Sign up to MailChimpFirstly, on behalf of LEI may I say how sorry we are that we had to call off the Midland Championships today. The event team had put together what we thought would be a high quality event. In the end we were defeated by the weather.
The background to the cancellation. The Organiser, Planner and Safety Officer had several meetings on Saturday, the latest at 5.00 pm, with the Controller and the decision was always that we should go ahead.
The event officials reviewed the three different weather forecasts available to us at around 9.00 pm on Saturday night. All three were different! Only one reflected the current situation in Grantham which was light snow falling.
The situation this morning at 6.00 am was, no snow falling and the local roads OK to drive on albeit with care as there was some snow blowing off the fields. When we all arrived at Belvoir, just before 7.00 am it was clear that whilst the event area was OK, access to the Belvoir Estate roads would be a problem. The access to our primary parking area, the Castle private car park would be dangerous. The car park is accessed and exited by steep narrow roads which had a covering of snow. Both roads also formed walking routes to either the arena or the starts. It was clear that a mix of cars, snow and pedestrians was not a safe situation. This was confirmed by the Belvoir Estate Manager. At that stage the decision was taken by the Organiser and Safety Officer to call the event off. The Controller agreed with that decision.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We are grateful for all your messages of support,
Chris Phillips
Chair, LEI
