PHOTOGRAPHER / Amy Shore

THE MALLE MILE 2022

With Amy Shore / Photographer / Business Owner

In the late 1920s, Tommy Deadman of Wolverhampton thought it would be a great idea to combine two of his favourite activities together. Riding motorcycles and playing football. Although the sport didn’t last as long as Tommy and his mates would like due to the onset of war, it did gain a nationwide following with teams forming up and down the UK. This glorious mismatched sport was rarely seen in the UK for 90 years before returning once again under the name Moto Polo at the Malle Mile Festival, where, once again, teams face each other on a pitch with two goals at either end, motorcycles run on both petrol and electricity, and the highest score by the time the whistle blows wins. There’s even a trophy for the winners, lucky things.

The Malle Mile motorcycle festival is the kind of festival that you would have dreamt about going to when you were a kid on a mountain bike with a can of Fanta and a Mr Whippy (with a flake). Bikes tearing around hills under sunshine, racing your mates to see who can get from one end to the other the quickest and ending the day covered head to toe in dust. By the time you get home and look in a mirror, you look as it you’ve aged 10 years whilst basking in the Costa del Sol sun. This festival is all of those things but with more horse power than your mountain bike and beer cans instead of Fanta. The Mr Whippy (with a flake) is still a very valid addition.

The festival is now held on the grounds of Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, where a thousand riders and their friends and families camp for the duration of

the weekend. There are off shoots of the main activities including morning swims, yoga, talks, art exhibits, and a dusty five mile ride out around the estate that runs multiple times a day. Bring goggles, you’re going to need them.

At its core, this three day festival consists of six different races, each with their own classes of motorcycles to make things fair, from pre 1965 motorcycles in The Vintage Class to hefty scramblers in The Customs class. There’s even a dedicated race for the kids under the age of 5 called the Mini Mile, sometimes helped by a grown up riding with their offspring gleefully squealing whilst sat on the tank. In the evenings, live bands get the party started and street food vendors feed the excited guests before the Midnight Mile race, held at 11pm, obviously. This race throws in a dash of Tron as only pure electric motorcycles race up a lit hill climb course, often donning neon lights on both bikes and helmets. A few more beers, some fire breathing, a late night DJ and a poorly constructed tent you dug out of your shed and you’ve got yourself at one of the best motorcycle festivals the UK has ever seen.