WHEN covering the one-day event at Maddybenny last Saturday, I accepted an invitation from the Route Hunt’s Master and Chairman Philip White to have a brief glimpse of their new point-to-point track on the nearby Loguestown Road.

The meeting is due to take place on Saturday, October 22nd on a farm belonging to Ian McMaw, a good supporter of the hunt. Overlooking the seaside town of Portrush, which is a lot larger than when the Route last ran in this area at Ballywillan in the mid-1970s, the land is dry and gaps were opened between the well-covered fields this week. The track will run left-handed and, while Philip described it as “not far off square”, two of the sides are longer, with a slight pull up the home straight. Although not set in stone at this stage, White reckons that there will be 16 or 17 jumping efforts. “As you have to come up the home straight four times, they may decide to leave the ‘first’ fence out on the first circuit,” he commented.