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How Far Do You Have To Travel?


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Reading the thread 'Alarmingly low crowds' got me thinking about my own 'local' tracks and the catchment area they have to work with.

 

My nearest two tracks are both 40 and 42 miles away...both can be reached by motorway, and take an on average an hour to drive to. The former can take up to two hours some Fridays as the motorway is often congested with holiday traffic.

 

Someone posted about Berwick's crowds being slightly up and that the promotors had been pro active.

 

I don't think anyone would know Speedway still exists within an hour of where I live...have never seen it advertised or promoted.

 

How far do you travel, and how far away do promotors advertise and expect people to travel from? It's never really crossed my mind before.

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I travel 40 miles to Lynn, reach it on a mix of B and A roads. There are people I know who come from further away.

 

Lynn has fans from 3 counties, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

 

And about 10 actual Lynn people :P

Edited by Trees
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Living in York (and working within the Tourism Industry myself) I have never heard locals discuss or talk about speedway. I guess that because York has never had a speedway (a meeting did take place down the road at Green Hammerton during the early eighties) nobody is aware of the sport despite Sheffield having run for many years. However when I talk to visitors to York the number of people that say that they used to go to speedway but no longer do is interesting.

 

Many years ago I remember seeing Eastbourne Speedway posters around Brighton but that might have something to do with the Dugard Family living in Hove I believe.

Edited by steve roberts
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I travel 25 miles to watch Belle Vue from Holmfirth. It's less than an hour home, but getting to Manchester in heavy traffic can be tiresome and time consuming.

I go on the bike on a decent evening which helps.

There are loads in Manchester who 'used to go'. I've wondered for years how you get them back. Surely it's pushing at an open door?

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Lucky for me i live in Ipswich so its only a 10-15 minute journey from one side of the town to the other . Do also visit Mildenhall a few times in a season which is about a 45-50 minute journey .

Nearest tracks for away meeting are Rye House which you can do in about 1 hour 30 - 45 or Peterborough about the same sort of distance .

Traffic not really much of an issue as long as the A14 behaves .

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It has crossed my mind that half the problem with Speedway is the travel involved.

 

Not sure there is any remedy for it tbh.

When I lived in Oxford I used to walk to Sandy Lane from my house in Littlemore (20 minutes). I gave up travelling to other venues during the last five years of my going to speedway except on the very odd occasion.

Edited by steve roberts
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Derwent Park, Workington is a 5 minute walk from my house, because the track is very close to the town loads of people do just walk to the track. Can't think of many tracks that are so close to the town centre.

Exactly, Poole people can, in Poland I think most can (I did for a Gorzow meeting), I guess you could say a few from Lynn could too, a few do but it is only a few .....
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About a 9 mile drive for me, can be done in about 15 minutes (although once did it in a lot less on my motorbike) depending on who is driving and what the traffic is doing.

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Monmore Wood is about 10 miles away and takes about 25 mins drive. I believe Monmore Green is quite close too but I never go there on religious grounds!!!

 

Dudley Wood was 10 mins drive away. good luck to those still trying to get a local solution.

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I travel 40 miles to Lynn, reach it on a mix of B and A roads. There are people I know who come from further away.

 

Lynn has fans from 3 counties, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

 

And about 10 actual Lynn people :P

And Suffolk too!

63 miles for me but other commitments mean I haven't been so far this year

Edited by MrMungo
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My weekly fix is always at Coventry so about 21 miles from Leicester ~ a quick wiz up the M69 and I can get there in about 20 minutes as long as Lucy is hanging on safely. It takes me about the same time to get to Leicester which is 8 miles away. My favourite track is Peterborough though and I try to get to all their Sunday meetings even though I absolutely hate the journey as I have to go from one side of Leicester to the other to pick up the A47. I did all three last weekend. :)

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It is 48 miles to my nearest track (Rye House) and then 58 to the next nearest (Swindon).

 

I don't really mind where I travel and my attendance is usually based on the weather and likelihood of a meeting being on so last week it was Poole (110 miles) on Wednesday, Ipswich (116 miles) on Saturday and a foreign trip on Sunday!

 

This week if the weather is ok it will probably be Ipswich (116 miles) on Thursday and Somerset (136 miles) on Friday.

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Living in York (and working within the Tourism Industry myself) I have never heard locals discuss or talk about speedway. I guess that because York has never had a speedway (a meeting did take place down the road at Green Hammerton during the early eighties) nobody is aware of the sport despite Sheffield having run for many years. However when I talk to visitors to York the number of people that say that they used to go to speedway but no longer do is interesting.

 

Many years ago I remember seeing Eastbourne Speedway posters around Brighton but that might have something to do with the Dugard Family living in Hove I believe.

I live in York and do not have a car. Sheffield would be the nearest track making a round trip of 4 buses and 2 trains. taking around 4 hours in total. The cost of travel plus entrance and programme is too much for me, as would be getting home at midnight.

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I live in York and do not have a car. Sheffield would be the nearest track making a round trip of 4 buses and 2 trains. taking around 4 hours in total. The cost of travel plus entrance and programme is too much for me, as would be getting home at midnight.

 

Im Moving to York soon also so you can grab a lift :-)

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