Ryanair announces Cheltenham ticket giveaway

Budget airline Ryanair is giving away free tickets to the Cheltenham Festival for the first 250 passengers who book return flights to the horseracing event in Gloucestershire.

The tickets will be valid for any one of the four days of the festival and will entitle the winner to free entry into the event as well as entry into the club enclosure.

The offer applies to any passengers booking return flights to the festival on certain routes after 3pm on Monday January 15th.

These routes are Dublin to Birmingham, Bristol and East Midlands, Shannon to East Midlands and Knock to East Midlands.

Peter Sherrard, Ryanair's head of communications, said: "Over the four days of racing, Ryanair is making a record 25,000 low fare seats available between Dublin and Birmingham, East Midlands and Bristol.

"We urge passengers to book immediately as prize offer low fare seats to racing's favourite festival will not last long."

The Cheltenham Festival is the most celebrated meeting in the horseracing calendar and pits some the best horses from both Britain and Ireland against one other.

Because it takes place in March and coincides with Saint Patrick's Day on the 17th, the event is extremely popular with Irish visitors.