Tributes honour Sudbury cyclist who died in crash as 'one of the greats'
Tributes have poured in for a veteran Suffolk cyclist, who has been hailed as an inspirational figure, after he lost his life in a traffic collision last week.
Leonard Finch, of Chilton, near Sudbury, died on the afternoon of Thursday, May 17, following a collision with a lorry while riding his bike in Great Waldingfield.
Emergency services were called out to the scene of the crash in Lavenham Road shortly before 3pm, and administered medical treatment, but the 86-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Finch, known to friends and family as Len, was best known as one of the founding members of Cycle Club Sudbury (CCS), which he had been actively involved in for many years, and he continued to participate in time trial events well into his 80s.
A statement issued on behalf of his family said: “Len was always a great help and inspiration to all of us.
“He was always cheerful and friendly and would do anything for anyone – provided it was to do with cycling
“Len lived for his cycling. He raced throughout his life and was still breaking records into his 80s.
“He was truly one of the greats.”
At the time of his death, Mr Finch was the oldest active time trial cyclist in Suffolk, and had been due to kick off his 2018 season as one of nine CCS riders taking on the ECCA 10-mile Time Trial on the E2 in Newmarket on Saturday.
The CCS riders assembled to observe a minute’s silence at his scheduled start time of 3.09pm and then “wished him a good ride” as a mark of respect.
The group were inspired to produce record-breaking times, including the CCS team 10-mile record, which was broken by 18 seconds by Leon West, Damon Day and James Rush.
Darren Rule, CCS chairman and road race secretary, said: “Len was a keen cyclist all of his life, starting in the 1940s and 1950s when he competed in cycle speedway on the wastelands of London left by the Blitz.
“Although in his 80s, he still competed regularly in open time trials and holds a number of the club’s age-related records.
“He had officially been a veteran rider for 46 years.
“Any of you who were fortunate enough to have met Len will know what a lovely man he was and he will be sorely missed by his family and all of us at CC Sudbury. He is a real loss to the wider cycling community.”
Following the collision on Thursday, Lavenham Road was temporarily closed while a crash investigation was carried out.
Officers from Suffolk Police are continuing to investigate the possibility that Mr Finch’s bicycle crashed into a stationary lorry.
Officers are keen to obtain any dashboard camera footage of anyone who was travelling on the B1071 between Lavenham and Sudbury, between the times of 2.30pm and 3pm.
Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is urged to contact the serious collision investigation team by telephoning 101, quoting the incident reference code CAD 221 of May 17.
