Bermuda Mountain Bike Champion Robin Horsfield will soon host a three-day clinic on island sponsored by the Fat Tire Massive.

While in his offseason from competing domestically in Canada, Horsfield will be back in Bermuda over the Christmas period and will be joining forces with fellow cyclist Conor White to hold a development camp sponsored by Fat Tire Massive from December 19 to 21.

“It will be great fun to be back on island and work with the next generation of mountain bikers,” said Horsfield. “I'm looking forward to working with my childhood friend and neighbour, Conor White, as we run development camps for the children.

“It wasn't too long into my own development that Fat Tire Massive took over the mountain bike programme and it is fantastic to be able to give back.”

Horsfield is returning off the back of an impressive campaign which included encouraging results at Canada Cup level, a sixteenth-place finish at the Junior Pan Am Games and a career-best second overall in the Ontario Cup Mountain Bike Series.

During his campaign, he gave an inspired performance at the Canada Cup in Whistler, where he fought from the back of the pack after being crashed into twice to rejoin the group and finish in a respectable 16th.

However, his best results have come at provincial level, where he has been able to dictate race pace for the first time in his career.

“We had targeted the Canadian National Series as a main season goal for this year but unfortunately two flat tyres and rain put a damper on this target early in the season,“ he added.

Coach Mark Brown is confident Horsfield is moving in the right direction in terms of his development.

“We have always held a long view that Robin has seen massive physiological development in the energy systems specific to mountain bike racing,” he said.

“This, combined with Robin's continued technical development, resulted in new abilities. He has always bought into the concept that excellence comes from surrounding himself with the best possible athletes. A first place means very little if you're not in the right race. That experience, which certainly includes a fair share of losing, is starting to pay off.”

After his winter break, Horsfield is targeting the Continental Championships to be held in Brazil in late April, which will be his only opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

As Bermuda does not have the depth of riders or points required to qualify a mountain biker for the Olympics, Horsfield must be the first athlete from North American countries who also have no Olympic quota to cross the line.

“While this year's qualification won't be easy, it doesn't take an inordinate amount of imagination to see it happening,” Brown said. “It's certainly far easier to imagine than rolling the clock back ten years to a little race at Fort Scaur and picturing where Robin is on the bike today.”