Rescheduled Malle Mile proves the show can go on

The rescheduled Malle Mile went ahead without a hitch at the weekend, with hundreds of riders and spectators enjoying fun in the sun.

The Malle Mile is a weekend-long motorcycle festival celebrating all that’s great about two-wheeled life and centred on inappropriate bike racing. The whole event takes place in the grounds of Kevington Hall in Orpington, which gave the Malle team loads of space to spread the action out to ensure social distancing.

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There were some inevitable changes – everything inside was shifted outside while everything else was just further apart – but all the key bits that make the Malle Mile so excellent were still there to be found.

For 2020 the racing included the Sprint, which was pretty much a grass track drag race, the Hill Climb, and the Malle 100, which was a Le Mans start classic enduro. There was also some smaller support races including a mini race for kids, MotoPolo and the Midnight Mile, which was an eerily quiet night time race for electric bikes.

Except for a noisy Harley-Davidson LiveWire expertly ridden by some Charley Boorman bloke (never heard of him… Ahem.).

More than anything, though, the event was proof that the show can go on and with it comes a ray of hope.

It’s perfectly possible that coronavirus won’t leave us for a long time, which might sound like a worrying and joyless existence. But once Malle put their thinking caps on, after pulling their hair out first, they’ve shown that the new normal doesn’t need to be that different from the old normal and you can still prat about on bikes.

If you didn’t make it, don’t despair. Malle’s next event is just weeks away with a huge sand racing event taking place on Margate Beach, on September 26. There’s still tickets to spectate (£20) and race (£50) but if this weekend is anything to go by, they won’t be around for long.