The 100 Landmark Challenge

I guess the question is WHY? Why would you choose to ride a small capacity machine to numerous locations, some random, some you have to do, in order to score points in a national challenge for Luna line and J Range machines. It is a difficult question to answer, I can only answer for myself and after all I’m the mad scooterist who thought up such a Challenge. Oh and the answer is that it’s all about the ride and challenging yourself to get out and about.

I think first of all I need to wind the clock back to 2022. Looking for different things to do scooter wise I realised that no one ever did anything that was just for the lesser known (for that read possibly lesser liked) small capacity Lambretta machines, specifically the Luna line machines and the J Range. Way back in 2002 I’d set up the Luna Owners Club (LOC)for fans of the Bertone designed machines. It was clear that the man was a genius, styling ahead of its time all encompassed in a machine that was easy to manoeuvre but clearly in the 21st Century was underpowered if you wanted to do any great distances but that didn’t stop us from wanting to see what our tiny machines could still do.

The LOC grew in numbers and also gaining more interest were the J Range machines. Before long Casa Lambretta and Dean Orton had solved one of our main problems, how to make the very pedestrian 50cc, 75cc, 100cc and 125 machines go faster so that they could hold their own on todays roads against todays traffic. This wasn’t 1968 anymore it was the 2000’s and todays car, van and lorry drivers post pandemic had become almost a lawless group of people who didn’t want to be held up wherever they were going.

By the time that 2022 had come around I’d owned a number of Luna line machines from the humble 50C to the Cometa along with more than a Vega or two. I wanted to set myself a challenge and that’s the important thing here. I wanted to set myself a challenge so with a notebook, a pen and a cup of tea I decided to write down places that I thought I should try and get to and then add into the mix any number of other places of interest that would be worthy of a stop by. I have to confess that having competed in the Vespa Club of Britains RRC I could see the merit in getting other riders to take part in my madcap scheme.

Initially I thought that people possibly wouldn’t be up for it but then I threw the idea out into the wilds of Facebook land. I suggested that I would be running the Challenge and invited Lune line and J Range riders to take part in the inaugural event in 2023. All I had to do now was to plan the Challenge I’d set up.

Facebook proved it’s worth by allowing me to set up a page devoted to the first 100 Landmark Challenge with a place for rules (because there have to be rules otherwise folk just take advantage!) and a place for discussion and a home for all the albums required for competitors to post their photos to prove where they’d been. As with anything new there were teething problems. I decided to list 30 landmarks that needed to be visited allowing riders to visit 70 others of their choice. So, take a cathedral, add a statue of a king or queen, mix in an RNLI life boat station, allow to simmer with a light house and possibly a scooter dealers shop and you get the idea of where I was going with my new found competition recipe. Along with this I set the bar at 2 machines per rider and factory style modifications only so no machines with engines that they wouldn’t have left Milan with.

2023 would see 17 riders take part and there would be trophies for Male rider and Female rider. No second or third places just two winners with the trophies being sponsored by the British Lambretta Archive. The Challenge started on the 5th May 2023 and ran until the 10th November 2023. There were the odd questions about how points were awarded, though to be honest the main issues seemed to be around photographs and how they should be done i.e. did a rider need to include their numberplate in the image or not. In the end I decided it wasn’t necessary to include the numberplate.

The first year of the Challenge saw Janzen Boulton (on a Luna line machine) and Ann Murphy (on a J Range machine) finishing as the Winning Male and Female riders.

Before the sun had set on 2023 I was busy planning the second running of the Challenge and this would see a change to the landmarks, the scoring and the trophy system. I needed to sit down and tear up the list of landmarks I’d already used. To be honest it’s not an easy task trying to make it interesting and ultimately possible for people to get to. I mean, it would be no good listing Polperro railway station as one of the landmarks knowing that 99.9% of people couldn’t get there. So, enter stage left a launderette, any pub with a vowel as its name (and boy did this one cause some issues), a wooden sculpture along with the likes of any one of the 97 football league grounds where you could score more points if you visited grounds in each of the 4 leagues. 2024 would see the Challenge run from 17th March 2024 until the 17th November 2024. Trophies this time would be for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Mind you, 2024 would see a drop in participants. As with most things there are always a number of people who are willing to take part but for various reasons, usually work commitments are then unable to take part. This led to a drop in the number of riders down from 17 to 13. Again the scooters you could use were limited to 2 per rider (clearly not at the same time) and you could use a Lune line or J Range machine or if you were lucky to own them, one of each.

The mile munchers in 2024 were Jon Eliston (who finished on 351 points), Leigh Kelly (who notched up 179 points) and Alan Hatherillo who wasn’t too far behind Leigh on 172 points. All three riding Luna line machines.

I had decided that 2025 would need to be different again so that interest in the Challenge would be maintained. So with a cup of tea, pen, paper and a head full of ideas it was time to set out the Challenge for this year.

2025 would see riders able to use up to 3 machines, the trophy system would remain unchanged and the event would run from the 16th March to the 16th November. The list of landmarks was down to 25 with different scores for them all. If you managed to get round all of the listed pubs you could score 50 points alone, a ferry port would net you 5 points but a rowing club would only net you 2 points. There was also the ability to log other landmarks for 1 point if they weren’t on the main list. Just as with 2024 were down on number with only 14 of us taking part but that was 1 up on 2024’s 13 riders.

This year would see some clever riding by Sharron Stimpson and her partner Gary Nash. I can’t recall who started it but think it was Gary (sorry if I’m wrong on that one Sharron) who had worked out that with some clever riding you could find a landmark that scored points but might have other minor landmarks in the same location. For example a pub off of the list with a phone box and war memorial near it. Take your photograph and you score 3 times. It was an eye opener for me and showed that some clever thinking could pay dividends. That didn’t mean that miles weren’t put in because Sharron and Gary proved that the they were prepared to travel miles to get points and ultimately that was my main reason behind starting the whole thing off, I had wanted to set myself that Challenge but had then opened the whole thing up and here we were 3 years later with Sharron and Gary, along with many other riders showing that they were prepared to make their small capacity scooter put the miles in.

I’m sure there are riders of larger capacity machines thinking it’s an easy Challenge. I’d beg to differ as the smaller capacity machines see a number of issues that need to be over come before you even leave home, for example carrying spare fuel, planning your routes, taking a small toolkit just in case it all goes pear shaped and over all having the mindset that you’re going to go out, munch the miles and probably see some of the UK that you’ve never seen before, all in the name of points and the 100 Landmark Challenge.

2025 would see Sharron Stimpson take the winners spot, followed by Gary Nash with Alan Hatherillo in third. Sharron would join Ann Murphy in winning the Challenge on a J Range machine. In fact, the J Range rider would be in the minority throughout the 3 years that I’ve run the Challenge but I’m hoping that will change in the future. I just need to sort out some new landmarks, rules and advertising the Challenge. But, for now it’s time to put it all to bed for this year.

So, what about 2026? Truth is I’m shelving the Challenge for 2026 as I want to do my own challenges and that’s the simple truth plus running the Challenge isn’t a 5 minute job. You have to keep on top of the scoring and to that end this year saw me introduce an adjudicator so that riders would see that an independent person would be able to look at what the rules had stipulated and what a rider was presenting. Thanks to John Walklate for taking on that role.

2025 100 Landmark Challenge — Trophies

Watch this space and Facebook to see what’s in line for 2027 because the Challenge will be back, will you be willing to join us?

The 100 Landmark Challenge is coordinated via its dedicated Facebook group: 100 Landmark Challenge .

Pete Davies