He may be small, and may not have pedals but this little lad is the wheel deal.

Charlie Firth, three, wowed his parents at the Strider Cup British Bike Balance Championships in Manchester on September 22 - coming second in the national final and beating 70 fellow bikers in the heats.

Delighted dad, Neil, 35, said: "I'm proud of him, we were proud of him for getting to the final but when he was chasing after the leader I was thinking 'go on lad, go for him'."

Neil says they showed Charlie, of Princess Street, Cudworth, a video of the competition and he said he wanted to have a go.

They bought him a cheap bike as a birthday present last year to see if he liked it and opted for a proper balance bike as a Christmas present.

"He absolutely loves it," said Neil.

"He's a bit of a daredevil, he takes after his mother. We expected him just to go and enjoy it but he was absolutely brilliant. I know we're biased but we never expected him to take second place. He's only been doing it 12 months."

And a love of biking runs in the family, Neil says he was a keen motocross rider and met his wife Emma, 31, through the hobby.

He started competing at the age of nine and gave it up when he became a dad.

But Charlie enjoyed it that much he already wanting to hit the track again, asking his nannan if he can climb back on his bike.