A DALES town is gearing up for its first cycling festival which it is hoped will bring in bikers from all over the country.

Organisers of the first Sedbergh Cycling Festival and of the fourth Sedbergh CycloSportive have revealed the programme of events for this June’s event.

The fourth CycloSportive will be part of the town’s first two-day Sedbergh Cycling Festival on June 18 and 19. Riders will have the choice of two distances - 30 and 70 miles - in the Howgills, Eden Valley and the Yorkshire Dales.

Registration is from 7.30am at Sedbergh School off Loftus Hill, with the event starting at 9am from the Queen’s Hall and finishing on Lupton Fields. To register in advance, visit www.sedberghschool.org/foundation.

The cycling festival, also on Lupton Fields on Back Lane, will be open from 10am each day, with no entrance fee and only nominal charges for some activities.

Cyclists and families will have a choice of cycling activities and courses. Activities will include a grass track meet, mountain biking, watt bikes, races for children, trials cycle display team, a family treasure hunt and bouncy castles.

Food stalls include The Three Hares, Ellie’s Crêpes and Pancakes, Howgills Ice Cream and a hog roast, and there will be live music, a film, camping, and a bar and Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery.

Jacky Baines, event organiser and owner of No.6 Finkle Street and The Mad Hatter’s Tea Room, said: “The idea for this event, and from others planned for 2016, came from Sedbergh needing to reinvent itself and to find a way of complementing the ‘book town’ aspect of our tourism.

"We have some of the best mountain biking in the world here and are hoping to make this an annual event and put Sedbergh firmly on the map as a cycling destination.”

Richard Witt, Sedbergh School Foundation Director, said: “The 70-mile CycloSportive route includes the Côte de Buttertubs climb featured in the Tour de France in Yorkshire 2014, which is very challenging with more than 5,400 ft (2,000m) of ascent and a hilly route along nearly all of its length.

"The 30-mile route heads along Garsdale towards Kirkby Stephen, then to the Fat Lamb Inn at Ravenstonedale and back to Sedbergh.

"All entry fees and sponsorship money raised from the CycloSportive will go to the Roger Lupton Scholarships, providing a Sedbergh education for young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, and we have Sedbergh School cycling jerseys now available online.”