Dragon rally

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The Dragon Rally is a motorcycle camping rallying held annually in North Wales since 1962. The rally is famed for its toughness and spartan facilities. Riders often have to endure miserable riding conditions to attend the rally and, once on site, they are expected to camp without regard to the weather conditions.

Each rally attendee is presented with an enamel pin badge (a different design each year).The rally is usually held on the second weekend of February.

[edit] History

In the early 1960s the British motorcycle press carried reports of the Elefantentreffen (Elephant Rally), held each winter in Germany, a rally famed for the hardships involved in attending. This prompted several British bike journalists to ask if a British winter rally could be a success.

The 23 November 1961 issue of The Motorcycle carried an article by George Wilson in which he asked, "Can such a dream be realised in this country - a rally for super enthusiasts only, and so organised that by its very nature, only super enthusiasts would want to join in?... But above all it must be held in the dead of winter when only men who are men would be interested and the softies would stay away"

The article brought a flood of replies and soon another journalist, John Ebrell, was sent to North Wales to seek a camping site, with a view to publishing an article that would draw out potential organisers. By a lucky coincidence, as he was scouting around North Wales, a letter arrived at the magazine from Lawrence Irving of the Conway Club, offering to organise the rally. The Conwy and District Motorcycle Club[1] has run the rally ever since.

The first rally (1962) was held at Bryn Bras Castle and over 2,000 riders attended. In 1963 and 1964 the rally was held at Gwrych Castle before moving, in 1965, to an ex-RAF camp at Glyn Padarn. Since 1969 the rally has been held at a variety of sites, perhaps the most popular being a riverside field at Capel Curig.

[edit] External links