Classic TT organisers admit volunteer numbers a factor in race cancellations

Classic TT Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson admits a lack of volunteers contributed to race cancellations at the 2025 event, as it meant contingency sessions couldn’t be used.

After a good week of weather during qualifying for the Classic TT and the entirety of the Manx Grand Prix, organisers faced a difficult end to the event.

The Isle of Man was hit by numerous spells of rain as a consequence of the hangover from Storm Erin, which impacted the timetable.

But none of the contingency sessions later in the week were able to be used either, with the Clerk of the Course admitting this was also down to a lack of volunteers to cover these.

As a result of this and the weather disruption, Friday’s Historic Senior and Historic Junior races were shortened, while the Classic Senior was cancelled having already been reduced to a single lap.

“I just wanted to thank everybody for your patience, support and resilience the last two weeks, whether that be team, competitors, officials, marshals, and indeed spectators,” Gary Thompson said.

“We’ve had a great two weeks. Unfortunately the last three days, we’ve suffered because of the hangover from Storm Erin.

“There are contingency sessions that we could have used, but we are reliant on a huge volunteer sector, whether that is marshals, officials, personnel in race control - the whole event is reliant on these officials, marshals and everybody giving up their time freely.

“So, we’ve not been able to cover the contingency sessions.

“But, mainly, we’ve suffered with the event with weather, particularly on Friday.

“The plan was to give every class a race. People have put a lot of time and effort into getting here, put a lot of effort into their bikes.

“So, we wanted to give every opportunity for every class to race. I know a lot of people don’t like the one-lap races; personally, nor do I.

“But it is what it is, we only have a finite amount of times to get these races in.”

He also noted: “The race organisation is bound by the race authorisation. Once I’ve closed the roads I’ve got to have the roads open at a certain time. We’ve got to be very mindful of that.”