THIS weekend’s point-to-point fixture will be the only time riders head to Corbridge this year.

For April’s Braes of Derwent fixture at the Downhills course has been cancelled for economic reasons, meaning the popular course will play host only to Sunday’s Tynedale meeting in 2017.

The Braes of Derwent Hunt committee has come to the difficult decision that the long-standing fixture cannot continue, dwindling spectator numbers blamed heavily for the cancellation.

With horrid weather conditions putting last year’s event in real jeopardy, the crowds stayed away and the fixture ran at a loss. And it has been that way for a few years now, members of the committee declaring that it was no longer financially viable to keep being hit in the pocket.

Bill Gascoigne, chairman and joint master at the hunt, said: “It was entirely on economic grounds and, really, we just found that we couldn’t keep it going.

“Yes it was popular, but just not popular enough. We were getting good entries but the crowds were way down.

“The problem we have is, up and down the country, people seem to have so many choices in how they can spend their leisure time, and point-to-point racing has lost its cachet. The risk you have when you put on any event is that the weather may turn against you, and we were very lucky to even get last year’s fixture on.

“Downhills is an excellent track, but we did lose money last year even though we put in a lot of effort. 120 people were on duty, so it is expensive to put on especially when a lot of us are donating from our own pocket.”

Ahead of the 2016 fixture, a new Braes of Derwent point-to-point committee, a sub-committee of the hunt, was put together.

However, the new team was powerless to prevent the fixture from being a wash-out as riders and spectators were faced with heavy rain.

Gascoigne said: “It’s a real shame we’ve had to make this decision, and a huge shame for the tradition of point-to-point as it was always an integral part of the countryside.

“We couldn’t fault last year’s committee as it did a really good job, but we analysed the figures and we just couldn’t afford to take the risk again.”

For a preview of the Tynedale meeting at Downhills, turn to page 70.