Heavy rain’s big impact

HEAVY rain has swept across the Far North, forcing Far North sporting bodies to postpone or cancel many games scheduled for this weekend.

AFL Cairns is pushing ahead with all three fixtures, while four of the five Cairns District Rugby League are also set to go ahead.

But the downpour, combined with forecasts of a lot more to come, has resulted in numerous fixtures being cancelled across multiple sports.

Sunday’s CDRL clash between Southern Suburbs and Tully Tigers is no longer going ahead after Alley Park was closed. A close eye is being kept on Petersen Park, which is set to host Edmonton Storm v Innisfail Leprechauns.

The junior fields have been closed but the senior fixture will go ahead for now. But games scheduled for Jones Park are among those canned.

Cairns Hockey Association cancelled all club games on Friday night at the centre.

A bumper nine-race program at Cairns Jockey Club was abandoned on Friday due to the state of the track.

The meet, which had attracted almost 100 entries, was abandoned following an inspection of the Cannon Park by QRIC Stewards early Friday morning.

Racing Queensland will “give consideration to potential replacement programming opportunities in the region within the next week”.

All FQ Far North and Gulf fixtures planned for Friday were cancelled, as were Saturday’s games at Leichhardt. A decision is yet to be made on the rest.