Safe in the sun at Racing Board's "Interislander Summer Festival"

A great example about how easy it is to make your event SunSmart

The Racing Board’s 2010/2011 Interislander Summer Festival events attract approximately 180,000 people, including many families with children. Customer feedback highlighted the need for more shade and weather protection to be provided at the events. With 35 events held nationally during the height of summer, the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) were keen to increase shade availability at these and other events and encourage sun safe activities.

NZRB’s On-course Marketing and Events (OME) team explored ways to improve sun safety and provide shade in public areas. In addition to the traditional covered grandstands at most racecourses, sun safety measures now include:

• Allowing race goers to bring their own shade structures to the events, including beach umbrellas and gazebos under 10m2;
• Providing hats to staff working in the sun, eg gate staff;
• Providing free sunscreen;
• Having the course MC make regular public sun safety announcements
• Running children’s activities in the shade of trees (where possible);
• Encouraging sun smart behaviour amongst younger race goers by introducing a children’s activity based around Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap;
• Encouraging the pre-booking of small casual marquee packages;
• Providing shade to public spaces and queues, especially around children’s areas.

The last two points above are supported by shared mobile pools of “mini-marquees” and umbrellas, with the NZRB manages and operates for the clubs. These are available for racing clubs to book and are transported to the clubs and installed by the OME team.

When considering the purchase of the umbrellas and marquees NZRB consulted shade expert John Greenwood of WebShade, and the following elements were taken into account in making the investment:

• Mobility – size and weight for transporting
• Wind resistance – stable and robust
• Self-stable – umbrellas must be able to be free-standing (ie, without a table for support)
• Able to act as rain protection when needed
• Able to be set up on grass
• Positioning may change from year to year
• View of race track needs to be kept clear
• Cost-effective
• Durability and long-lasting
• Ease of set up and storage
• Theft-proof

Of all the considerations, wind resistance was the most important since many race courses are exposed to occasional high winds, with the potential to damage the investment permanently or become a safety hazard in windy conditions.