A YOUNG entrepreneur has won the contract to manage both of the North-East’s major mountain biking areas.

Vicky Griffin, owner of Purple Mountain, will run the new £250,000 Kielder Water and Forest Park bike centre, in Northumberland.

Ms Griffin, from North Yorkshire, already runs the cycle centre in Dalby Forest, near Pickering, North Yorkshire. The new Northumberland course, which opens on July 1, is the latest success for Ms Griffin, 34, who first started hiring out bikes for the North Yorks Moors when she was 17.

She started Purple Mountain with her partner, Chris Flintoft, who died of cancer.

They opened the Dalby Forest biking centre in 2006, which now employs 15 people.

Ms Griffin said: “Taking biking to new audiences has been one of our hallmarks and that is what we aim to do in Kielder.

“A key selling point for the area is the amazing wilderness feel you get when riding in the forest. It is something you link with places like Canada, but which Kielder also delivers in abundance.” Alex MacLennan, of the Forestry Commission, a member of the The Kielder Partnership, which awarded the contract, said: “Purple Mountain’s vision for the future matched ours in terms of ambition.”

The Kielder centre will provide bike hire, training courses, guided tours, corporate events and mechanical servicing.