THE 2024 Galway Festival is just three weeks away.

Racecourse manager Michael Moloney and his team have been preparing for the event ever since last year’s Summer Festival ended and will be ready to welcome over 120,000 racegoers through the gates during the seven-day meeting which starts on Monday, July 29th.

It’s a mammoth operation, Michael told us, noting that the weeks were disappearing “quick and fast” as the countdown continues.

After a week of recovery following last year’s Festival, Michael and his team were straight back to business, creating and distributing surveys to catch up on the feedback from attendees.

This plays a big role in planning and improving the Festival, and the several thousand responses lets the team know what worked well but, more importantly, what needs tweaking. For example, this year we can expect a more central location for the Ladies Day marquee which is such a focal point on the Thursday of the meeting.

There is a full-time team of 10 at Galway Racecourse but this grows to over 1,600 for raceweek, when you include catering staff, bookmakers, racing officials, et cetera.

Representatives from Diageo (owners of Guinness) will shortly arrive at Ballybrit to oversee their sponsorship of the Galway Hurdle, which – now running for almost 30 years – is thought to be one of the longest standing sports partnerships in Europe.

Standing back from the job for a moment, Michael reckons: “If you were to try and set up an event like this for the first time now, it wouldn’t be possible. The success that we have isn’t just down to me and the staff, but everyone who has been involved over the last 155 years and that’s the truth of it.”

Michael, who recently became a Director of the Association of Irish Racecourses, works closely with external agencies such as An Garda Síochána, emergency services and local businesses, who need to be kept in the loop regarding planning.

Making the week as safe as possible is a top priority for Michael, as is ensuring a steady flow of traffic into the racecourse and back out to the roads and the city.

The marketing of ‘Galway Races’ is probably unlike any other racecourse promotional projects. Others have tried to replicate the magic of Galway but it’s impossible as Galway is unique in that it takes place at the height of the holiday season and attracts people who might never go racing for the rest of the year no matter how hard you try to tempt them.

However, Galway Races is competing with every other holiday destination and music festivals for those people in search of some summer entertainment.

“We as a country, and particularly here in Galway, are very lucky to have so many summer festivals take place each year,” says Michael. “It is fundamental to make sure people know in advance that the races are coming up and what will be on offer.”

By the time the gates open on the Monday of raceweek, Michael’s job is pretty much done. He credits his team of staff who boast years if not decades of experience for running the show on racedays, particularly the groundstaff who have the course watered by 4am.

“I’m always on hand to fill in and help out where I can,” he said. “During races I take my seat in the head-on box to see the horses come uphill around the home bend and I turn to watch the crowds in the stands. The atmosphere alone makes it all worth it.”

Web: galwayraces.com