Young Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Racing Team rider, Finley Manser-Grundy, travelled to the Malvern Hills with his family to compete in the Malverns Classic Bike Festival – which consisted of 3 races – over the Bank Holiday Weekend.
First up was the cross-country race, this was a flat course that used the single tracks around the lakes within the country park, which made it a high-paced race and overtaking very strategic.
Unfortunately, Finley got caught in a tangle at the start and crashed off the start line, meaning he was the last rider into the first corner. Finley worked hard, got stuck into picking off riders as he managed to build in momentum and as the field spread out he got into a rhythm.
Finley rode from 13th to 4th overall in the under 8’s and won the under 6s. Great to see Finley stay determined and work his way back after a setback.
Next up was the Dual Slalom; this was a technical decent with lots of high-speed corners. All riders had one race run to seed them, then the fastest rider went into head-to-head races.
Finley managed to get the second fastest time of the day in seeding, just 0.30 of a second off first. This meant that he went straight into the final for the fight for 1st or 2nd.
Finley had a good final but just missed out on first to a good friend, which made the podium pretty cool.
The last race was the Downhill race, which is a race against the clock on your own with only one race run counting due to high numbers of entries.
The weather had taken a turn for the worst at this point, and the wind and rain had come in for the race run.
Finley worked hard and pedalled every section he could, whilst making sure he stayed on his bike in the wet grassy corners. He safely got down the hill and finished second, missing out on the win by just 1 second.
Finley’s Dad said
“All in all, a great weekend of racing against riders from all round the country and it was great to see Finley stay determined and work his way back after a setback in the first race”