RIVINGTON'S historic Pike Race has been a feature of the Easter weekend attracting hundreds of people within the North West for the past 119 years.

So it has to take something serious to cancel it.

The foot and mouth crisis has done just that.

It must have been a hard decision for members of the Horwich RMI Harriers Club -- who organise the event -- to take but it was the right one. We applaud the way in which the club has acted responsibly in showing respect for farmers within the area.