Crowds flock to Addington Raceway

People are flooding into Christchurch's Addington Raceway for one of the biggest events on the city's social calendar.

Today is New Zealand Trotting Cup Day in the Garden City, when thousands normally get dressed up and head to Addington to try their luck.

While the event will be operating at Covid-19 alert level 1, organisers have decided to reduce numbers by 30 percent to make contact tracing easier, with 12,000 tickets sold.

Despite the looming threat of rain, people have come in from across the region and the country.

Annalise Graham, who drove all the way from Kaikōura with her family, said she was looking forward to the racing and the day's festivities.

"This is my first time at the Christchurch races so I'm pretty excited," she said.

Graham's family normally visit Christchurch for the annual A&P show, but since that event was cancelled this year due to Covid-19, they decided to come for the races instead.

Meanwhile, wearing one of the more elaborate outfits of the day were Mike Willetts, wearing a Mr Incredible costume and David Garters, dressed as The Riddler.

"Dave's been doing it for five years now and I've been doing it for 17 or 19 years, just something different every year," said Willets, who flew from Wanaka.

Police said the attendees have been well behaved this year, with no arrests at about 1pm.

"It's been really quiet from our perspective," Senior Sergeant Phil Newton said.