James Harland of Northumbria won the Manx International Classic Trial for the third time on his 350cc Triumph 3TA twin at the weekend.

Local ace Juan Knight took the twinshock class for the fourth time on as many bikes, having previously also won the Premier Pre-65 class on three occasions.

Conditions on Saturday afternoon were among the worst experienced in the 29-year-history of the event, with driving rain soaking the 200 plus riders in the south of the island. The observers and spectators brave enough to venture out onto the volcanic coastline in the Poyll Vaaish and Scarlett areas were also afforded no shelter from the elements.

Earlier groups at Billown Glen, South Barrule Quarry and Glen Rushen Gulley were generally ok, but from the The Stacks and Ballarock onwards the rain was quite unrelenting.

Harland dropped three separate dabs for the opening 26 sections to tie for the lead with Stephen Douglas of Northamptonshire on a bigger 500cc Triumph twin.

Jim Hough of North Wales was next on a 3TA similar to Harland’s, dropping three ones and a two, with former winner Phil Houghton (350cc Triumph) of North Wales and Michael Irving of Cumbria (350cc BSA) the only others to complete the day in single figures.

Despite the conditions, Knight went round the same course for two dabs on the 1976 Ossa, a bike previously owned and ridden by the late Steve Beattie which Juan bought when a schoolboy as a box of bits.

Northern Ireland’s Stephen Murphy (1980 250cc Yamaha Majesty) and Darren Wasley of South Yorkshire on the 1984 240 Fantic both dropped six.

There was an even earlier start for some of 7.30am on Sunday from Ramsey’s Market Square. Although conditions were generally more favourable, many riders were hit by early heavy showers in the Ballure Plantation and Hibernia areas.

Crossing the Mountain Course into Sky Hill and Ohio plantations, the bulk of the sections were centred on the Tholt-y-Will and Ballaugh plantation areas. Another 26-section runaround rote concluded at Mount Karrin and Glen Duff Quarry.

Harland was in superb form with the twin and this time he stayed feet-up all day to go clean through each and every section, remaining on three marks for the weekend.

Douglas dropped two for an overall total of five marks, while Lancastrian Chris Gascoigne recovered from a comparatively high first-day score of 12 to finish on 13 for the weekend on the two-stroke BSA Bantam. This enabled him to leap-frog up the order from eighth to third, edging out Houghton, Hough, George Emmott (Triumph) and B40-mounted Irving.

The only local finisher in the premier pre-65 class was Jim Davidson on the Triumph Cub in 17th place with a total loss of 79.

Knight mirrored Harland’s ride with a clean performance on day two to finish on two for the weekend, five clear of Wasley who had edged two marks clear of Murphy. Dave Knaggs of Yorkshire was a distant third on the 175 Yamaha, seven clear of local Matty Lund and the 240 Fantic.

West Baldwin’s Aleyn Taggart won the twinshock premier under-35 class on his 250 Yamaha from Chris Barnett of County Durham (240 Fantic).

Ross McCulloch of Scotland edged the twinshock clubman class on his 200 Honda, while fellow countryman Connor Allan won the under-35 class on his Cub.

Southside resident Mark Kemp was 10th of the twinshock clubbies, two marks in front of Neil Kerruish.

Tim Blackmore of Middlesex and Steve Hay of West Midlands proved inseparable in the Pre-65 Clubman class, each going clean on Saturday, before dropping three dabs apiece on Sunday.

Seven-time TT winner Mick Grant (now aged 81) was 11th in this class on a BSA Bantam, seeing off riding partner and fellow former Senior TT winner Steve Plater and two other ex-TT winners - Brian Morrison and Iain Duffus. Leading local was Northern Ireland born Dale Farquhar, whose brother Ryan was a non-starter.

The recently-introduced air-cooled monos saw Liam Atkinson of Cheshire the only finisher on the premier routes and local man Matty Bond winning the clubman class by a good stretch from visitor Chris Newsham of Cheshire.

Only two Manx riders contested the 99th edition of the International Six Days Enduro (formerly ISDT), based at Bergamo in Italy.

Orry Millward and Mike Turner were originally to be joined in the Southern MCC team by Alistair Heginbotham, but he had to pull out at the last minute following the death of his father Roger a couple of weeks ago.

His place was taken by Justin Wilson from the Preston area and the team was doing quite well (around 70th) until the end of day five last Friday when Wilson was knocked off his 250 KTM by a motorist almost back at the parc ferme.

He suffered a broken tib/fib and a shattered knee cap in the incident, meaning the team incurred a hefty penalty on the final day when they slipped to 130th.

Millward, 20, contesting the event for the first time, managed to secure a silver medal on his 350 KTM and Turner, completing his seventh ISDE, grabbed bronze on a 250 KTM.

Orry was the third generation of his family to contest the event, 50 years after his great uncle, Keith Shimmin, took bronze in the 1975 ISDT on home soil here in the Isle of Man.

Shim's nephew - Orry's father Russ Millward - won three golds, two silvers and a bronze in his eight attempts spanning no fewer than 29 years from 1988 to 2017, including riding for Great Britain at junior and senior level.

With neither Jamie McCanney or Jed Etchells taking part this year (also minus Steve Holcombe and Brad Freeman), the GB World Trophy team understandably struggled, finishing seventh out of 20 in a contest won by the host nation.