Industry Shorts: Grand National, The Boat Race

Sporting events continue to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Grand National, which was due to take place on 4th April, has been cancelled after the government advised against mass gatherings, with The Jockey Club saying it is ‘no longer appropriate’ to let the event go ahead due to the current situation.

Meanwhile, The Boat Race 2020, which was set to be staged on 29th March, has also been called off. It marks the first time in 165 years that teams from Oxford and Cambridge universities have not competed against each other in the set-piece event on the River Thames.

Elsewhere, England Netball has confirmed that it too has postponed events, suspending ‘competitions, courses, events, programmes, training sessions as well as all other forms of netball activity until further notice’. 

UK Athletics has advised athletes preparing for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 not to go abroad for training camps due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The news comes as the British Swimming Championships – which doubles up as an Olympic qualifying event – and boxing’s Olympic qualifiers at London’s Copper Box Arena have both been cancelled.

The IOC Executive Board is due to meet on Tuesday 17th March, however postponement of the Games is not thought to be on the agenda.

Some Premier League teams have also cancelled training, with others asking players to train at home in order to keep social distance.

So far, Arsenal have said that none of its playing staff have tested positive for coronavirus after manager Mikel Arteta was diagnosed last week. The first team have been asked to train from home gyms, with training equipment sent out to players who need it.

A similar process has been put in place by other clubs such as Manchester City and Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur, meanwhile, have postponed the opening of season ticket sales. The window for purchasing 2020/21 season tickets at the club was due to open on Tuesday 17th March.

Motorsport Network has announced the former Head of social media publisher WTF1, Jess McFadyen, as its new Director of Digital Strategy. 

Based in the company’s London office, McFadyen will be responsible for the digital strategy of the media company’s racing properties including Motorsport.com, F1 magazine and Autosport.