practice, and I remember telling them to get what they could but to only do what they felt comfortable getting and not to hang around if they didn’t feel comfortable.”
Park Life Race Correspondent Jake Wiles said that he thought, “it was an odd decision”, and from a racing point of view it was, “surprising the event went ahead given the rapid transmission of the disease”. If the races hadn’t have gone ahead the racing industry would have lost £247 million so there would have been a huge impact economically.
In hindsight both Chris and Jake agreed the races shouldn’t have gone ahead, although they differed on what should have happened. Jake believed that the races should have still gone ahead but they should have taken place behind closed doors, which is what happened the year after in 2021. However, Chris felt that the whole event should have been cancelled and people were waiting for the government to act, and they weren’t acting.
In recent days as part of the Covid inquiry Boris Johnson has been expressing his sadness and regret over the decisions he made whilst handling the pandemic. Chris said, “he was the wrong person to be in power, he was a populist showman, but what else can he say?”
Jake said, “I think he is just saying what he thinks people want to hear and he is only doing this because of the media scrutiny. He added, “only he will know if he is truly remorseful.”
