While sport has an easy period in the immediate run up to Christmas everything changes on St Stephens Day when events take place all over the country.
Chief among those to get people out and active will be the Goal mile events at different locations on Christmas Day itself while the biggest single event for sporting attendance will be the Leopardstown Christmas Festival running from the 26th to the 29th December.
Today is the last day for booking tickets online to the races which are hoping for a record attendance.
Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth and the leading Irish contender for his crown Sir Des Champs are both in action in the Lexus Chase on Saturday 28th and Ryanair are new sponsors of the big hurdle race on Sunday 29th.
The value of an active sponsor can be seen through a special Ryanair promotion running where anyone booking flights between the UK and Ireland for a limited time can avail of a 2 for 1 ticket offer to the races as well. All part of the new customer friendly approach from the airline and of direct benefit to Irish sport.
Leopardstown has also partnered with 45 Centra and Supervalu stores throughout Dublin, Meath and Kildare to sell tickets and run a point of sale promotion that is hoped will deliver a good future sales channel.
Mary Black and Finbarr Furey will be playing a concert at the racecourse after racing on the Sunday and it is part of the four day New Year’s Ultimate Gathering that is taking place across the city from Sunday through to New Years Day on January 1st.
For those who need their sporting fix every day of the year, Setanta Sports through their partnership with BT Sport will be broadcasting a full programme of NBA action on Christmas Day itself while there is also a full programme of Premier League action from England, NFL from the US and a host of local activity.
