WILTSHIRE’S biggest cycling festival the Warminster Wobble attracted a record number of more than 1,500 biking enthusiasts at the weekend, in the seventh running of the event.

Taking place at Warminster’s town park, the headline attraction of the festival was BMX superstar and world record holder Matti Hemmings who dazzled the crowd with his tricks and flicks.

This was done alongside fellow bikers Chris Smith and Grant Fielder, the latter performing a host of acrobatic stunts.

Other popular exhibitions included a turbo challenge where competitors tried to cover a distance of 500 metres as fast as they could, with Damien Churchill and Nathan Collins jointly winning with a time of 29.24 seconds.

Elsewhere, there was a bike jumble, children’s entertainer and coaching from mountain bike stunt rider Mr Smith to keep people entertained.

Colin French, organiser of the event, said: “It went very well and I’m over the moon how it builds up each year.

“Everybody I spoke with was really happy with the way it went and what a fantastic location the town park is to hold it there.

“I think the reason it is becoming more popular is because of the general popularity of cycling and that more people are becoming aware of the event.”

As well as the event and attractions on Saturday, 170 people took part in Sunday’s bike ride which consisted of a mountain bike ride and a 10 mile family ride.

Mr French added: “A four-year-old boy called Henry, although he preferred being called Bugsy, managed to cycle 12 miles with his dad which is just incredible and it was good to see that so many children took part.

“A new attraction for this year was a course made from pallets called the “WarmyShore” that the children absolutely loved it, they asked ‘why can’t it be longer?’, and if we had the resources we would and maybe next year we can.

“We also managed to get Chris Froome’s uncle Jonathan Flatt, who ironically lives in Frome, to come and open the event for us but you never know maybe next year we can get Chris to come or we can get a celebrity to come along.”