Statement from Bears Promotion

The Redcar Agilia Bears’ Promotion would like to thank, as well as apologise to everybody who attended last night’s derby against Newcastle. The match was abandoned at heat 10 due to curfew, after spectators were subjected to long delays caused by rider injuries, an electrical failure and even a ‘sun break’, because the referee couldn’t see past the glare of the sun. On the whole, it was a frustrating night and one that we are sure tested the patience of everybody in attendance.

We are reflecting on the situation and looking to see what we can do going forwards to avoid such delays in the future. This is certainly not something we want to be repeated and we are aiming to minimise any breaks during our matches going forwards. We had already made steps towards this a couple of weeks ago, when we decided to eliminate our intervals, but appreciate this would not have helped last night. We accept that we can do better and are very sorry that people had to wait so long to watch 10 heats.

Rider injuries are something that are out of our control, and delays can occur when our paramedic is attending to an injured rider, as racing cannot take part until they are available. Currently, we have one ambulance and one paramedic in attendance – medical cover is one of our biggest expenses as paramedic’s are highly trained professionals and are rightly compensated for their skills. We are looking into the costs of having an extra paramedic available to us going forwards, but speaking honestly, this may be beyond our reach financially given that we are a club that already has to rely almost entirely upon volunteers, including the promotion.

As a way of apology, we would like to compensate everybody beyond the discounts set out in our  cancellation policy. For our next home meeting against Kent, people in attendance last night will be offered a discount and free match day programme (this will be an updated copy of the one produced for the postponed Kent match in June). Please bring along proof of attendance by way of an entry ticket to claim your discount and programme.

Discounted entry prices will be:

• Adults £14
• Concessions £10
• Children Free

In the meantime, we would like to send our best wishes to both Ben Cook and Matthew Wethers, who sustained injuries as a result of their accidents. We would also like to offer recognition to the excellent staff at Medics UK for their expertise and professionalism.

Thanks so much again for your patience.