The long qual today was run in a largely open area, and with the temperature rising to about 36 degrees there were many riders who suffered physically and mentally in the heat. The Australian team had mixed results.
In the senior classes only Steve and myself (Mel) qualified to the A/final which will be run on Saturday. Steve had was one of the very first starters off this morning. This was potentially a big disadvantage because of the tracks that form quickly through the open grassland areas where we are allowed to cut across. Steve rode safely to secure his place in the A/final. He estimated that he had about 3 minutes worth of errors and gained himself some nice scratches on his legs to prove it. Oscar and Ricky were disappointed to narrowly miss the A/final, when they finished 22nd and 24th respectively. I had a couple of minor errors, but managed to pick some good route choices and rode into 3rd place in my heat. The women's qualification is not as hotly contested as the mens given there are fewer riders, so the pace is a lot more relaxed. However, I was hoping to get a later start and am pleased that the last 3 weeks in Cyprus have reset my understanding of what is hot.
The junior men also had a qualifying race today with 2 heats and 30 going through from each heat. Tom again demonstrated his ability to step up the navigation and speed in the big races and finished 2nd in his heat, not far behind one of the Czech junior men. Chris also qualified comfortably despite a couple of mid race errors, placing 16th in his heat. Marc had some large errors towards the end of the race and so will be starting earlyish on Saturday. Karl felt like he had an "ok" ride, qualifying in 28th position in his heat. Heath has learnt a hard lesson today after he finished, only to find he had mispunched one of the controls in the open area. He is, of course, disappointed and will be double checking all numbers from now on!
For those of you who haven't discovered this yet: there is live results and streaming of commentary available via the official website (see link above). There will also be GPS tracking, however this will not go live until 13:00 (9pm AEST) to ensure that competitors can not see the course prior to entering the start quarantine area.
Start times for the sprint - local times (AEST in brackets):
First start is 11:00 (7pm)
Ricky: 11:43 (7:43pm AEST or 5:43pm Perth time)
Marc: 11:59 (7:59pm)
Chris: 12:25 (8:25pm)
Heath: 12:29 (8:29pm)
Tom:12:53 (8:53pm)
Oscar: 13:05 (9:05pm)
Karl: 13:21 (9:21pm)
Mel: 13:34 (9:34pm)
Steve: 13:41 (9:41pm)
An finally, in the news from the masters competition: It gets underway on Wednesday. In the meantime we are all cheering that Carolyn Jackson received her bike today after it went for a journey (to goodness knows were) courtesy of Qatar Airlines.
Photos are being put up regularly on Facebook, as are comments throughout the day.
In the senior classes only Steve and myself (Mel) qualified to the A/final which will be run on Saturday. Steve had was one of the very first starters off this morning. This was potentially a big disadvantage because of the tracks that form quickly through the open grassland areas where we are allowed to cut across. Steve rode safely to secure his place in the A/final. He estimated that he had about 3 minutes worth of errors and gained himself some nice scratches on his legs to prove it. Oscar and Ricky were disappointed to narrowly miss the A/final, when they finished 22nd and 24th respectively. I had a couple of minor errors, but managed to pick some good route choices and rode into 3rd place in my heat. The women's qualification is not as hotly contested as the mens given there are fewer riders, so the pace is a lot more relaxed. However, I was hoping to get a later start and am pleased that the last 3 weeks in Cyprus have reset my understanding of what is hot.
The junior men also had a qualifying race today with 2 heats and 30 going through from each heat. Tom again demonstrated his ability to step up the navigation and speed in the big races and finished 2nd in his heat, not far behind one of the Czech junior men. Chris also qualified comfortably despite a couple of mid race errors, placing 16th in his heat. Marc had some large errors towards the end of the race and so will be starting earlyish on Saturday. Karl felt like he had an "ok" ride, qualifying in 28th position in his heat. Heath has learnt a hard lesson today after he finished, only to find he had mispunched one of the controls in the open area. He is, of course, disappointed and will be double checking all numbers from now on!
For those of you who haven't discovered this yet: there is live results and streaming of commentary available via the official website (see link above). There will also be GPS tracking, however this will not go live until 13:00 (9pm AEST) to ensure that competitors can not see the course prior to entering the start quarantine area.
Start times for the sprint - local times (AEST in brackets):
First start is 11:00 (7pm)
Ricky: 11:43 (7:43pm AEST or 5:43pm Perth time)
Marc: 11:59 (7:59pm)
Chris: 12:25 (8:25pm)
Heath: 12:29 (8:29pm)
Tom:12:53 (8:53pm)
Oscar: 13:05 (9:05pm)
Karl: 13:21 (9:21pm)
Mel: 13:34 (9:34pm)
Steve: 13:41 (9:41pm)
An finally, in the news from the masters competition: It gets underway on Wednesday. In the meantime we are all cheering that Carolyn Jackson received her bike today after it went for a journey (to goodness knows were) courtesy of Qatar Airlines.
Photos are being put up regularly on Facebook, as are comments throughout the day.
Great work team. Good that you had some cool weather for the race.
ReplyDeleteRiding in a heat turned out to be an appropriate term. Lets hope for at least a tad cooler weather today. Look forward to wtaching Steve and team. All the best from Ken & Anitra Dowling
ReplyDelete