Category: Sports

FOR biking enthusiasts the time to become passionate about the cycling championships has come round again.

Semur en Auxois, Cote d’Or, which staged the 7th stage of the 2007 Tour de France, is the venue for Les Championnats de France de Cyclisme sur Route (the French road cycling championships) which comes to Burgundy for the fifth time.

The championships run from Thursday, June 26 until Sunday, June 29, in Semur en Auxois itself and surrounding villages. This being the last chance for the professionals to achieve their best times before the Tour de France which starts on July 5.

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SEMUR en Auxois has spent weeks, if not months, preparing for its biggest moment of the year; the arrival of the Tour de France in this mediaeval town in the middle of Burgundy.

Every time we have recently visited the town something has been painted, cleaned, or flags erected, while road works have caused diversions, and souvenirs have been on sale.

So it was only natural that when the Tour is set to almost pass your front door you want to experience the fever that surrounds it.

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The world famous Crusaders Australian cricket team will be playing a 50 over match at Saumur, the nearest turf wicket to Paris, on Wednesday 27th June.

The Crusaders, international ambassadors for cricket, arrive in Europe on 8th June for a 42 day tour that will take in 31 cricket matches in six European countries.

Honorary Patrons of the Crusaders include Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and English chat show host Michael Parkinson.

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CLOSE your eyes and imagine spending a balmy summer’s afternoon listening to the thwack of leather against willow on the village green, the scent of newly mown grass, the cricketers in their whites and the interval for tea, writes Coral Luke.

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DRIVING up the narrow lane towards the top of the hill something large and brown caught my eye, was that a grizzly bear I saw stood at the edge of the forest?

A little further on and I saw a sign for the French national field archery championships that were taking place just outside Sarlat in the Dordogne. I breathed a sigh of relief.

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IT takes hours of map reading and meticulous attention to detail to ensure a successful Tour de France, and that’s just the spectators.

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FORMER Liverpool full-back David Burrows has set up home in the Dordogne and is even turning out for the local football team.

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SATURDAY afternoon in Villeréal and it is time for a game of pétanque, the classic French game.

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I TURNED and skied a shot high over the bar – I was finally playing football in France and loving every minute of it.

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