Full of the Pipe finds a new home
06/06/2017
The 2017 edition of the Full of the Pipe Truck Show Ireland is a historic one as it’s the first time that the event will be hosted at Punchestown Racecourse Event Centre – a stunning five-star venue that’s sure to add to the enjoyment of Ireland’s biggest and best truck show.
Punchestown Race Course has been the scene of many iconic occasions down through the years and the well-appointed Events Centre at this world famous Kildare venue is the place to be on Saturday, June 10th and Sunday, June 11th this year as it hosts Full of the Pipe for the first time.
This is the eighth staging of Ireland’s most-exciting truck show, whose surge in popularity necessitated the need to relocate to a larger, more central site. Punchestown ticks all the boxes for what is going to be an indoor and outdoor show (important given the unpredictability of Irish weather, even in mid-summer!).
When push came to shove, due to the show’s increasing popularity, tireless organisers Kevin Mulqueen and Colin Hegarty were left with no option but to upsize from Cavan Equestrian Centre, which had staged Full of the Pipe for the six previous seven years, to Punchestown Racecourse – an internationally-renowned centre for hunt racing, equestrian, field sports, festivals, exhibitions and a range of other events.
Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, between the R410 and R411 regional roads, within close proximity to the N7 and M50, near Naas, County Kildare. Celebrated as the home of Irish Jumps Racing and playing host to the annual Punchestown Irish National Hunt Festival, Punchestown also hosts several music events, including the annual Oxegen festival, while AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Eminem and U2 are amongst the massive international musical acts to have performed there.
“It's simply down to the growth the show has enjoyed over the years,” Kevin explained to Irish Trucker, regarding the shift from Cavan to Punchestown. “We started out in Athlone and then went to Cavan Equestrian Centre for six years. Cavan was a fantastic facility but it was time to move on to cope with the increase in entries and visitors. We've seen an increase of up to 100 trucks per show in recent years and the last thing we'd want to do is turn anyone away due to a lack of space. We had to bite the bullet to move the show forward.
“Punchestown is a five-star venue in terms of location, road network and facilities. We'll have visitors coming in from Europe and the UK and it will to nice to have a well presented venue.”
The Punchestown Event & Exhibition Centre was added to the Punchestown Complex in 2001, offering the client a top-class, 60,000 sq ft event and exhibition facility with a specification to match. Punchestown Event Centre is unique in that its design lends itself to the provision of maximum space and flexibility, which ensures that the venue is suitable for a wide range of events and exhibitions.
Boasting a gross floor area of 5,600 square metres and net floor area of 5,050 square metres, Punchestown has exceptional hospitality features for shows and displays and is home to winners both on and off the track.
Punchestown and all of its facilities are unique and vast and they can be tailored for all styles of event. This flexibility has allowed the organisers of Full of the Pipe 2017 to organise a weekend show to their precise specifications, which will ensure maximum enjoyment and convenience for truckers, exhibitors and other visitors alike. It's the ideal setting for what promises to be the best Full of the Pipe show yet, collating the organisers' experience of organising the show with the best of what Punchestown has to offer.
The team at Punchestown have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the events industry which, combined with a diverse range of skills, will assist any event organiser in staging a successful event. The Punchestown team are dedicated and committed to the client from the planning stage right through to event completion, ready and willing to help in all best practices to ensure that the most is derived from the facility – recognised in 2011 with the ‘Best In-House Event Team’ award at the Event Industry Awards - as a venue for any event.
With free parking for up to 17,000 cars and offering excellent access from Ireland’s national roads network, Punchestown Racecourse is a convenient, flexible and diverse venue that has become synonymous with a Who’s Who of promoters and events and shows down through the year, enjoying regular repeat custom from the likes of MCD Promotions, the Farm Machinery Show, the National Plant Show, Watchtower Convention, Dixon’s Roadshow, European and Local Elections, Musgraves Trade Shows, Modified Motors & Prodrift Live Show and the Construction Plant Show.
Of course there’s no denying that Punchestown is synonymous first and foremost with horse racing and is one of the spiritual homes of Irish sport. The Punchestown Festival is the major horse racing festival of the Irish National Hunt Season and is usually held annually in April, over five days, between Tuesday and Saturday inclusive. It is seen by many as the Irish version of the Cheltenham Festival and is run in a very similar format.
The major races at the Festival are the Champion Chase, Ryanair Novice Chase, Champion Hurdle, World Series Hurdle, Herald Champion Novice Hurdle, Tattersalls Ireland Champion Novice Hurdle, Growise Champion Novice Chase, Champion Four Year Old Hurdle, Champion INH Flat Race and the Punchestown Gold Cup.
Punchestown is also the home of Ireland's best known International Three Day Event and hosted the European Eventing Championships in 1991 and 2003.
Since the first recorded meeting was held at Punchestown in 1824, names like Highland Trout, Dawn Run, Rough Quest and Sean Connery’s cross-country legend Risk of Thunder have struck gold at Punchestown; Full of the Pipe is set to do the same!
Punchestown Racecourse Event Centre,
Naas,
County.Kildare.
Tel: 045 897704
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.punchestown.com
