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Abstract
This article explores the complex relationship between sport and landscape and their role in the expression and maintenance of identity. While discussions have typically emphasised the role taken by stadia and sporting venues in the development and expression of sporting and national identities, fewer have considered the role taken by the wider landscape. It is this landscape that provides the context in which many sports are enacted and watched and it is through the embodied actions and experiences that landscape is given added meaning, reinforcing narratives of space that are implicated in the creation and maintenance of national identities. Yet here, unlike stadia or other sporting venues, space is much less regulated; as a result, participants and observers are also implicated in the creation of “counter geographies” that destabilise “official” narratives of space. Here our focus is on the contested landscapes of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Races; an event where sporting narratives have become materially and conceptually part of the landscape. Through a discussion of these landscapes and their expression in the Staying the Course exhibition curated by Manx National Heritage, we contend that geographies of sport must also reflect on the contested nature of sporting spaces.
Notes
1. In 2012, 35,172 passengers and 11,237 motorcycles travelled by ferry to the Isle of Man between 23 May and 8 June, a 16.7% increase since 2009 (BBC News, Citation2012).
2. These counter geographies are similarly manifest in the memorials raised to those killed whilst participating or spectating in the event (Corkill & Moore, Citation2012; Moore & Corkill, Citation2012).
3. “Thie Tashtee Vannin”, the literal translation of the Manx Gaelic for museum.