Category: Competitions

Following the selection races at the weekend the Great Britain Team for the World and World Junior Championships 2010 this summer in Portugal has been announced.
Fortunately the selectors look to have taken into account my international results this year after my disastrous showing at the British Champs through injury and illness.

The Senior Team : 
Men – Ben Plowman, Andy Windrum, Andy Conn, Mark Stodgell.
Women – Emily Benham, Lucy Harris, Angela Brand-Barker, Beth Clayton.

The Junior Team:
Chris Brand-Barker and Helen Clayton

The team is a great mix of experience and new talent. It is also nice to see two Mother Son/Daughter line ups with Chris and Angela, Helen and Beth which gives the team a great story to take to Portugal.

The British MTBO champs moved back up north to Scotland this year. Ex-British Squad riders Phil Winskill and Janine Inman planned and organised the Middle race held at Drumlanrig Woods. Drumlanrig Castle and Country Estate is set in the beautiful rolling Dumfriesshire hills and was bathed in sunlight as we arrived. The views out from the castle over the estate’s parkland and forests were spectacular as a good turn out of Britian’s top riders met, awaiting their start times.

Following my crash two weeks ago, whilst competing in Hungary, my ribs had not really got any less painful (probably an indication of some cracks rather than bruising) and post British Orienteering Champs fatigue had left me feeling not in the greatest shape. A lurking chesty cough then materialized on Thursday, adding to the woe.

Starting the race I rode strongly up the first two hills, not feeling too bad, although splits show that those thaking the risky route along a difficult-to-ride track on the way to number 1 had much faster times. I rode cleanly until a mistake on an unmarked track at number 4 cost me perhaps a minute but it was after number 5 that I started to feel the effects of my chest. Splits show I lost time on the climbs up to 6 and 7, and I made a small, silly error on the way to 8 costing me another 30 seconds. At this point, eventual winner Killian Lomas came past on a mission. I managed to stay with him for a couple of controls but he slowly pulled away and, although my heart rate was not that high, there was nothing I could do about it.

The course dropped down into the parkland for the last few controls which took us through  grassy hollows off-track via some controls on ‘proper’ orienteering features to the finish. At the end my legs were like lead and I really struggled into the finish feeling quite downhearted at my performance, in fact my split to the finish from the last control was one of the slowest. Downloading although obviously disappointed with 8th I was cheered by the fact that I wasn’t too far behind and given my condition.

I went back out for a bumble warm down to collect controls and enjoyed the lovely scenery some more, before heading back down the M6 for a comfy bed rather than camping,  to get ready for Sundays long race……

results http://www.janineandjase.plus.com/british2010.html

This weekend will take the cream of the UK’s Mountain Bike Orienteering competitors north to compete in both a middle and a long distance race in the Scottish Borders. Organised by club FVO, the Middle race will be held at Drumlanrig, an area new to MTBO, and the Long on the Sunday will be held at Mabie, part of the Seven Staines group of forests famous for their mountain biking trails.

The British Championships are also the final selection race for the British Team, so competitors will also be looking to the results with interest to see who will be picked to represent Great Britain at the World Championships in Portugal in July.

http://www.bmbo.org.uk/calendar/details.php?event_id=78

http://www.bmbo.org.uk/calendar/details.php?event_id=77

Well Hungarian TV, and they chose me as the hero shot for the webpage !

After a fitful nights sleep on bruised ribs and scraped arms and legs, I decided that I just wanted to finish the long race and not come last.

The start finish area was the same as the middle distance race, so up the hill again on the ride to assembly, but it seemed to take longer and felt tougher this morning. The weather was, again, glorious sunshine and blue skies as the riders lined up for the mass start with a plane circling overhead to film us. We were wearing DAG timing chips on our shoes as well as the usual SI and these were studiously checked by marshals on the way in.

We dumped our bikes in predetermined zones by race number and then walked back about 75 metres to the mass start line, where we lined up next to our upturned maps waiting for the countdown. On “Go!” all 70-odd of us careered over the meadow to our bikes and we were off. There were a few elbows but we all got away cleanly towards the start flag some 400m distant. At this point the gaffling (gaffle is the Swedish work for forking) took over, and the pack split in to 3 streams of riders to the 2 first controls via various route-choices some 3km distant uphill all the way.

I settled into a steady rhythm for the 15 minute climb tucked in behind a German, and apparently Andy Conn was the rider tucked in behind me the whole way up. On the way to number two my horrendously squeaky front brake unfortunately scared a group of horses we came across. The riders quickly brought it under control and we were off again but I decided on a route to number 3 avoiding another encounter. The tricky ‘dangerous’ descent from the middle race featured again today twice but a good line was forming on it and I rode it cleanly without incident. Out of number 5 I opted for a navigationally dangerous cut through which paid off fantastically, bringing me ahead of a group of top 20 riders who had just dropped me. Then it was a blast downhill towards the village. Unfortunately, Andy and I plus about 5 other riders started racing at this point forgetting the gaffleing and consequently everybody made a mistake. Mine was probably worst losing perhaps a minute as I relocated and found the control, but It was my only mistake of the race.

Andy pulled ahead at this point as I had a leg which took slightly longer but it was neck and neck.

We then looped through the start finish area and changed maps before attempting the other gaffled course first control, again a 15 minute climb. I started a cat and mouse game with a Russian who kept pulling ahead on the climbs only to make little errors allowing me to catch up. I’m sure I saw him thump the handlebars when I over took him again at one point 🙂

From 3 to 4 on the second loop, I again chanced a big forest cut though contouring and, agai,n it paid off pulling back in some riders who had just dropped me after I stopped to “mark my territory”.

I started racing again when I caught a small group, and was replaying a mantra in my head ‘ride your own race, ride your own race’ which seemed to work and I managed to overtake them and pull away without incident.

