On January 19, 1903, a new event, the Tour de France, was announced in L’Auto – a French cycling paper. On July 1, 1903, the first Tour de France began in the village of Montgeron – with stops in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, and Toulouse – and ended in Ville d’Avray. In 2022 the tour had 21 stages - 6 flat, 7 hilly, 6 mountain and 2 time trials - so it really tests the strength and endurance of the athletes.
Because it is such a test, issues with performance enhancing drugs have damaged the reputation of the race in recent times. On this day in 2013 Lance Armstrong, who won the race 7 times, admitted to using in all of his wins.
Loving God,
we seem to love to push the boundaries of what the human body can achieve and daily we hear of extraordinary feats of strength and endurance in many different fields.
We ask that people resist the urge to win at all costs.
We pray that as sport becomes more and more a business with huge rewards, the sense of fair play will not be lost.
Amen
By Fr Pat O'Shea - Lower Hutt
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