In December 1882 Mr Finn announced that he was preparing an athletics ground on which he would promote a fete and gala on Whit Tuesday. Mr Finn rented land at the junction of Wincheap Street and Hollow Lane and he constructed an athletics ground opposite the Canterbury Waterworks at Thanington. The ground was 220 yards square and excavated to provide a flat sports area within a natural amphitheatre, there was a quarter mile ash bicycle track, thirty feet wide, which was the first purpose made bicycle track to be built in East Kent.
Mr Finn's new athletics ground opened on Whit Tuesday 1883 and the Canterbury fete was held and on the same day as the St Lawrence Cricket ground fete. The sports and amusements at Mr Finn's were attended by over 13,000 people, who watched pedestrian and bicycle racing. There was a two miles bicycle handicap race and Mr H Sturney of Coventry won the one mile tricycle handicap race. The amusements were a steam roundabout, a circus, waxworks, shooting gallery, swing boats and dancing to a military band. After the event, Mr Finn presented the Kent and Canterbury Hospital with sum of twenty guineas as a token of his appreciation for the public support that he received. Canterbury Cycle Club was founded 1877 and they held a mid-week meeting on August 2nd 1883 at Mr Finn's.
The Whitsun event was held again the following year and lasted over Whit Monday and Tuesday. There was bicycle racing on both days and Mr Finn hired Ethardo ‘of Crystal Palace fame' who ascended a fifty foot spiral and then descended the ramp standing on a ball and propelling it with his feet. The attendance was high, five thousand on Monday and fifteen thousand on Tuesday.
The cinder track was improved before the 1884 season to correct ‘the defects'.
The Friendly Societies Fete in August 1884, H Boyton of the Ramsgate CC won the one mile tricycle race off scratch. The Ramsgate CC annual race meeting was held at Finns on September 23rd 1884 which featured four bicycle races including a 5 miles Championship race, and three tricycle races. Canterbury CC held their championship meeting on September 25th 1884. Ramsgate CC held a club event on 23rd July 1885. The Canterbury CC held their President's Cup meeting on September 8th 1886 and it was reported that the cinder track had recently been sown with grass.
The Canterbury Times dated October 4th 1887, carried an advertisement for the sale of land "a portion of which is now known as the County Athletic Grounds." Mr Finn continued to promote events at the ground for over a decade after the date of the advertised sale. Mr Finn continued to hold sports meetings at the ground after 1887.
In August 1888, Mr Finn promoted horse racing at the ground. The Canterbury fete continued to be held at Mr Finns ground on Whit Tuesday 1889 and drew a crowd of 14,000. The main attraction was an American parachutist, who jumped from a balloon at 600 feet and there were sports with two bicycle races. John Keen raced against a horse at the Rural Fete and Sports meeting on Whit Tuesday 1891.
The Whit Tuesday Canterbury fete was advertised up to 1900 and the sports included running and bicycle races. This was probably the last time that bicycle racing took place at the ground and indeed no other use of the ground was reported in the press. The site of the old ground is now occupied by Cow Lane Retail Park and Industrial Estate.