Prize fund of €1,000 at ‘Thurles Halloween Criterium’ this weekend

By Brian Canty

It’s an end of season race with a difference and Visit Nenagh DMG team boss Rene Van Dam is optimistic for a good turnout at Sunday’s inaugural Thurles Halloween Criterium.

The event, which has been months in the planning, is part of a weekend-long programme of activities in Thurles and should attract a large attendance.

Several of the biggest teams in the country have been in touch and Van Dam is hopeful of a successful day, much like their own club ‘classic’ race earlier in the season, won by Timmy Barry.

“We’re looking forward to it now, everything is in place,” said Van Dam.

“It all came about really after the town was named as a European town of sport this year and we decided to run an event with a difference. The response has been good from riders and the management committee here. There was no bother in getting the streets closed down and that was quite unique because the town is quite a bottleneck and all the roads lead to Liberty Square and that’s where the race will be on.”

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The course is exactly 1.45 kilometres and will be run over 50 minutes plus five laps and is open to A1 up to A4 with a hefty prize pot of €1,000. The circuit itself is quite technical with a little drag.

Said Van Dam: “It’s a big ring job all the way. There’s very little wind on the circuit too so it should be quite fast.”

There will be live updates on the twitter page @DMGcycling throughout Sunday afternoon. Sign-on is from Hayes Hotel in Thurles with racing getting underway at 2.30pm.