Punchestown Racecourse

Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, near Naas, County Kildare, in the Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland. It is home of the National Hunt Festival of Ireland. The Festival is usually held towards the end of April and traditionally marks the end of the National Hunt season in Ireland. In 2008, the Festival will be extended from four days to five days with significant increases in prize-money.Punchestown is also the home of Ireland's best known International Three Day Event. Run under the title of "Punchestown International Three Day Event and Horse Show," the annual event incorporates a CCI*** Three Day Event, National Showjumping and Showing as well as a Young Event Horse Class. Punchestown hosted the European Eventing Championships in 1991 and 2003. The 2008 event was cancelled at an early stage due to problems with the ground.

History

Punchestown Races were reorganised and reconstituted as 'Kildare and National Hunt Steeplechases' in 1861. The first day of the 1868 meeting attracted an estimated 150,000 spectators.

Music festivals

As well as horse racing, Punchestown is a noted venue for its music festivals Creamfields, Witnness and the current favourite Oxegen. Bon Jovi played there on Saturday June 7 2008.

couting Jamboree 2008

Punchestown was the site of Jamboree 2008, Scouting Ireland's first national Scout Jamboree from August 2-10 2008.This was the best scouting experience in Ireland...The weather put scouts through a hard time as they camped through the worst floods in Ireland in 50 years. People were amazed at how scouts got up each morning and had a great time in 2 feet of water.Dun Ailinne was the best subcamp along with Tara but Helfire got the most flooding, many scouts had to be sent home. Cubs had payed to go but were not aloud attend on such day because too many people were on site. Visitors day was cancelled.

External links

* [http://www.hri.ie/Content/HRI/hriracecourses.aspx?id=606 Official website]