CYCLING fans have taken on the mammoth task of organising a major Dales cycling event after the Etape Pennines was cancelled.

The community event will have three gruelling routes, including a 90-mile headliner through Weardale and Teesdale, named ‘The Winking Sheep’.

It has already gained wide-spread support with more than half of the cyclists needed to pull off the event already signing up.

The event is being led by Cameron Gordon, who runs Roof of England Cycling, in St John’s Chapel and hires out bikes at the Chatterbox Cafe.

He said: “The Etape has gone and we have got some of the best cycling roads in the county so it would be a crying shame if we did not have our own event.

“We have got all the towns and villages on the route involved too – it’s going to be the ride of people’s lives.”

The event has already been added to British Cycling’s official calendar and is due to be held on August 30, 2015.

The entry fee is £25 with participants having the option to donate and extra £10 which will be split between the event’s two chosen charities: Mountain Rescue and the Great North Air Ambulance.

For more information visit www.roofofenglandcycling.co.uk