RACE Inc is the owner of the Awapuni and Trentham Racecourses, in Palmerston North and Upper Hutt respectively. Both facilities are multi-purpose venues hosting numerous events throughout the week, including nationally significant race days, conferences, weddings, staff training and many other functions.
The introduction of the COVID-19 Protection Framework at 11:59pm on Thursday December 2 requires our organisation to make a decision about whether our venues operate under the My Vaccine Pass arrangements or not.
RACE Inc has elected to utilise the My Vaccine Pass system for the following reasons:
- 1) NZ Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) has determined that all race days will be conducted with the utilisation of the passes. We would therefore not be able to host race meetings at Trentham or Awapuni if we elected not to utilise My Vaccine Passes.
2) Using My Vaccine Passes we can host events with no capacity limits when our regions are in orange or green traffic light settings. If we did not utilise My Vaccine Passes we would be limited to 50 or 100 people per space, making it uneconomic to continue to operate our venues as a going concern. The implication of this decision for people visiting our sites at any time is as follows:- 1) All visitors to the site must provide their valid My Vaccine Pass to enter the venue.
The implication of this arrangement is that all visitors must have received both doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccination at the time of entry.
2) Vaccination for all workers is required. Workers include RACE Inc staff, NZTR licence holders (incl jockeys and track workers), volunteers, contractors, professional and semi-professional performers. Workers must have had their first dose when the COVID-19 Protection Framework comes into force, on 3 December 2021 (or their first day of employment after that), and both doses by 17 January 2022.
We know this is a difficult adjustment for society as a whole but our intention is to support the community by continuing to provide the highest quality racing and event experiences that we can, in accordance with the government regulations in force at the time.
Please direct any queries regarding this to your usual contact person, or feel free to contact me by email, [email protected].
Kind Regards,
Tim Savell
Chief Executive Officer
RACE INCORPORATED
Date of Issue: 30 November 2021