The area around Frimley where I live is not generally known as a hotbed of sporting innovation. It did host a world championship boxing match back in 1860 when prize fighting was still illegal, but, perhaps more enduringly, a century ago this month (March 2024) it was also the venue for the world’s first organised Motocross event, a form of off-road motorcycling race. For aficionados, it is one of the most skilful, energetic and exciting motor sports around.

From perhaps as early as 1906 official  Auto-Cycle clubs had offered daredevil motorcyclists the opportunity to show off their skills in time trials over designated courses. However, in 1924 the Camberley Club, which had met from 1913 at the Victoria Hotel on London Road, decided to spice matters up by organising a two lap race over the roughest off-road terrain that could be found on the Army land to the north and east of Camberley. There were to be no rules, no penalties for riders who fell off or crashed their machines – the working assumption being that they all would – and the winner would be the one who completed the course in the fastest time.

To emphasise its unique challenge the organisers called it a “scramble” or, more formally, the “Southern Scott Scramble”, a reference to the Scott Trial which had been held on the Yorkshire Moors since 1914 and itself a namecheck for a type of Bike. Naturally, as the competitors were likely to drawn from wealthy gentlemen, the order of events allowed for a 2.5 hour break for lunch midway between the two laps.

Over eighty competitors took part in the race in March 1924, using road bikes as there were no specialised off-road motorcycles at the time. The terrain, described as “the worst freak course…with the steepest hill he had ever seen”  by one competitor, soon took its toll, with half the bikes disintegrating and failing to complete the course. Even those who had survived the horrors of the First World War confessed that they were very frightened.

Many of those that made it round were so damaged that they could only be transported back by their owners by train. The resourceful Mr T G Waterhouse came prepared, bringing a length of gas-piping to straighten out his Velocette “as the need arose”. Surprisingly, there were no serious casualties.

The winner, after two hours of riding a 486cc, two-stroke cylinder Scott Squirrel motorcycle and clocking up an average speed of 25 mph, was a former 2^nd Lt from the Royal Flying Corps and Camberley resident, Arthur Sparks, who later opened a garage in the town. The Scramble was such a success that its format was copied across the country. It also inspired motorcycle manufacturers to develop specific off-road bikes, ensuring the scramble would go global. In France it became known as the “motorcycle cross-country” which was abbreviated to the now familiar Motocross.

^th, an event using the format of the original competition and part of the original course. I wish them well.