9 Horse lost there lives at the Cheltenham races this past two days, :cry:
Tell us here how much bad press this receives in your area!!!

Ps:I know this topic is not about motorbikes,but the site is called Paddock Gossip.

If you ban that, then you must also ban this dear boy:

Kite deaths mar Pakistan festival
Up to nine people have been killed and dozens injured during an annual kite-flying festival called Basant in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Three people were electrocuted when banned metal wires they were using to fly kites - or catch stray ones - fell onto electric power lines.

A young girl's throat was slit by a stray metal kite string stretched across a road, witnesses said.

At least two more people fell from roofs during the spring festival.

Two men were also reportedly killed when they were hit by cars while trying to catch stray kites.

Despite a ban on firing guns, several people were injured by stray bullets.

Officials at a Lahore hospital said 42 children and 60 adults had been treated for kite-related injuries, the AFP news agency reported.

Highly competitive

Each year the festival spells tragedy for many families, the BBC's Paul Anderson in Pakistan says.

It has become a highly competitive event in which people employ extraordinary skills to bring down - better still, capture - an opponent's kite.


" The city is in the grip of a kite-flying frenzy "


Sometimes they use string coated in pulverized glass to cut an opponent's kite; other times metal wire - which is often coated in corrosive chemicals, our correspondent says.

The authorities have banned the use of metal- or chemical-lined strings to try to prevent accidents or electrocutions from kite-flying.

But the city is in the grip of a kite-flying frenzy and bans do not seem to have much effect.

And the event is getting bigger and bigger: each year tens of thousands of people flock to Lahore from all around the country and beyond.

The festival has become big business. Any rooftop worth standing on is hired for corporate entertainment.

The calls for caution are usually drowned out in the excitement, our correspondent says.


John.

Steed!!!, hope you don't mind me calling you that, but that's what Emma calls you :wink:


Who said i was a boy? in fact who said i was male? hock:

Point taken, sorry. :oops:

On the original subject of sporting statistics, one only has to read the year books that were issued after the Manx Grand Prix. Whether the Tourist Trophy races issued their own, I know not. These books make rather interesting reading, especially the statistics pages. Considering the huge amount of milage covered in both practise and racing, the fatalities are almost miniscule. Before I get cursed for this statement, may I add that any fatality is too many, I'm not trying to make light of it. As I was saying, the huge distances covered, and all done at racing speed, lead me to believe that there are an awful lot of highly skilled riders on the Mountain Circuit. Considering the comparative novices and first timers are included in these statistics, it makes them seem all the more incredible. Can you imagine five hundred motorists driving around one hundred and eighty thousand miles between them on our public roads, even if the traffic was forced to go one way? Easy enough at normal, everyday speeds, but double or triple that speed and the mayhem and carnage would undoubtably begin. We have not the skill, nor the bravery of these riders. My bowler hat comes off to them. A great pity the governing body, the A.C.U. seem to take great delight in making life harder then necessary for these racers. Many thanks for your time,
John Wickham Gascoyne Berresford Steed