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despite the tough economic times we are living in,my cheltenham membership has gone up another tenner to a whopping £310
on top of this they have dropped the april friday evening meeting and i will still get turfed out of the members car park at the festival and paddy power gold cup day.
is there any course memberships out there that are worse value than cheltenhams?But you do get eight hunter chases, six bumpers and three cross country races for your money!
I gave up on Cheltenham membership about ten years ago when the additional charge for a seat during the Festival reached approx £11 per race, with another thirty quid or more for a parking space somewhere in Gloucestershire.
AP
Well I have applied for my renewal. The unreserved parking space for the four days is only £20 and I can usually get there in time from the Plough.£310 doesn`t seem so bad to me for the best 4 days of the year, plus the other days, but annoying that the senior package would not include the festival
I too gave up on annual membership, shortly after they started charging for seats at the festival.
In my early days I attended every meeting, and the membership allowed me to go everywhere, sit under cover, go out onto the course, park almost anywhere for free, and the cost worked out cheaper than single entry. But Annual Members areas were deserted during those mid week October meetings, with so many joining just for the three days of the Festival.
When they then started to charge all annual members for Festival seats it seemed a bit unfair to those who were there supporting the course come hell or (frequently) high water. I suggested some sort of ‘frequent flyer’ rewards scheme for those who went to other meetings but got nowhere. Then the charges came in for Car Parking, the Paddy Power meeting and have been on an upward curve ever since.
It strikes me that Annual Membership is a prerequisite to getting a Grandstand seat at the Festival, and plenty are willing to pay this ‘fee’ as well as the cost of the seat. Whilst demand outstrips supply the racecourse will continue to push the annual cost upwards.
I was most memorably in the stands when Dessie beat Yahoo, when The Thinker won the delayed Gold Cup, and when Dawn Run got up, and I wouldn’t have missed them for anything. But whatever it was about me or racing at Cheltenham that demanded my attendance in those days has gone.
I just thought I’d do a quick bit of rough research on this. I know there will be arguments about comparing like for like, but just looking at the base cost Cheltenham comes out at just under £20/day.
Newcastle, Newbury and Sandown will give you twice the amount of racing, and a mix of flat and jumps, at £7-£9/day. Jumping at Stratford would be about £7/day.
The Festival is the Festival, and I love it as much as anyone, but pound for pound over the year, Cheltenham looks to be rotten value.
I did the maths a few years ago and it was worthwhile if you attended all days of the Paddy Power meeting and the Festival- I packed it in last year and will be taking my chances on the day this year as well.
Had mine for the last 6 years and go to every day of every meeting from October to April.
They probably could have frozen the price at last years £300, however, still excellent value for money and I shall be continuing my membership for many years to come.
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