See that's bloody typical of my luck my first ask about going was in 1993 as well !  I was told I was to old to but no mention of the classic route which  might have been an option open to me. Like a lot of riders at that age I got out of racing for a few years and regrettably let my national licence drift away and only when I came back to racing did I find out that I was now young enough to enter the Manx . Problem I then had was to reestablish the national licence in order to come out and play  . My choice of bikes during this time did not help my cause