Christchurch Cup Day crowd 'an improvement on last year', say police

  • 14/11/2017

The sun shone, as thousands flocked to Addington Raceway, dressed to the nines for one of Canterbury's biggest parties of the year.

And in stark contrast to last year's event, authorities say punters have been far better behaved.

"We're really pleased [with crowd behaviour]," says Police Senior Sergeant Gordon Spite. "It's as good, if not better than what I predicted and it's an improvement on last year."

"One of the things that we've really noticed is considerably less pre-loading this year."

Police and security only made a couple of arrests throughout the day, as they patrolled the gates, stopping anyone who looked heavily intoxicated before they got in.

"They hardly count, to be honest," adds Mr Spite. "You've got thousands here - they're just people who won't take no for an answer at the gate and weren't let in."

Meanwhile, St John's Ambulance also had a fairly relaxed day, with the most pressing issues being non-medical.

"We've had a few people present with various wardrobe malfunctions and that seems to be the primary complaint at the moment," he says.

"If that's all we have to do today, we'll be happy."

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