A ‘Get Inspired Get Active’ weekend of cycling and sports activities are being lined up by Abbeycroft Leisure to celebrate the arrival in Bury St Edmunds of some of the top female cyclists in the world.

Bury St Edmunds has been chosen to host the finish of the five-day Women’s Tour on Sunday May 11, highlights will be shown on ITV4. The Tour, the country's first ever international stage race for women and supported in Suffolk by brewers Adnams, will see the very best British riders spearheading the race, including Olympic stars Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell and Dani King, who together won gold in the team pursuit at the London 2012 Olympics; and Lizzie Armistead, who took silver in the road race.

To celebrate, Abbeycroft Leisure, which manages Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centre in partnership with St Edmundsbury Borough Council, has lined up a host of activities in Charter Square and the Apex, in conjunction with Activating CIC. The weekend of activities, supported by Abbeycroft’s media partner the Bury Free Press, will be a celebration of cycling and sport and, in line with the aims of the Suffolk Most Active County campaign, hopes to encourage people to get back on their bike, explore the beautiful cycle paths of Suffolk and get active.

Bury St Edmunds may not have any mountains but mountain biking will be coming to the town. On Saturday 10 May from 9am to 5pm, there will be a portable mountain bike track called Total Trax in Charter Square offering children the chance to experience exhilarating off-road riding.

Rollerdrome, a unique new cycle sport founded on a hundred years of cycle roller racing tradition will also be in Charter Square. It offers four participants at a time to ride genuine track racing bikes and battle it out over a fast, furious and high energy 500m sprint. It’s for all ages and is the closet you can get to challenging Sir Chris Hoy at the Olympic velodrome at speeds up to 50mph while securely and safely never leaving the Rollerdrome stage. Each rider’s team is supplied with a megaphone to offer encouragement.

Plus cyclists are encouraged to bring their bike for a check up as Dr Bike will be in Charter Square carrying out bike maintenance and tune ups.

Then from 10.30am to 4pm on Sunday May 11, the day international cyclists cross the finish line on Angel Hill, Abbeycoft will be offering taster sessions of their Schools Out holiday camps (which take place at Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill Leisure Centres) including Dodgeball and Tri Golf. There will also be an opportunity to try out some of the activities in Abbeycroft’s new Explore Outdoor days including bread baking and camp fire cooking.

In The Apex, local sports clubs and health and wellbeing organisations will be showcasing what they have to offer in Bury St Edmunds and there will be a chance for children to try the arts and craft activities that feature in the Schools Out holiday camps including jewellery and mask making and drawing.

Alison Blackwell, Abbeycroft Leisure’s Development Director, said: “We want to celebrate the fact that Bury St Edmunds was chosen to host the finish line for the very first Women’s Tour by encouraging people in the community to come and try some activities they may not have done before. We want to make this weekend a celebration of cycling and sport, using The Tour as inspiration. Supporting Suffolk’s Most Active County aspirations, we want to encourage people to get out on their bikes to explore the fantastic Suffolk countryside, getting active and looking after their health and wellbeing as a result.”

As well as those hosted by Abbeycroft Leisure, there will also be activities on Angel Hill near the finish line on Sunday 11 May. Bury East West Safer Neighbourhood Team will be carrying out Cycle Security Marking and Cycle Suffolk with Suffolk Sport will be asking people to test their performance on their training Wattbikes. Plus British Cycling will be holding Go Ride (their development programme for young people) demonstrations including Go Ride girls team sprints.

Charter Square will also be the starting line of the Women on Wheels (WOW) charity ladies cycle ride on Sunday May 11 in aid of St Nicholas Hospice Care. Participants can choose from a short (5 miles) or long (20 miles) route through countryside cycle paths starting at 8am and 8.30am (sign in from 7am). The rides finish at the Abbey Gardens before The Women's Tour’s grand finish on Angel Hill. The ride will be fully marshalled and signed and is open to women and girls eight and over of all abilities. For more details visit and to register visit www.suffolksport.com/wow