The downhill legend said he was amazed at the amount of interest this year’s event, held between August 4-5, has attracted. “I have utilized all my contacts within the mountain bike world to spread the word and cannot believe how many people have visited the site and are planning to attend the event,” Peaty explained. “Our key focus this year was to penetrate areas of interest for this event with our web, email, poster and flyer campaigns. This is obviously paying dividends and we hope it continues.”

The event raises money for the Weston Park Cancer Appeal Fund. In its first year, 2006, the team raised £5,800 for the charity but this year organisers expect to quadruple that. Go to www.wharncliffeweekender.com for details of the Weekender.