Ashburton RC
Contact the club
- Secretary
- Trevor Robertson
- Postal
- Box 54, Ashburton
- Phone
- 03 308-6794
- Fax
- 03 308-4558
- ashrace@xtra.co.nz
Ashburton Racing Club, based in Ashburton, was established in 1878 and races 4 times a year.
Ashburton Racing Club was formed at a public meeting held on 2 September, 1878, and became the Ashburton County Racing Club, its title through the 20th Century after amalgamating with the Tinwald Racing Club 20 years later.
The first race meeting of the Ashburton Racing Club took place at Ashburton on 13 and 14 September, 1878, and the programme consisted of five races each day. The principal race was the Ashburton Cup, worth 70 sovereigns added to a sweepstake of five sovereigns each.
The Tinwald Racing Club raced during the next two decades at the Tinwald Domain and it was evidently only after lengthy and rather acrimonious negotiations that the Tinwald Club agreed to abandon its course at the Domain and amalgamate with Ashburton. The newly named Ashburton County Racing Club held its first annual meeting on 3 June, 1899.
Long service has been a hallmark of Ashburton County Racing Club administrators. J.C.N Grigg was President from 1907 to 1922 and his son, J.H.Grigg from 1952 to 1966.
In 1928 the Ashburton Club undertook a major programme of improvements, when the outside public enclosure was abolished and a new public and members' stand erected. In 1943, like many racecourses during the war years, Ashburton was occupied by the army and during that time the grandstand was destroyed by fire. This was a major disaster and for a number of years it was not possible to obtain a building permit to re-erect the stand. When Government consent was obtained to rebuild, costs had soared and both the Ashburton County Racing Club and the sister trotting club suffered a heavy finacial setback.
In 1978, the two clubs had gradually pulled out of their depressed economic state, a new public grandstand with full facilities was opened in conjunction with the complete refurbishing of the main grandstand at the cost of $300,000. An all weather trotting track installation allowed the re-alignment of the Gallop track based on Ellerslie’s. A new Grandstand was opened in 1991 at a cost of $2.5 million offering comfortable covered in facilities for patrons.
Skiing, fishing, tramping, water skiing, boating, rafting, hiking, biking, mountaineering. Ashburton District has got it all. Mount Hutt ski field provides one of the longest runs and seasons in the Southern Hemisphere, which attracts several thousand skiers, and snow boarders to its slopes every season.
