Mike’s 60th Manx anniversary
Feature by GEOFF SHUTTLEWORTH
Westmorland club member and secretary of the club’s trials, Mike Rapley, is about to reach a unique milestone in his trials riding career.
Mike – known by just about everybody in the world of trials as Rappers – is scheduled to ride the Classic Manx Two Day trial at the end of August which will be the 60th anniversary of the first Manx Two Day trial that Mike first rode.
It was on September 3 and 4 1966 that Mike, together with a friend of the time, travelled from his home in Slough to Liverpool where they boarded the ferry to the Isle of Man for their first taste of trials riding on the Isle of Man.
The entry list for the 1966 event totalled 211 solo riders and 26 sidecar crews, the names of many have featured in the results of numerous national trials in the intervening 60 years. Many are no longer with us, but a few remain familiar within the sport, but who no longer ride competitively.
Sixty years after that first two day trial ride Mike has few memories of the event, however he does recall that he had throttle cable problems with the 250 Royal Enfield Crusader that he rode which was repaired by fellow hotel resident, road racer Peter Inchley, who resoldered the fraying cable over the gas cooker in the hotel kitchen. “I would have had no idea how to overcome the problem” said Mike.
However, Mike does recall that he found the trial a tough event which included sections that still feature in Manx trials like Tholt-y-Will, Cornaa Beach and The Slabs.
So what made Mike decide to ride in 2026? “I decided a couple of years ago to stop riding, but the bug never leaves you and I’ve ridden a few trials this year. My good friend Peter Blowers suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to ride the Manx again whilst I was still able, and he offered the loan of a 309 Montesa for the air-cooled monoshock class, but at that time I had no idea that it would be 60 years since I first rode the event. It was only when I found the 1966 programme that the 60 year connection was recognised. I last rode the Manx classic in 2019 and have been regularly since as an observer, so I think I should be able to cope with a couple of days trials riding. We shall see, but have no doubt, my determination to finish remains undiminished.”
Mike doesn’t have any pictures from 1966, but this is from his ride two years later in 1968. Three young men ready to ride, Mike Rapley, Ian Haydon, Ian Mackie
“Of course I have no idea whether a 60 year anniversary is unique for this trial, but I think that it’s unlikely to be equalled this year and I see from the entry list, I’ve been allocated the number one for the trial, I guess because my entry was likely one of the first to be received, and the air-cooled monos start first both days.”
Mike certainly has the credentials to tackle this trial and as a Westmorland Club member and official, we wish him well in this venture.