Who can you spot enjoying the sunshine at Longnor Races 2023?

The sun shone down at Longnor Races on Thursday September, 7 and Race secretary Stephen Mellor said: “It was like being in Spain.

“We’ve never had a day like it with such amazing weather.

“It’s a shame we can’t bottle it up and store it for future years.”

The sun may have helped boost numbers on the day and Stephen said both the ice cream van and bar did very well.

He said: “The safety of the animals in the warm weather was our number one priority and they all had access to lots of buckets of fresh water and were well looked after.”

The ponies for the gymkhana were supplied by Liz Andrews from Northfield Farm Riding and Trekking Centre which set the day off to a good start.

Former trotter Jason Podmore was in charge of the harness races and Stephen said: “He put on six very competitive races which everyone enjoyed.”Brian Berrisford led the motorbike races.

Stephen said: “We had so many entries for the motorbikes we were at full capacity and we haven’t seen numbers like that since 2017/2018 so that was great.

“Local lad Jake Hunter from Hollinsclough did so well. He only does local competition but he really does have the talent to go bigger with it.”

Lucy Bednell won the first local back in the Andrew Hall Memorial Fell Race and Andy Wilton, an ex England runner brought a strong team of juniors from Buxton for the junior chase.

Stephen said: “We had people who came just to watch the gymkhana, those who came to watch the harness racing, some made the journey for the bike and others came after work in the evening for the disco.

“Whenever I looked around there the field was packed with people having a great day and it was to see the local community and those from further afield travelling to Longnor and keeping the traditional race day going.

“All in all it was an excellent day.”

Our photographer was there see if he snapped you in these pictures below.