What have your experiences been at Cheltenham Race Week

[Steema]

I am interested to know what your experiences as women have been at Cheltenham Race Week, I have spoken to many women who have felt unsafe during the week, women who have been sexually assaulted and the general acceptance of predatory male behaviour. Please let me know your experiences, good and bad.

Are you from the daily mail?

I lived in Cheltenham as a teenager, many years ago, and I have grim memories of racegoers making me feel unsafe. Lots of sexual harassment. I hope things have improved over the years.

Are you Nick Rust? (if so- good, I'm glad you care).
I've only been to the Festival once, 15 years ago. Had no problems but it wasn't as busy then. I went on Champion Chase day and there was room to move about and avoid people (mostly trying to avoid being lurched into by drunks spilling their pint all over you really). I did not experience any sexual harassment although I was with two friends, one of whom was male; and we didn't spend long in the Guinness tent as we all had to drive home and work the next day. So we were mostly just moving between the paddock and the stands to watch the racing with proper racing fans rather than hanging around with people who weren't interested in racing and only wanted to get drunk.

I didn’t know this was a big thing but I have had a very, very dodgy experiences at both Cheltenham and in the tattersalls/beer tent of another big racing event. Both felt like meat markets to me and I felt very unsafe but I was taken from a young age as my family are involved in racing.