Organised by Rare Management, the firm behind the mountain bike World Cup staged at Fort William, the new event is aimed at riders of all abilities from recreational riders and weekend warriors to pro endurance racers, and entries are now open for the competition which is being supported by the City of Edinburgh Council.

Riders will have the choice of three courses that all start and finish at Swanston Farm, and all include a wide variety of surfaces, gradients and technical challenges including a single loop of 47 kilometres that climbs and descends over 1,400 metres, a longer 78km distance and then a full 94km marathon which consists of two laps of the 47km loop.

All three routes will also include a climb that ascends 170m in one kilometre.

The final route map is still to be finalised, but competitors will ride from the edge of Edinburgh out into the surrounding hills and back along trails that consist of old droving routes, dirt roads, well-maintained wide trails and technical singletracks that criss-cross the Pentland Hills.

The new Edinburgh Pentlands Mountain Bike Marathon will see riders competing across some tough terrain on the outskirts of Edinburgh