Mackay races to give a taste of what Port Douglas can expect

By Cassandra Pulver

Published Monday 20 July 2015

A Spectacular Picnic Horse Racing Event is about to hit the glorious shores of Port Douglas Four Mile Beach for the first time - Date claimer 8th August – mark it in your diaries.

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An event that promises to offer something for the whole family, the Port Douglas Beach Picnic Horse Racing day will not disappoint.

While event organiser Katrina Kruse is flat strap pulling this event together, it is interesting to note that there is only one other event of its kind on the Australian Eastern seaboard. This event, in its 4th year is the Mackay Airport Beach Horse Racing Festival.

Michael (Mick) Pope, the original organiser of the event said “I have been involved in racing for years and when I was in Ireland and saw a beach horse racing event and thought how crappy the beach was compared to ours and that’s when the idea hit me to organise it back home. We have the perfect flat beach with the firm sand grain. It took two years for it to come together after applying for the permits through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Council. Our Council was nervous the first year but after they conducted their own Economic Impact Study it revealed that the event brought in 2.5million dollars to the region. It was really great they did this report and not me as they could see the figures for themselves” said Mick.

“Our first year there was over 3000 visitors to the event and the corporate and VIP boxes were very popular. Despite the mining down turn our numbers to the event are still increasing, they are still buying tickets, we are hoping for around 7,000 this year and my dream is to have 20,000 by 2020”.

“The horses racing are not the thoroughbred racing horses registered with Racing Qld because it is illegal for any riders, trainers, horses or anyone licenced in the Queensland racing industry to participate. The horses are stock and thoroughbred horses that come off the land and come from all around from Normanton, Mt Isa and Northern NSW.”

“The current race length is 400 metres and we hope to extend this to 3kms over time and maybe have our own Beach Horse Racing Melbourne Cup Day” said Mick.

“There are a lot of boat owners in McKay so one of the big draw cards is for boat owners to be able to moor their boats and sit back and watch the races. The event has become a tradition and people are returning each year and it is by word of mouth that the original small groups of say 8 people who attended our first race are returning with groups of 10 and 20 people”.

Mackay Airport Beach Horse Racing Festival is a perfect working model demonstrating the potential of how an event such as this could work in Port Douglas, given that Port Douglas Four Mile beach has the perfect back drop to host such an event plus we have one of the busiest Marinas and we are recognised as a thriving tourist destination, could set the scene not only for a successful event but for a potential Beach Racing circuit.

Public Access	--	FREE
Sand Bar	--	$99.00
The Reef Pavilion	--	$179.00
Private Box (10 people)	--	$2,000.00

For more information please visit:

http://beachpicnicraces.com.au/tickets/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Port-Douglas-Beach-Picnic-Races/1653781991523291?sk=timeline&ref=page_internal