ENTHUSIASTIC bikers will be saddling up and tackling the Malvern Hills as part of a festival honouring a certain fellow cyclist - none other than renowned composer Sir Edward Elgar.

Arts organisation Malvern Fringe Arts is working with the Malvern-based English Symphony Orchestra and Malvern Hills District Council to put on a series of events for the Elgar Fringe Festival, taking place during the Elgar Festival.

The Fringe Festival - which runs from Thursday, June 1, to Saturday, June 3 - aims to involve the wider community by staging a series of theatrical and musical events through the centre of Great Malvern, leading from the central car park into Priory Park.

Now, organisers are planning to hold a bicycle race up the town's famous slopes, taking in Church Street in the heart of Great Malvern. Bike shop Mycycles, of Malvern's Worcester Road, has also teamed up to help pull in cyclists for the event, which is dependant on organisers being able to get a road closure order.

Arts development officer Manda Graham said it was an appropriate activity as Elgar was a keen cyclist himself. A lifesize bronze figure of the famous composer unveiled last year in Hereford depicts him resting against his Sunbeam bicycle.

Ms Graham said: "I think it's a fantastic idea - people are completely mad to do it, but it ties in with the Elgar theme, and the idea of the fringe festival is to give a twist on that - which this does. I think Elgar would have liked to see people attempt something he might like to have done."

The fringe festival is also set to feature a whole host of other events, including performances from the Singing Elgar Brothers and Singing Sous Chefs, with pupils from the area's schools producing murals for display in the town.

Meanwhile, the Elgar Festival itself runs from Tuesday, May 30, to Saturday, June 3, and involves a number of events.