While this winter's wind and rain has been good news for umbrella and anorak manufacturers, it has not been such good news for hosts of the UK's sporting and leisure events, according to sports insurer Sportscover Europe.

If the UK flooding continues into March it becomes increasingly possible that events such as the Cheltenham Festival next month could be cancelled, with damaging implications for sports and leisure event organisers not just in Gloucestershire but across the UK. An event like Cheltenham, for example, brings in £50m to the local economy, and provides work for 20,000 people. The national horseracing industry is worth £3bn to the UK economy every year.

"Before equestrian and other organisers can effectively prepare and protect themselves they need to undertake comprehensive risk assessments covering every aspect of an event, including flooding," explained Sportscover Europe’s Paul Thomas. "A risk register will be an essential part of any plan that helps event organisers to register and assess risk. It is a tool often used in project planning and organisational risk assessment and will work in tandem with business continuity planning.

"However, while we all know that the show must go on, with the best will in the world, it can't if a venue is 5ft under water, which is where event cancellation insurance kicks in," Thomas said.

Event cancellation insurance and non-appearance insurance cover provides financial protection in the event of cancellation due to circumstances beyond your control or non-appearance of pre-booked entertainers that are essential to the event proceeding.

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