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NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood believes the league will be closing a circle by taking American football to Twickenham on Sunday.The home of English rugby will host the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants this weekend in the 16th NFL game to be played in London since 2007 - but the first to be played away from Wembley. Its really nice for our sport - born from rugby - to go back to its spiritual home, Kirkwood told Press Association Sport. It feels like were closing a circle.Sundays game will be the first non-rugby sporting event ever staged at Twickenham, an opportunity and a challenge for the stadiums managers.World famous amongst rugby fans, the Cabbage Patch will get a brand new audience when millions of NFL fans tune in to watch. This is an opportunity to put the stadium on a bigger map, Stephen Brown, the RFUs chief officer business operations, told Press Association Sport.Were very careful about the events we hold here. Theres a special nature to the sport we play. This is a first to hold another sport here but there is a good opportunity to have a sport which is similar to our own but is also something a bit different.We want to have big, high-quality events here and this is absolutely that, with a global impact.The game is also being seen as an opportunity to sell that new audience on rugby.We have an investment in US rugby and were helping them grow as a sport in the US market, Brown said.These are two sports with lots of big athletes kicking and carrying a ball so theyre not dissimilar and there are a lot of people who could be playing our sport within that market.This is an opportunity to engage with the US market and that ties in with our strategy.Getting this 107-year-old stadium ready for its NFL debut has been a significant task. From converting a bar area into a locker room big enough for a 53-man team to creating new disabled fan areas higher in the stands - the usual pitch-side ones would have zero visibility - rugbys Headquarters has undergone a minor facelift.Sunday is the first of at least three NFL games that will be played at Twickenham in the next three years - a number which could rise to five - and the investment is seen as a long-term deal.For fans who have been enjoying NFL games in London for a decade now, Sundays shift in venue offers something fresh.Twickenham is a very different venue to Wembley - a more compact stadium with less space around it - but the NFL is still keen to put on the full game-day experience, even if it will be different to what fans have come to know.It adds a few more wrinkles, but its really exciting, Kirkwood said of the challenges of moving somewhere new after a decade of honing the Wembley routine.Its kind of like starting again. At Wembley weve got a tradition and experience, but now we have a new challenge and we cant just do the same thing.Moving some games to Twickenham is part of the NFLs ongoing process of exploring all options in London, allowing it to increase the number of games played here in the short term and consider all the possibilities for a potential franchise in the long term. With Tottenhams new stadium due to enter the picture in 2018 as well, those options are increasing.We have had a great relationship with Wembley and continue to do so, Kirkwood said. Were really looking at this through the lens of having a stated ambition to play multiple games here every year. We need to have options so we can play whenever the schedule allows.With Wembley itself preparing for next weekends match-up between the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals, NFL UK has found itself helping two different London stadiums prepare to host games at the same time.Its crazy, Kirkwood said. When we started I could never have imagined playing multiple games or two games on back-to-back weekends. I certainly wouldnt have thought wed be playing at the two most iconic stadia in the UK. Steve Smith Jersey . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Keldon Johnson Jersey .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. https://www.cheapspurs.com/556j-john-beasley-jersey-spurs.html . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Lonnie Walker Jersey . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Moses Malone Jersey . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. ANGLET, France -- For many people, vacation means lying poolside or beachside, reading and relaxing. But for me, it meant biking through the French Pyrenees in a week-long race, taking in the famous climbs of the Tour de France with 400 others.It was agonizingly difficult, one steep, grueling mountain road after another. But it was also wonderful.The event was part of the Haute Route series, billed as the highest, toughest and most prestigious amateur cycling events in the world. The events take place annually in the French Pyrenees, French Alps and Italian Dolomites. A U.S. event is planned for the Rocky Mountains in June 2017.Haute Route events attract cycling-crazy folks from around the world of all ages and abilities. At the sharp end of the stick are aspiring or retired professionals, in the middle are fit cycling enthusiasts like me and at the bottom are people who signed up on a whim and may be regretting it. Some brave souls do all three European events, back to back, the so-called triple crown.My August trip to southwestern France was a 50th birthday present from my wife. I met up for the race with a friend, Paul ODonnell, also turning 50. Both of us race bikes regularly in the New York area and are, for our ages, very fit. This was to be a stiff test of our abilities: 500 miles (800 kilometers) with 65,000-plus feet (20,000-plus meters) of climbing. Each day wed burn 4,000 to 5,000 calories.The event began in Anglet in rainy weather. Then we hit the first major uphill of the day, the Col dAhusquy, a steep 8-mile (13-kilometer) ascent. Id never been on a climb this long and difficult before and found myself breathless and exhausted halfway up, wondering what Id gotten myself into.A quick pause and it was down the other side toward the days second and final climb, the Pierre St. Martin, a 10-mile (16-kilometer) climb through heavy fog, with visibility dropping to about 20 meters (65 feet), a blessing because you couldnt see the long series of switchbacks coming. It was quiet for long stretches but for the whirring of bikes and the riders breathing, with cowbells softly tinkling in the distance. A car or motorcycle engine would come and go and then you could focus on your own engine again -- heart, lungs, legs.Day two saw four climbs, all hard and long, with the Col DAubisque the killer, on and on (and then on some more) for 10 miles (17 kilometers). Exhausted, rationing water, stuffing down energy gels, controlling the breathing, I tried to focus. Sweat dripped into my eyes, stinging me onto another pedal stroke, and then another.Some might call it suffering, but for me it was cleansing, liberating, nothhing but effort and the road ahead.dddddddddddd The mind? Circling the wheel, wondering what was to come. And then I passed a one-legged, one-handed man on his bike, also making his way up. Hes Christian Haettich, a regular, who lost his leg and hand in a traffic accident as an adolescent and yet hes chugging away on some of the toughest climbs in Europe.At the top, the landscape was astonishing, massive mountains upholstered in green grass and trees like giant sleeping ogres. The Pyrenees, where Iberia smashes slowly into France.Dropping down like a marble, through tunnels bored through the rock, we descended into the valley. Cows lay nonchalantly by the roadside, big metal bells around their necks, a few pigs too and some sheep, guarded by large mountain dogs. We were warned not to approach the sheep lest the dogs mistake us for wolves and attack, as had apparently happened in previous years.And then to the base of the days final climb, the Col de Spandelles, just 6 miles (10 kilometers) long but with steeply graded ramps. Small groups of curious bystanders would form by the road, some clapping, some cheering us on.We went through the legendary Tourmalet climb, scene of epic battles in Tour de France races. Drink, drink, sweat, sweat and drink some more. More switchbacks, focus, OK, half a mile (1 kilometer) to go, pushing a bit harder and onwards, up and then down through majestic scenery, but always keeping an eye on the clock. Each day had a time cut off and if you didnt make it, youd be eliminated from the timed event and escorted to the broom wagon for a ride to the finish. The next day you could continue at your own pace, no longer timed.The final day was a mere 105 miles (169 kilometers), just one major climb and then mostly downhill through rolling farmland into Toulouse. And then it was over. We got our participant medals, then celebrated with pizza, soft drinks and later in Toulouse, a beer or two.Reflecting on the week, each day had seemed as punishing as the next, my whole body a slippery sinew of muscle turning and turning. But Id gradually adjusted to the effort, the fitness kicking in. What seemed like misery in the moment felt like triumph looking back. But would I trade a beach vacation for a week of pushing uphill again?Absolutely.---If You Go...HAUTE ROUTE: http://www.hauteroute.org . Event organizers can handle hotels, meals and other logistics for participants. Punto Tours -- https://puntotours.com/ -- offers a more upscale experience with personalized support. ' ' '