Lively Listowel celebrates 150 years

By Dave Thompson

LISTOWEL (Reuters) - If you lose money at the races in the small market town of Listowel in County Kerry don't worry -- there is still time to claw it back.

As you leave the track, you can pit your wits against the three-card trickster who sets up his tiny table on the pathway by the fast-flowing River Feale, flicking cards and 50-euro notes with impressive but alarming dexterity.

Then there is the man in shorts and a straw boater offering 75 euros to five for anyone who can ride his special bike for just 10 metres without falling off.

He can do it but you can't because fiendishly the front wheel turns the opposite direction to the way you point the handlebars.

Upstream, young men and women from the travelling community stand knee high in the river below the bridge leading from the track, soaking wet but unabashed.

They hold large, upturned, black umbrellas, shouting above the noise of the river their traditional plea: "Throw me down something."

Punters oblige, tossing down coins in a mixture of pity and goodwill as the beneficiaries struggle to keep the money in the umbrella and out of the water.

Just outside the track, there is the man with what looks like a home-made roulette wheel, a poor relation of the real thing, perched on a trestle table but attracting punters nonetheless.