Group Will Continue Track Fight

Written by Peter McIntyre Thursday, 25 March 2010 10:40107.5 KISSFM

The organizers of Vernon's annual horse racing event will keep their options open.A full house of 90 people attended an open house for the Okanagan Equestrian Society on Tuesday. Society president Ed Woolley says they will continue with legal action over Kin Race Track, but they may also pursue a consultant's idea of moving to a new unknown site. He tells KISS FM, "If it's through the litigation or through alternate means such as this report (by consultant Gary Bannerman), then great, but we're proceeding on both avenues at this time and seeing what results come." Woolley says many of the people at the event were adamant about keeping the track for horse racing. "There's some very strong opinions in regards to this, people are very emotional with regards to Kin Race Track and its history. There is 117 years of history at the track for us racing there, and 125 years on the site itself, and many people said we can't be abandoning that." The group launched the legal action five years ago when rumours first surfaced that the regional district was looking at other uses for the track.NORD wants to evict the group this fall in order to build sports fields on the site.