Turning the map over again as I punched the last control of the second loop I noticed two things: one, the last loop was short and technically difficult in terms of navigation, and two, Andy Conn was 10 metres in front of me!

I knew this was my chance and luckily I held it together in the complex network of tracks and open areas and managed to cleanly ride the next 4 controls pulling ahead of him by a couple of minutes.

The planner had an ace up his sleeve, however, with a really tricky second last control, which had people riding all over the place. I ended up half running half falling down a horrendously steep bank in a bid to stay ahead of the chasing pack which seemed to work. I had a final wobble on the way to the finish when, frantically trying to read the map at speed, I finally wiped a blob of mud away from the map-board to discover the location of the last control and the taped finish funnel, though lost about 20 secs in the process.

I gunned the run in and practically collapsed over the line to download thinking I was racing someone for the line (I wasn’t I suspect my shadow was tricking me). Considering my state at breakfast I was very pleased with the way I rode and was elated with 38^th place.

Em had a fantastic ride to take 7^th. Andy lost nearly 3 minutes to me on the last few controls and came in 43^rd. Sarah came in a very tired 42^nd.

After packing our bikes we all headed for a well earned Pizza on the lake front before driving for our flights with very tired legs.

An early slot in the start lists meant I was one of the first up to the start/finish area, situated on a grassy plateau a few kilometres above the town.

The map for today was a continuation of yesterdays sprint map, but this time at 1:15,000. We started in grand style on a podium with Maria commentating and the off was straight into the most technical area of the sprint map. I immediately made a small mistake which, unfortunately, probably lost me nearly 2 minutes as I faffed and took the wrong track descending to far down towards the houses and on the way to the next control saw my 3 minute man (the next rider in the start list) coming the other way. I focused and didn’t let it affect me though and rode strongly to the next, though a wobble in the circle lost me a few precious seconds in the dense network of tracks.

Planning ahead it was obvious this wasn’t going to be a classic middle race, more of a “short long”, with lots of climb and big route choice legs. I started riding quite well after the wobbly start and pulled in a group of early starters. I think made some OK route choice decisions, though its difficult to tell until the splits are available later tonight.

We had one very steep descent which had caution signs, and we had been warned about it in the team briefing the night before as being dangerous. I was skidding down it wondering what the problem was when at the bottom saw there was a drop off through a drainage ditch across the track ! I threw my weight back and hopefully the watching photographer got a reasonable shot of it, though I suspect he was looking for fallers!

I rode the next 4 or 5 controls cleanly but chose the long route choice option round on the long leg, avoiding the climb (as did Andy Conn). I’m sure the really strong riders would have gained time on this leg by going straight, but, for me, I think it was the right decision. Then came my “highlight” of the race….

Going flat out on a level landrover track I had a massive accident. I think my crank/pedal caught on a strand of fencing wire which was strung across the track in the grass. Needless to say the bike stopped but I didn’t taking a huge dive, superman style, over the handlebars to land some 10 feet away from the bike in a crumpled heap. For about 10 seconds I though I’d really hurt myself, winded and struggling to move, but as seems to be normal on these occasions I tried first my arm then my head and then finally I staggered back to the bike to disentangle it from the wire.

A bit dazed I cruised the next two controls fairly slowly and carefully before opening up the legs heading for home crossing the finish line and into quarantine where early starters have to wait until all other competitors have started. By this time the blood from a small cut on my chin had made me look probably far worse than I was, and organiser, Sandor, lined me up in a row of three riders, all waiting for the doctor to patch up. He looked at all three of us and decided I warranted attention 2^nd, triage being what it is! After cleaning up my various cuts the spray he applied to the scrape/lump on my arm hurt more than the original injury !

I felt a bit groggy for a while but after quarantine was opened I had a big bowl of goulash (served from a huge witches style cauldron) and bread which seemed to sort me out.

 

 

The sprint race was held 2 km from the event centre, in the low cultivated hills and urban edge of the town. A stiff climb up to the start meant that there was a significant net descent on the course, which finished with a mad dash through the streets.

I got a great start and nailed the first control, but lost loads of time on the second. Thinking I had overshot after blasting down a road, I went in too early on an unmarked track but relocated very quickly after spotting a very small quarry. I still lost perhaps a minute, though.

I was good through number three, confidently riding the rocky ‘dangerous’ descent for the TV cameras, but lost time near control 4, again taking an unmarked track which I should have noticed was wrong. I eventually extracted myself from the undergrowth (with a great big stick through the front mech) and headed out into the grassland section where I picked up some time riding and navigating well. I made one final error before the sprint for home, missing seeing a fence on the map and tried to cut through to a road, only to be forced back round losing time.

I rode the town section cleanly and avoided mispunching the control that caught so many others out.

I sprinted for the line overcooking the braking and managed a spectacular punch with rear wheel still in the air.
Looking at the results I was pleased to see I was well inside the top half in 30^th position, my best international result to date.

Em had a solid ride to take 12^th, Sarah, 36^th and Andy Conn beat me by 40 seconds, making only two small mistakes to take 25^th.

Results should be available at www.mtbo.hu

 
Well, after a roller coaster of emotions over the last 6 days with the ash cloud closing UK airspace, it looks now like I might actually make it to this event so here is a quick preview.

I should be flying out Thursday morning from Luton  all being well with the changes to the flying regulations. Em Benham is on her way already by train to make sure of getting to the event! The World cup consists of a Sprint on Friday, Middle race on Saturday and a mass start Long on Sunday.

With 500 people competing at the open pubic events the atmosphere should be fantastic. More details http://www.mtbo.hu/ . It’s just a big shame some of entered British riders have had their flights cancelled & won’t make it.