Brilliant BMX Year for Finley!

19 July 2024

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We are immensely proud of Finley, in Year 9, who we know has been competing in BMX competitions since he was 5 years old!

Finley has had incredibly busy and successful year. You can read more below in the information that Finley’s Dad has shared with us along with some wonderful photographs.

I just wanted to take some time to send out a message to thank you all personally, and to thank the school for the huge support shown towards Finley since my last mail at the end of 2023..

Yet again Finley has shown some great progression in 2024 – and the rollercoaster ride has been a wild one –

This year the race calendar has been full on due to the Olympics – this meant that many races needed to be completed before the athletes fly out to Paris on the 25th July… with such intensity in the calendar we often find that riders need to compete whilst not 100% fit or recovered from injury – and this year Finley has had to deal with his fair share of big crashes, luckily escaping anything more serious that some nasty cuts and grazes – he’s been through 3 new helmets, lots of race kits, body armour and a good few bike parts, yet remains largely unscathed.. this just goes to show the importance of wearing a helmet and the correct safety equipment which has no doubt saved him from life changing injuries on a good few occasions..

As part of Finley’s development his support network at British Cycling thought it would be good for him to set a new challenge and ride up an age group into the 16 year old boys – We set some targets to make a final or two and see how it went… and I’m very happy to say it could not have gone better – Finley won the overall Lloyds Bank British Cycling National BMX series. Winning your own age group is tough, winning the age group above against the fastest 16 year olds in the country is for sure an amazing achievement.. – He’ll be presented with his Number 1 plate, trophy and shirt at the British Championships later in August (the last big competition of the year)

We travelled to the USA for the World Championships in Rock Hill - South Carolina – unfortunately the weather had different ideas and the race was cancelled half way through the day due to lightning – a huge and costly disappointment for the 800 riders competing on the day throughout a range of age groups – Finley was riding the best he has for some time, sadly we’ll never know how he’d have finished – as a result of the weather the UCi took the points from the qualification races and Finley finished 11th overall in the 15 boys – now 11th in the world isn’t bad - but it is not what he’d worked for. We are really proud of the work he put in just to be there and we shared his disappointment in factors that were beyond his control.
2 weeks later we were in Verona - Italy for the European Championships – another big race, but a tiny mistake cost him dearly and his day finished in the ¼ finals – he was again disappointed – but he processed it and moved on quickly…….
Finley is now preparing for the last big race of the year – the British BMX Championships in Derby, late in August – where he will compete to become the British Champion for the second time.

Balshaw's gives Finely the core values, and qualities to be able to deal with success and disappointment with a magnanimous outlook and a quiet confidence in his ability.

Here are some wonderful photographs of Finley in action!