Welsh team and riders from 1974 and 1977, click on pics enlarge

Croydon Motor Cycle Club has been at the centre of local off-road motor cycling for at least 85 years, possibly more as the first documented evidence found so far is dated 1922, when the Club held a hill-climb on the road at Farthing Down followed by a near identical competition with the same competitors it is believed, on the grass of adjacent Happy Valley, both near the village of Smitham Bottom, now known as Coulsdon, on the A23 in Surrey.

The Club was renamed not many years later as Croydon Light Car and Motor Cycle Club, and again in 1929 simply as Croydon Motor Club, probably to gain wider upmarket acceptance among the locals and landowners, but still focussing on bikes. It was as recent as 1964 that it was renamed again with its present title.

At around this time its members were competing in trials, both local and national, including the Scott, the Welsh Three Day (now the Two Day Enduro), long distance events such as the Lands End, and also exploring green lanes. It was from this latter pastime that Croydon organised the first of its Adventure Weekends, in collaboration with rights of way guru the late Norman Smith and journalist Ralph Venables, all co-ordinated by Len Ore, still a life member of Croydon MCC.

From such activities sprung the Trail Riders Fellowship, and they also generated interest among other local clubs which came to join together to form the South Eastern Enduro Combine. Croydon won the Combine Clubs title on five consecutive occasions, and has also been in the top three clubs in 19 of the past 20 years.