Although today was no less hot, we had some welcome respite in the forest where the middle distance race was held. The Australian camp was generally happier with their performances today, but the first mention has to go to Chris who got the first individual podium placing of Australian junior MTBO team when he finished 5th less than 2 minutes down on the winner, Krystof Bogar (CZE). Chris will write a bit of a summery of his race during the rest day tomorrow, but in the meantime I (Mel, again) can report that he had a smooth 43min 22sec ride, and he kept is speed manageably slow through the technical areas.
Tom also had a better ride although not without mistakes and finished 13th in 45:06, 4min 41 secs down on the winner. One of the most important things in MTBO is to not "let your legs get in front of your head" and often this means that you need to ride substantially slower than you are capable of so as to ensure that you don't overshoot or take a wrong turn. This is something that Marc has done really well in the last 2 days! Today he had a clean ride, but felt like he was going pretty slowly at times. He ended up in 21st position in a time of 46min 18sec. (Note here that he is a mere 1:12 behind Tom and 8 places back, the juniors are getting very competitive and tight). Heath and Karl ended up in 32nd and 36th, respectively.
The Australian senior men suffered from several errors. Steve was the best ranked finishing 68th a tad over 12 minutes back on the winner. Oscar and Ricky finished in 79th and 80th, respectively, within 13 seconds of each other. Finnish rider, Samuli Saarila, regained his world middle distance title in a time of 50:49, nearly a minute clear of Anton Foliforov (RUS). There was a tie for the bronze between Samuel Pökälä (FIN) and Jan Svaboda (CZE), who were both 4 seconds behind Foliforov.
The women's podium was an exciting mix of women, some of whom are previous podium placers and others who are more often in the 10th - 20th position. The middle distance champion is Ursina Jäggi of Switzerland who won in 46mins 40secs. Ingrid Stengaard (FIN) got silver, 55secs behind, and Nina Hoffmann (DEN) got bronze. The (orienteering style) podium was rounded out by Ramune Arlauskiene (LTU), Laura Scaravonati (ITA) and Gaelle Barlet (FRA). There was a mere 8 seconds separating 3rd and 6th position!!! I had a much better ride, however made a few errors that cost me 3-4 minutes in total. I ended up in 23rd position in a time of 46:26.
In the masters, Carolyn won the W50 by 1min 16sec which she says was mostly down to one particular route choice mid way through the course. We were stoked to be stand to the Australian anthem at the prize giving this evening, even if the flag was an interesting interpretation where the southern cross was standing upright when the flag was hanging vertically. The masters will be doing a (mostly) urban spring tomorrow in the local town of Balatonmadi.
Other placings in the masters were: Tamsin Barnes (9th, W40), Peter Cusworth (23rd, M40), Richard Robinson (40th, M50), Bruce Patterson (40th, M40 after some substantial mechanical issues). A special trans-Tasmin mention goes to Rob Garden who won the M60 category.
Again photos are being uploaded on Facebook and the official website has some video images from the races. Tomorrow is a rest day and relay is on Friday. The champs will conclude with the long distance final on Saturday.
Tom also had a better ride although not without mistakes and finished 13th in 45:06, 4min 41 secs down on the winner. One of the most important things in MTBO is to not "let your legs get in front of your head" and often this means that you need to ride substantially slower than you are capable of so as to ensure that you don't overshoot or take a wrong turn. This is something that Marc has done really well in the last 2 days! Today he had a clean ride, but felt like he was going pretty slowly at times. He ended up in 21st position in a time of 46min 18sec. (Note here that he is a mere 1:12 behind Tom and 8 places back, the juniors are getting very competitive and tight). Heath and Karl ended up in 32nd and 36th, respectively.
The Australian senior men suffered from several errors. Steve was the best ranked finishing 68th a tad over 12 minutes back on the winner. Oscar and Ricky finished in 79th and 80th, respectively, within 13 seconds of each other. Finnish rider, Samuli Saarila, regained his world middle distance title in a time of 50:49, nearly a minute clear of Anton Foliforov (RUS). There was a tie for the bronze between Samuel Pökälä (FIN) and Jan Svaboda (CZE), who were both 4 seconds behind Foliforov.
The women's podium was an exciting mix of women, some of whom are previous podium placers and others who are more often in the 10th - 20th position. The middle distance champion is Ursina Jäggi of Switzerland who won in 46mins 40secs. Ingrid Stengaard (FIN) got silver, 55secs behind, and Nina Hoffmann (DEN) got bronze. The (orienteering style) podium was rounded out by Ramune Arlauskiene (LTU), Laura Scaravonati (ITA) and Gaelle Barlet (FRA). There was a mere 8 seconds separating 3rd and 6th position!!! I had a much better ride, however made a few errors that cost me 3-4 minutes in total. I ended up in 23rd position in a time of 46:26.
In the masters, Carolyn won the W50 by 1min 16sec which she says was mostly down to one particular route choice mid way through the course. We were stoked to be stand to the Australian anthem at the prize giving this evening, even if the flag was an interesting interpretation where the southern cross was standing upright when the flag was hanging vertically. The masters will be doing a (mostly) urban spring tomorrow in the local town of Balatonmadi.
Other placings in the masters were: Tamsin Barnes (9th, W40), Peter Cusworth (23rd, M40), Richard Robinson (40th, M50), Bruce Patterson (40th, M40 after some substantial mechanical issues). A special trans-Tasmin mention goes to Rob Garden who won the M60 category.
Again photos are being uploaded on Facebook and the official website has some video images from the races. Tomorrow is a rest day and relay is on Friday. The champs will conclude with the long distance final on Saturday.
Congrats on beating your nemesis Carolyn. Congrats also to Australasian Rob Garden. Both will be the masters to beat on the 5th Cyclic Navigator come October (unashamed plug but this isn't the ABC).
ReplyDeleteGood recovery Steve. You were flying near the end - maybe too fast early on?
Enjoy your rest day teams but stay away from the Balaton wine. My experience is that it doesn't help orienteering performance.
Hail and sleet here today. I know where I would rather be riding :-)
Ride on, Ken and Anitra