Happy Retirement!

BMF’s Chief Instructor for the Blue Riband Advanced Rider Award, Tony Smykowski, has decided the time has come to hang up his ‘Chief Boots’ and step down from the role after his upcoming 74th Birthday on the 12th December 2023.

In the last 6 years Tony has put many building blocks in place to improve the award from when he took it on in 2017, he has tirelessly worked to increase the instructors from only 2, all the way up to 34, which now means we have training available in all areas of the UK. Which then means in those 6 years 177 riders have successfully achieved the Blue Riband Advanced Rider Award. That is some achievement, all done voluntarily on top of running his own very successful training business.

Everyone at the BMF wishes Tony a Happy Birthday, a Happy Retirement from the role and we wish him well for the future.

We will continue to work with Tony as he will continue providing Blue Riband training via his training school Phoenix Motorcycle Training in Amesbury.

Thank you Tony!

Welcome to Ian!

We are excited to announce and welcome to our new National Lead, Ian Speight. Ian will be taking over as National Lead for Blue Riband Advanced Rider Award from December 13th

Ian has been one of our Instructors since 2020 and took on the role of Regional Chief Instructor for the North East in 2021. We are looking forward to working together with Ian, to again moving the award forward and increase its reach to more riders all over the UK.

A bit about Ian.. in his own words…

“I have been passionate about motorbikes all my adult life, from my first moped in 1979 at the tender age of 16, to my current BMW 1250GS Adventure, a period which spans over 44 years, over 60 bikes and hundreds of thousands of miles.
I have been giving guidance on advanced riding since 1999, when I became involved with BikeSafe as a Police Motorcyclists and this is something I am still involved with today, but now as an Examiner and trainer, representing RoSPA, IAM Roadsmart, the BMF, and the Enhanced Rider Scheme. As a Police motorcyclist I obtained Class 1 advanced qualifications in both bikes and cars and completed numerous driving and riding related courses such as VIP Escort, pursuit, abnormal loads, and I even completed an off-road motorcycle course with the Army!

Having retired from Humberside Police in December 2016, I decided to put all the skills I’d learnt as a Police motorcyclist and a civilian ‘advanced rider’ to good use, and in 2018 established Ian Speight Advanced Rider Training.

I have been a Motorcycle Examiner for RoSPA since 2013, and a DVSA ERS trainer since 2020, when I also became involved with the BMF Blue Riband Rider Award. I am also a Motorcycle Examiner, National Observer Assessor and Masters Mentor for IAM Roadsmart and an accredited BikeSafe Observer and recently became a volunteer rider with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service FireBike team. When I’m not training, testing or assessing, I work as a Motorcycle Tour Leader for Motorrad Tours, leading groups of motorcyclists on European tours.

I live just outside of York with my wife Kim, who is a keen pillion and we have covered thousands of miles together in the UK and Europe. When we’re not on the bike we spend time walking our dog Vinnie and going out for lunch as often as possible.

I am proud to have been appointed as the new National Lead for the BMF Blue Riband Rider Award, and I look forward to working with you all in the future”

For more information on Blue Riband Award see our webpage here 

Contact Ian by email

or Contact the bmf office by email

Written by Helen Hancock