MARK Cavendish has donated his Green Jersey from this year's Tour de France to a new exhibition which celebrates the sporting achievements of athletes from the Isle of Man.

The cyclist has sent the iconic piece of memorabilia to Manx National Heritage who will exhibit it at the Our Sporting Life exhibition which opens at the Manx Museum on Saturday.

The exhibition, which will run until 2012, celebrates the achievements of the Island's modern sports stars as well as revealing sporting heroes and events from years gone by.

Katie King, curator for the exhibition, said: "Over the past year we have been busy interviewing athletes and sporting heroes about their commitment to their chosen sport and have gathered some inspirational stories.

"The exhibition will celebrate sport on the Isle of Man through focusing upon these individual stories using personal accounts, photographs, film and of course some amazing objects.

"We realised early on that there is a mind blowing amount of sport happening on our small Island and we hope we have captured the spirit of this in the exhibition."

Exhibits on display will include Cavendish's Tour De France stage winning road bike from 2008 and his Commonwealth gold medal, Zoe Gilling's Olympic snowboard outfit, David Knight's World Championship winning motorcycle, Ian Sharpe's Paralympics medals for cycling and the Isle of Man Football Associations' Hospital and Railway Cups.

Elements of the exhibition will change over the course of the year to tie in with events in the sporting calendar. To start with the exhibition will focus on the Commonwealth Games, the youth version of which are being held in the Isle of Man next month, and the success of Manx cyclists on the world stage.

Katie continued: "The Isle of Man has a fantastic Commonwealth Games record and a fascinating story to tell. We sent our first team to the games in 1958, and against all expectations, cyclist Stuart Slack won a bronze medal in the men's road race. The team returned to the Isle of Man as conquering heroes, the popularity of cycling soared and we have sent athletes to the games ever since. 

"Together with the Commonwealth story we will also be exploring the Isle of Man's unique relationship with cycling. The amazing success of Mark Cavendish has gripped the nation in recent years but we have been producing top cyclists on the Island since the 1950s and continue to produce cyclists with the potential to follow in Cav's wheel tracks. The Manx cycling phenomenon is a truly captivating story."

Our Sporting Life will open to the public at 10am on Saturday, September 3, at the Manx Museum.