highland lassie

This is an issue that always confuses everyone, some of ourselves included! The first 'SSDT' was in 1909 and was a five-day event run in mid-July by the Edinburgh MCC, a small club that had until 1908 been known as Dunedin MCC. In 1910 the event was stretched to six days and took place in June rather than July - this too was run by the Edinburgh MCC. During the time that these two events were run, plans were underfoot in Edinburgh to amalgamate local clubs into one large club. By 1911 the Edinburgh MCC, Edinburgh Waverley MCC and Leith MCC (and possibly others) had been disbanded and a new Edinburgh & District MC was formed from the members of all the local clubs. The 1911 SSDT was handled by the new club and was the first Edinburgh & District MC SSDT. There has been much debate about what should really be the centenary of the trial - many think that although 1909 was only a five day event, it was the origin of the trial and therefore 2009 should have been celebrated. Others feel that the 1910 event was the first six day event and therefore that should be celebrated. However, 1911 was the first Scottish Six Days Trial run by the Edinburgh & District Motor Club and as that was the basis for the 75th anniversary celebrations back in 1986, 2011 is our official centenary. Hope that makes some sense! I'm sure you'll tell me if it doesn't.

Just realised you probably mean that late entries shouldn't be accepted - they're not. We ask folk who post in the last week to let us know that their form is on its way because the postal system is chaos over here at Christmas. Mail which should arrive next day can take well over a week - we'll count those who have posted in time (and who have emailled us to tell us so), but anyone whose form arrives after 18th December and who hasn't bothered to tell us their form is likely to be late won't be included in the ballot.

We could do first come, first served, but then that wouldn't be fair to those of you who have to post from the other side of the world...

At the last count we were about forty entries behind last year's total, but they're still coming in....we'll wait a week or so before doing the ballot to catch any that are stuck in the mail system, then I'll give you a final update!

Disclaimer : That was BEFORE breakfast, and was between Dabster and Munch, nothing to do with us!!

Yet....

Okay, the Parc Ferme is not moving for the 2010 SSDT. The plan was to issue a press release last month, but we'd hoped to be able to give you details of our new plans for the existing car park at the same time. As yet that hasn't been consolidated, which is why you haven't had your press release, but we'd hoped to be able to make an announcement very shortly. Dabster has kindly opted to take that decision out of our hands, so there you have it. The SSDT is staying put for now, and a full press release will be forthcoming once there's some decent information to give you. In the meantime I must remember to chose who I breakfast with a little more carefully.

Press release from the SSDT Committee : The Edinburgh & District Motor Club Ltd would like to remind everybody that entries for the 2010 Scottish Six Days Trial close on Friday 18th December, less than two weeks away. If you have not yet submitted your entry form, please do so as soon as possible, bearing in mind that you will now be caught up in Royal Mail

Press release from the Pre-65 Trial Committee : The Pre

Unless of course they're part of the Sherco factory team in which case they evade the ballot....but then, methinks you'd prefer a conspiracy theory.

It's okay, I don't shoot everyone down, it's just that Dabster's always good for a squabble! However as The Moffster mentioned, that wouldn't be possible under the regulations we run under - we have to run the event under FIM and ACU jurisdiction and multiple entrants under one number just isn't permissible. The SSDT is a unique six-day reliability trial that's designed to test you to the limit - it's not meant to be achievable for anybody that fancies giving it a shot, and at the end of the week it's a massive achievement to get round in one piece. It's a piece of history, and for most clubmen, finishing is something to tell your grandkids about. Like 4ourtea said at the beginning of the thread, if it's two-day events you want, there's plenty out there to pick from...the Six Day is just that, six days. Like it or lump it. Now does anyone have anything cheery to add? All this speculation about the demise of the best trial in the world (in my opinion, Dabster...) is a bit on the pessimistic side to say the least! We're roaring ahead with the routes, the fuel, the sideshows and a lot more for 2010, so hows about brightening the outlook up a bit?

