The COVID-19 pandemic consistently re-shapes the way our race clubs host meetings across the state.
Racing Queensland has continued to update its COVIDSafe Plan to provide an overarching strategy with guidance and structure to facilitate the ongoing return of patrons to race meetings.
With the plan ever-evolving, clubs still must navigate their way through uncharted territories in order to host meets, and the Toowoomba Turf Club are the latest example of best practice in this space.
The Weetwood Handicap is the feature event of the Toowoomba Turf Club’s calendar, and the 125th running of the race in 2020 also marked a return to on-course patronage following a COVID-enforced shut out.
This year’s race day was designed to coincide with the city’s famous Carnival of Flowers festival, creating a real buzz about town and throughout the Darling Downs.
“Right from the get-go, everything changed purely because our timeslot had changed,” Toowoomba Turf Club CEO Lizzy King said.
“We were previously the curtain raiser to the Winter Carnival and then worked with Racing Queensland to align Weetwood day with Carnival of Flowers, so we were ready with this big marketing strategy to re-launch it in its new timeslot.
“Then COVID hit, and everything just escalated so quickly but thankfully Racing Queensland’s robust plan presented to Queensland Health allowed racing to continue, when so many other sports couldn’t.
“That gave us impetus to keep going and deliver a fantastic day.”
Being such a high-profile regional event with 2,500 patrons expected in attendance, there was always going to be the strict requirements to comply with the Industry’s COVID protocols, and King was tasked to ensure the day proceeded in-line with proper procedure.
On the front foot from day one, the CEO was in touch with the Darling Downs Public Health Department well in advance of the race meeting to discuss correct protocol, in-turn creating a series of documents “an inch thick” that outlined exactly how the day would proceed.
“In line with the COVID Safe plan, we had to ensure we had contact tracing for every single person who attended the day,” King said.
“We wanted to be able to fly the flag for not only racing, but for Toowoomba as well.
“I was very intent on being able to sit down with the police and health departments to say ‘this is what we are thinking, this is how we will do it’ and consult with them so they could understand how everything would be managed.
“I didn’t want to just go ahead and do what I thought was correct and then have someone come in the day before and tell us that we couldn’t do it that way.
“I wanted to work as a collective and deliver the day in the safest possible manner.”
Going into the day, King and the club were well aware that they had a huge spotlight on them, being one of the first large-scale events to take place in Queensland once restrictions started to ease.
Darling Downs Health, Liquor Licensing and the Police Service were all in attendance on the day to ensure the Club’s plan was being adhered to, and thanks to King’s rigorous planning, the day unsurprisingly went off without a hitch.
Lizzy describes herself as a hands-on CEO, and spent the majority of the day on the ground solving for any issues that may arise.
“I spent a lot the day with the various authorities in attendance, just walking around to ensure everything was being adhered to,” King said.
“Occasionally they would say that chairs were a little too close together and that kind of thing, so we could troubleshoot on the spot.
“We had Racing Queensland Chairman Steve Wilson and CEO Brendan Parnell here on the day as well supporting the club and seeing how we were producing this day under such difficult circumstances, and that buoyed us to do the right thing.
“It was a great success and under the most difficult of circumstances and conditions.”
Reflecting on the day’s success, King says that being on the front foot from the start was the decisive factor in delivering a Weetwood for the ages.
“It sounds cliché, but we were just organised,” King said.
“Communication and consultation were such a major factor; we weren’t afraid to be proactive and speak to a number of the authorities that needed to be across what we were planning.
“I was very lucky that I had a Board behind me that supported what we were doing and gave us their unwavering support.”
Her success didn’t go unnoticed amongst other Queensland racing clubs, with King stating that she has fielded a number of calls from around the state seeking advice about delivering large scale events in a COVID-19 world.
“I think I’ve become the COVID event lady within Queensland; I’ve offered a lot of advice and assistance to those that have reached out and tried to give them things that we have done that they can adapt,” King said.
“A lot of those clubs are run by volunteers and don’t have full-time staff so to be able to be that big brother club that can lend a hand and provide assistance, it’s really important and great for the industry.”