As usual with Autumn settling into the Yorkshire Dales, this can only mean one thing, apart from the falling leaves. The trials world knows that ‘Scott Trial’ fever is in the air.

The annual pilgrimage to the North Yorkshire Dales for the Saturday 21st October begins, and it begins early.

The Scott is a very special event, one that is run for the last twenty-six years by the Richmond Motor Club (Yorkshire) Ltd under it’s Scott Trial committee. The first rider leaves the start field at 09.00 hours prompt.

Each rider, of which there is a maximum of 200, leave at twenty second intervals thereafter.

For spectators there is much to see, a must buy is the event official programme, this is on sale from local outlets two weeks prior to the trial and on the start field on the morning of the event. The price is £5.00 and the sale proceeds of which go to local charities.

If you are not able to be in the area of the start field then you can buy one on line and this is available on the club’s website. HERE

The organisers spend a lot of time obtaining permission and because of this they ask that all spectators respect the fact that they are guests on private property.

The official programme has full details of where you can see all the action, where to park, where to eat at the events’ caterers mobile units and just as important, where not to go.

A complete riders list is included at the rear of the programme so that you can find it quickly to identify the riders. This is no normal trial as on occassion more than one rider is in the section at the same time.

The sections are staffed not only by observers, but also ‘checkers’ whose job is to simply note each riders’ number as they enter a section. This acts as a double check to make sure no rider is missed going through. This means that more than the usual compliment of officials is required.

Please adhere to the organiser’s warnings and instructions, this will ensure the future of this very unique event.

Not all of the course is open to the public. There are specific areas where spectators should avoid as permission is given only for competitors and event marshals only by the landowners. There is good reasons for this as much of the land is protected.

If you have not experienced the Scott Trial, then you don’t know what you have been missing. So get to Richmond on 21st October and watch the Greatest one-day trial of them all.

For SATNAV users, the start field postcode is set as DL11 7LS.

Photographs Copyright and with permission of:

Barry Robinson, Ilkely

John Hulme/Trial Magazine

Charlie Watson, Hull

*The Scott Trial 2017 official programme is the intellectual property of the Richmond Motor Club (Yorks) Ltd.

The 2017 Scott Trial Official Souvenir Programme, in full colour, will be on sale from October 7^th, runs to 92 pages. It is packed with all the information you will need to spectate at the annual classic on Saturday, 21st October including a full rider list, course map and guide to places to watch. As well as being liberally enhanced with historical Scott photos and some features on the event landowners, past and present, there are points of interest which you can read up about when you are waiting for the first riders to arrive!

The programmes will be available at the start-field on the day and from the usual local outlets prior to the event. These include: Richmond Petrol Stations; Cross Lanes Store, Richmond; CJ Tennant & Estate Cafe, Richmond; Neeps & Tatties, Richmond; Smith and Allan, Darlington; Piercebridge Farm Shop; AG Bikes, Low Row etc. plus all the usual Reeth outlets. Priced at £5, all profits made from the sales, as usual, will go directly to The Scott Charities.

Not going to be at the start-field or in these towns? Why not pre-order your copy by post now, the cost is £6.50 including the postage and packing.   This can be done by e-mailing your request to: scotttrial100@gmail.com  Please make the subject line of your e-mail: ‘Scott Trial 2017 Programme Order’ – payment details will be made available by e-mail reply.

We are always looking for something unusual in the world of trials, but here we have discovered a couple of videos from the 2017 SSDT, one of the warmest on record for many years.

If you were there, see if you are on them.

Thanks to (YouTube) Nevis Radio in Fort William and Jitsie.com

Trials Guru – no ordinary trials media – Dedicated to the Sport!

To view, click on the link (opens in a new tab)

Jitsie video: The Adventures of Milky & Jan

Nevis Radio LIVE

The annual Scott Trial, 2017 is being held over the Swaledale moors on Saturday, 21st October.

Organised by the Richmond Motor Club (Yorkshire) Ltd, it promises to be a challenge of man (or woman) and machine over approximately 75 miles of open moorland, streams and beautiful Yorkshire Dales countryside.

The event has been run for 103 years, but this of course is it’s 92nd event, due to the intervening war years, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, plus the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, when no events were run.

The Clerk of Course this year is once again, Paul Robinson, a local joinery contractor and trials enthusiast, he promises that the event will be a challenge, with some changes to the route to keep the riders on their toes.

The trial starts near to Feldom Ranges, outside Richmond DL11 7LS and the first rider starts at 09:00 prompt with riders leaving at twenty second intervals thereafter.

Start official is the ever enthusiastic local Councillor, John Blackie of Richmondshire District Council who is a keen supporter of the Scott Trial.

Councillor Blackie makes sure he is at the start early to have a cup of tea and a bacon roll before taking up his duties on the start ramp.

Trials Guru’s John Moffat will be on hand to do some snappy interviews of riders as they approach the start ramp, always a ‘tense’ time for competitors.

Diane Horner stood down as event secretary at the end of last year’s trial, so Ken Wallis has taken on the job for 2017. Ken is certainly no stranger to the Scott as the start field is provided by his family. His wife Chris was a previous secretary also.

If you are planning to attend, please remember to buy a copy of the official programme, it costs £5.00 and will be available at the start field where a team of ladies will happily take your money in exchange for a copy of the programme which has 88 pages packed with information for spectating, where to see and how to get there. A full entry list of riders and teams are included at the back of the programme along with last year’s results and all the award details that the riders are competing to win.

There are also interesting articles and photos about the event’s history and the people who organise it and those who allow the trial to cross their property. It is indeed a great souvenir to remind you of a fantastic day’s sport in North Yorkshire.

If you want a copy sent directly to you at a slightly higher price, due to postage and packing, then this can be done by visiting the club’s official website: RICHMOND MOTOR CLUB

Remember, all proceeds from the sale of the official programme go to the local ‘Scott Charities’, so please ‘dig deep’ and help the club raise as much money as possible for these very worthy causes.

Copies of the programme will be available from Saturday, 7th October at local shops and businesses, petrol stations etc.

If you are planning to hang around Richmond after the event, the awards presentation takes place in the Richmondshire Cricket Club, near the town centre. It starts around 8.15pm with the Charity Auction, again proceeds go to the ‘Scott Charities’. The final results will not be known until they are read out by the presenter and handed over by the guest of honour, a well-known former British Trials Champion from the 1970s.

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