I did wonder, seeing as I know who you are, but the cheeky grin at the end of the post got me wondering!!

No ulterior motive there then?!! I wouldn't write it off for the future, because we don't know what that will bring, but for now if we did that all that would happen is that we'd have a ton of inexperienced observers for one year and none again the next...so we'd be back to square one! We'd also have far less places to ballot for those that can't provide helpers through no fault of their own. We do have the fifty club places set aside for us to allocate, and they're used to ensure that any regular observers get an entry if they opt to ride, so if someone were genuinely interested in helping out for a year or three before they rode then we'd happily help them out!

Cantankerous all day then!

Oh come on - you can't ride until you're 17 and have passed your test, so there's only a range of 12 years that you can ride as an under thirty, there's a good 40+ years you can ride as an over thirty. As for being the best trial in the world, everyone has their own opinions on that - thank goodness we can rely on you to provide an alternative viewpoint. Do you cheer up after lunch time, or are you cantankerous all day?

Stats are around 42% aged 18-30, around 27% aged 30-40, around 30% over 40 and a handful of minors thrown in.

And I won't mention the 'spare' week you had last week if you don't...

I'm not saying anything about riding when disqualified or otherwise, I'm saying cut the six days out of the Scottish Six Days Trial and it's not the same event - the guts are gone. I think you look at it from the perspective of it just being another trial in your calendar - to many of us it's much more than that. Look at the skirmish that was kicked up at the prospect of moving the Parc Ferme...hardly a massive change to the event itself, but it stirred up a fair bit of emotion. Anyway, I think we should stop bickering about this. If you can't spare six days to keep the best trial in the world alive, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to spare three to ride the pensioners version, so it's not really an issue, is it?

Over 40s are flagged for the award, so that's an easy count, under thirty means I have to go through all the DOBs....I'll do that for you when I find some spare time!

Develop and evolve as you will - but it wouldn't be the SSDT and I wouldn't be giving up half my life to run a holiday camp. Oh, and if you're keen on changing things for the better you could always come and do some observing for us - never mind aging riders, a lack of volunteers is a far more immediate threat to the future of the SSDT.

It's probably as good a time as any to put the record straight here - entries are slow, but they always are! Year on year there's just a steady trickle of forms, and then in the last fortnight they all pile in at once. We're no slower this year than we were last year, and we were oversubscribed by 100+ then. That's not to say we won't encounter problems in the years to come - nobody knows what the future brings. However, the day we start mucking about with the traditional SSDT format is the day I quit - this trial has lived as a six-day reliability event for nearly 100 years. There are good times and bad, but if we reach a stage where we can no longer keep the trial going as a six day event, then what's the point in breaking it up into something it isn't? All of us who run this event do so purely for the love of the SSDT - we've grown up with it, our families have been involved for generations, and we get nothing out of it other than the sense of pride on the Saturday night once we've achieved yet another successful Scottish Six Days. I doubt many of us would give up nine months of our own free time each year to put on a three-day holiday for those that can't hack the real thing. If you want to enjoy a holiday in the Highlands, then you'll always get a warm welcome in Fort William for the other 51 weeks of the year. If you want to face a challenge, pit yourself and your bike against the elements, push yourself to your limits and achieve the finishers award that has been coveted by trials riders worldwide for nearly a century, then get yourself up there at the start of May. Easy seen you're getting on a bit Ishy - angling for half a trial just because you're getting your pension book is a bit low.

That's the SSDT site offline now. You can still download your entry form from the holding page, and any other questions can be sent to the SSDT Office. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and the new site should be back up and running in mid-December, just before the entries close. Fingers crossed for a spam-free future!

It's pretty slow, but then it always is for the first few weeks - the last count was a week ago and we were just over the half way mark then. The last two weeks is when everyone panics and sends their forms in, and the bulk entries come in then too so we won't know what numbers we've got until nearer the time. However I do know of quite a few guys who just can't manage it this year with the jobs situation being the way it is, so I reckon there will be quite a few in the same boat....