Last year the Tynedale meeting was postponed for 20 days because the course couldn't be prepared in time. The rescheduled fixture still drew 40 runners, despite then taking place only a week before another Northern Area fixture.
It appears from the Corbridge social media post (noting, as John has, that it does not constitute an apology) that the rain anticipated in the run-up to this year's renewal didn't arrive in the expected quantity. Even had it have done so, conditions were still always likely to have conspired against those preparing the old Downhills line, considering how many thousands of gallons of water some other Easter weekend pointing venues required for a spite-free surface to be achieved.
I can't remember off the top of my head whether Corbridge can be watered. If it could have been, that seems like a local course husbandry issue to me not to have done so. If it could not, the failure to follow the lead of Cotley (twice) and Penshurst and postpone or cancel in good enough time to avoid embarrassment again has to be questioned.
With Pusk opening for business the weekend following Easter, and the notion of running Corbridge and Witton Castle on the same Bank Holiday possibly more contentious (physically too close together?) than that of running Mosshouses and Witton Castle so close ever would have been, investigating a rescheduling of the Tynedale to Saturday, May 10th (and hoping Charm Park, active the following day some 115 miles away, don't object) would have struck me as the way to go.
Last year the Tynedale meeting was postponed for 20 days because the course couldn't be prepared in time. The rescheduled fixture still drew 40 runners, despite then taking place only a week before another Northern Area fixture.
It appears from the Corbridge social media post (noting, as John has, that it does not constitute an apology) that the rain anticipated in the run-up to this year's renewal didn't arrive in the expected quantity. Even had it have done so, conditions were still always likely to have conspired against those preparing the old Downhills line, considering how many thousands of gallons of water some other Easter weekend pointing venues required for a spite-free surface to be achieved.
I can't remember off the top of my head whether Corbridge can be watered. If it could have been, that seems like a local course husbandry issue to me not to have done so. If it could not, the failure to follow the lead of Cotley (twice) and Penshurst and postpone or cancel in good enough time to avoid embarrassment again has to be questioned.
With Pusk opening for business the weekend following Easter, and the notion of running Corbridge and Witton Castle on the same Bank Holiday possibly more contentious (physically too close together?) than that of running Mosshouses and Witton Castle so close ever would have been, investigating a rescheduling of the Tynedale to Saturday, May 10th (and hoping Charm Park, active the following day some 115 miles away, don't object) would have struck me as the way to go.
gc