It has been confirmed in the last 24 hours that the fourth Milntown Estate-based Isle of Man Cyclefest will not take place in 2019.

The cycling and lifestyle festival has grown incrementally since its inception in 2016 to become one of the island’s biggest events.

Hundreds of cyclists have taken part in various challenges and events during that time, while thousands more have attended the music and lifestyle element of the two-day festival on the outskirts of Ramsey.

The small organising team has taken the decision to have some time off from Cyclefest in 2019 after what they say has been a frenetic but enjoyable four years working on the festival.

But it has already been confirmed that the team will still deliver some major cycling events in the Isle of Man next year. Full details of the company’s plans for 2019 will be announced in the near future.

Paul Phillips, Cyclefest’s founder and director, commented: ’Isle of Man Cyclefest has been a wonderful journey to date and we are very proud of our achievements. We’ve given everyone a series of great festivals and superb cycle events.

’We’ve paid all our bills, delivered our sponsors everything promised and, hopefully, given the island another event it can be proud of in what is an already rich events calendar.’

More than 2,000 cyclists have taken part in competitive and non-competitive events, including several hundred from off-island, travelling from as far afield as Australia, Japan and the USA.

Named by the UK’s premier cycling publication, Cycling Weekly, as one of the top 10 ’must do’ events for three consecutive years, attendance figures grew to more than 5,000 by this year’s event, with a three-fold increase in under-16s attracted by a programme of live events for the whole family.

In its inaugural year, 2016, Cyclefest brought professional cycling back to the island for the first time in 13 years when hosting the opening round of the televised Pearl Izumi Tour Series. A dedicated hour-long programme on 2017 Cyclefest featured on the Bike Channel in 2017.

In total, Isle of Man Cyclefest has reached a cumulative media audience in excess of two million people and the prize fund for the competition events is among the biggest in cycling across the country, with equal prize money across men and women’s competitions.

’For personal reasons we are taking 2019 off to get our breath back,’ continued Paul Phillips. ’We still have a lot of other plans and the team behind Cyclefest will be putting on great Isle of Man events next year. We will be releasing details about them in the very near future.’

Cyclefest has also played host to a number of community cycling initiatives including the Big Ride with Rebecca House, Bike 4 Life cycling for the disabled and a number of primary school competitions including the high-profile Street Velodrome event.

It has hosted dozens of award-winning artists and groups with BBC Radio 2 play listers Wildwood Kin headlining 2018’s entertainment and local hero Davy Knowles returning to the island to star at Cyclefest 2017.

The 2016 and 2017 events both took place in the month of May, but this year’s was brought forward into April to avoid clashes with other events.

The organisers are keen to run Cyclefest during the schools’ summer holiday period, but this is already fill ing up rapidly with the Manx International cycling event likely to take place the first week in August next year, followed by the Royal Manx Show the following weekend and the Festival of Motorcycling all in quick succession.