We remember the 19 sporting heroes to die at the North West 200 between 1939 and 2024

Thankfully it is eight years since a fatal accident at the North West 200 which attracts a huge crowd over the entire bike week. Nineteen competitors have tragically lost their lives in the history of the international road race.

Practice will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, May 8-9, with racing also on the Thursday and Saturday, May 11.

The safety record has improved significantly in recent decades but the sporting world in the UK and Ireland and beyond was stunned in 2008 with the death of one of the biggest stars in racing, as Robert Dunlop was killed during the NW200.

Unfortunately, four more riders have lost their lives at the track since then.

In the last 85 years there has been a litany of heartbreak, including the terrible events of what racers refer to as Black Saturday in 1979, when three competitors were killed in one terrible day.

Going back to the beginnings of the event, the first person to die at the races was Englishman Norman Wainwright, when he came off his 500cc Norton bike at the Drumslade section of the course in 1939.

PL Philips died at the track in 1949. Two years later, on a practically straight stretch of road, William Bennison, 35, from Sableford, Staffordshire, clipped the grass and crashed. He was rushed to hospital but died shortly afterwards from his injuries.

Another death followed in the shape of A.G Aislabie in 1956. In 1970, Andrew Manship passed away while competing for the first time in the race. He crashed his Yamaha into a barrier just before reaching the starting area at the end of the opening lap. In 1973, Liverpool native Graham Fish lost his life after crashing in practice.

Two ‘Black Saturday’ victims, Tom Herron and Frank Kennedy, were competing in the same event - the white-knuckle Superbike Race.

Brian Hamilton perished in that day’s 350cc Race when he came off his vehicle at Black Hill.

Joey Dunlop’s brother-in-law and long-time friend Mervyn Robinson died at the NW200 in 1980. Mervyn had been unhappy about carrying the no.31 plate as he considered it unlucky. His friend Frank Kennedy was killed the year before carrying no.31 but Mervyn reluctanly agreed.

In 1982 John Newbold died on Juniper Hill. Pat McLaughlin died in 1986 at Mather's Cross.

In 1987, Steve Bull was killed after an accident at Mather's Cross. Bull was a last minute entry in the Superbike race, after another rider dropped out. He lost control of his bike on the wet road in the Superbike race. He was airlifted to hospital where he died a week later.

Between 1999, when Donny Robinson died at Station Road, and 2007 there were no fatalities at the North West, but that safety record came to an end in 2008 with the loss of one of the sport’s most recognisable stars. Robert Dunlop was killed on a practise run at Mather’s Cross on May 15, 2008 on a section of the track which had claimed the life of brother-in-law Mervyn Robinson in 1980.

Ballymoney-born Robert was the younger brother of motorsport icon Joey Dunlop, who himself died competing in an Estonian track race in 2000.

Robert’s demise doing what he loved was followed a year later by the death of Cookstown rider Mark Young - at the same stretch of the course.

Scottish biker Mark Buckley was on just the first lap of the 2012 Superstock race when he lost control close to Station Road. He died from “extensive injuries” an inquest heard the following year.

Meanwhile, English Superstock competitor Simon Andrews became the latest death at the course in 2014 following a severe head injury when the 31-year-old came off his bike and skidded into a pavement kerb at the Coleraine Road.

English rider Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was the last person to die during the NW200. He crashed on the third lap of the Supertwins race on 14 May 2016. The 20-year-old from Chorley in Lancashire succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

Along with the bleak list of fatalities, scores of riders have suffered crippling injuries at the race, including Frenchman Franck Petricola, who miraculously survived a high-speed crash in 2014 which left him in a critical condition in hospital.

Despite suffering a broken back, punctured lungs, bleeding on the brain and a host of broken bones, Franck got back on his bike and entered the 2015 North West, stating he hoped to have ‘a lot of fun’ following his near-death experience 12 months beforehand.

Tragically, he was killed just weeks after that comeback, while competing in the Isle of Man TT.