The Galway races get under way the week after next and as if seven days of racing wasn’t satisfying demand there is a new event for this year, albeit one that is slightly coming out of left field.
The first ever ‘Paddy Power Zorbing Derby’ will take place before racing on the second day of the festival Tuesday, August 1st and will have a field of four competitors.
The eponymous spokesman for the sponsor Paddy Power will be joined by local hurling legend and Sky Sports analyst Ollie Canning, former Irish international footballer Stephen Hunt and a representative of day two sponsor Colm Quinn BMW.
The race is being staged to race money for the Injured Jockeys Fund, the importance of which was reiterated last night when Ana O’Brien was airlifted to Cork University Hospital from Killarney races after a fall which left her with a fractured vertebrae in her neck.
Injured Jockeys Fund Chairman Ruby Walsh was on hand yesterday to launch the event.
“The Injured Jockeys Fund offers fantastic support to the horse racing community,” said Galway Racecourse manager michael Moloney.
“As a racecourse we wanted to get behind them this year and offer our support. We’re delighted to have Paddy Power on board to sponsor the first ever Zorbing Derby and we hope to make it an annual event.”
“I’m far more comfortable pricing races than I am participating in them but I’ll do anything for a cause as worthy as the Injured Jockeys Fund,” said Power.
“I’m normally one to back myself but I’ll probably keep my money in my pocket in this instance considering the athletic pedigree of my fellow racers.”
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Find out more about our next major event looking at the impact of Sport for Social Good in September 2017.
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