Wild weather across Ararat on Wednesday afternoon has impacted many sporting facilities and events.
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A midweek race meeting at the Ararat racecourse was abandoned.
Ararat Turf Club manager Penny Penfold said the club decided to cancel the last two races of the day due to safety reasons.
“It was a pretty intense storm front that came through,” she said. “Participant welfare and safety is critical, so it was decided, based on the weather updates from the Bureau of Meteorology, not to continue.”
Penfold said it was not uncommon for horses to race in the wet, but she said once a storm hit it was a different matter.
“Depending on the circumstances, (abandoning races) can definitely happen,” she said.
“Storms and lightning activity is in the areas of particular concern and particularly when you have jockeys riding around the racetrack.
“Any storm-like activity is treated very seriously.”
Penfold said the rain did not impact the turf itself.
The race meeting will not be rescheduled.
The wild weather also impacted the Ararat Fitness Centre – most predominantly in the basketball stadium.
The courts were flooded, which resulted in the cancellation of domestic basketball under-12 and senior games.
Any storm-like activity is treated very seriously.
- Penny Penfold
Ararat Fitness Centre co-ordinator Sandra Hooper said the damage to the centre was not as serious as initially thought. Ararat Rural City Council initially posted on Facebook that the centre had experienced “severe” damage in the storm.
“We had a few leaks in the basketball court roof so that put some water on the basketball court,” she said.
“We had little leaks here and there, but it wasn’t really too bad in the end.”
The weather did not cause any issues in the gym.
Grampians Cricket Association president David Turner said on Thursday that it was too early to tell whether the rain would impact this weekend’s draw.