On October 2nd, Famalicão will receive the best national road athletes. The Famalicão-Joane race, organised by Associação Teatro Construção, has a new layout and will count for the National Road Championships, of the Portuguese Athletics Federation. Entries are open until 27th September, on the federation website at www.fpacompeticoes.pt.  Around two thousand national athletes, amateurs and professionals, are expected in the race.

The Famalicão-Joane race, which is in its 22nd edition, contemplates a 10km race, contrary to the usual 12km that used to link the city of Famalicão to the town of Joane. It will be disputed in a round-trip circuit with start and finish at Parque da Ribeira, in Joane. In parallel, there will be a 3,3km walk from the parish of Vermoim and a bike tour between Famalicão and Joane.

The presentation of the XXII Famalicão-Joane took place yesterday, the 20th, at Paços do Concelho, and was attended by representatives of the organizing entity, as well as institutional partners, among them, the Portuguese Athletics Federation (FPA), the Athletics Association of Braga and the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão.

The organisation of the event, represented by Ivânia Fernandes, president of the association, showed confidence in the success of the initiative and explained the changes in the racecourse and race timetables, due to the integration in the National Road Championships. As far as the 10km race is concerned, "the course will be different this year, the start and the finish line will be in Joane", while "the Bike Tour, which was the last race to start, will be the first, at 9h00, keeping the start in the city".

"The Portuguese middle distance is not what it used to be, but it still has a great tradition in our country, namely in the North (...) the main clubs of the country will be here, represented with their best athletes", underlines Jorge Vieira, president of the FPA, who also referred that this is "a virtuous cooperation" and that the fact that this is "a race that already has credits and established, (...) (is) a guarantee for the Portuguese Athletics Federation that we will have our athletes well delivered".

The Councillor for Sports, Pedro Oliveira, highlighted the importance of the event in the national panorama, highlighting that it is "an event with tradition, not only in the municipality, but also in the district and in the country (...) a draw for the best national athletes". The councillor also highlighted the importance of the competition in what concerns the promotion of the territory, as it is an initiative that "unites the recreational and the competitive component" through the existence of "a walk and a bike course, (which) give a relevant dimension to this initiative, adding the fact that it crosses the city of Famalicão and covers various parishes of our municipality". 

The National Road Championships have been held since 1990, having already passed through 25 different places in Portugal. This is the second season that ATC organizes the Famalicão-Joane race within the National Road Championships. The first happened in 2004/2005. It is ATC's ambition to organize more races to count for the national calendar, in order to give notoriety to this sporting event.

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