World Cup Mixed Relay, Gdansk

I woke on Sunday morning with a voice like Barry White, sounding as if I had had a night out on the town. Not sure where it came from but the cobwebs soon blew away as I bumbled up to the relay event arena in the morning sun, chatting to John Houlihan about all things BMBO and discussing ideas to increase participation by UK Orienteering Clubs.

This was a first for me, a mixed sex relay where every team had to have at least one woman. Most teams seem to have put out their women on the middle leg but there were 8 dotted around in the 30 teams that were to start the race. There were safety worries about 30 riders all converging onto a small single track at once, particularly with a mix of men and women, plus the added complication of the masters start and finish located in the same place, but in the end people were careful and things went reasonable smoothly with no mishaps that I saw.

At go! I hung back a little intending not to get caught up in any incidents but got the map onto the board quickly in the Le Mans style start and got into a reasonable position in the pack as we descended the single track to the ‘map start’. At the start kite we split in 3 directions and I seemed to immediately get dropped off the back of a bunch, struggling to keep up with the furious pace set by the Czechs and Poles.

My control flow and navigation kept me in touch for a while but eventually I was riding alone. At this point coming into number 5 I spotted a route choice around through the start rather than straight and decided to give it a go on the way to 6. Though I wobbled when the track seemed to disappear I fell back on contours for nav and nailed the control. As I was coming out I realised I had just regained several places which got me fired up even more.

I got into a pack with Tobias from Austria (3^rd place in the middle race), Russia’s legend Ruslan Gritsan and Denmark’s Bjarke Refslund. I just could not believe I was mixing it with these guys and managing to stay in touch as the legs split and rejoined the courses gaffeling their way through the forest.

I took another good route alone down a very fast asphalt road which again pulled me up the field but disaster nearly struck. I thought it better to be on the asphalt track alongside the road as it would give me better visibility when trying to pick my track junction. As I zoomed right I suddenly saw a large step in from of me. I just managed to clear it with the font wheel and I clattered the back really hard on its edge. Luckily riding tubeless I had no pinch puncture problems but then I saw a flight of 3 steps back down. I

threw my weight back as far as possible, pulled back on the bars and hoped. Looking ahead there was more to come so I cut left through the bushes and rejoined the main track, counting myself lucky.

As we neared the spectator control I again fell off the back of the pack but I saw a better route out of a control than the others and rejoined it only to be dropped again on the climb.

I gritted my teeth and rode harder and harder. Every time the pack pulled away or disperesed on a gaffel I would wind them back in with better control flow but eventually nearing the number 18 the control I had messed up on yesterday I found it too much and it ended with just me and a Frenchman. His speed was superior to me on the asphalt road sprint to changeover but I’d had the best ride of my MTBO career, handing over to Em Benham on second leg in 8^th place. I collapsed over the line, incoherent and wobbly even keeling over as I tried to undo the map cover, but on a massive high. What was brilliant too was that the Danes and Austrians came over to congratulate me on such a plucky ride and a great result, 18km in 57 mins just 2 mins down on the leader and 1.5 mins behind the main chasing pack.

Then came controversy as the leading Danish team rider Rikke Kornvig came through the spectator control on a different bike. Apparently she like many others had lost her rear mech to the brashings and had been given a bike by an M50 competitor from the masters on the course. Unfortunately this is considered outside help and she was disqualified. I really felt for the Danes as they have had so many mechanicals and breakages this weekend between them and she had such a good lead. The bike she was loaned was real shopper and I’m sure it would have slowed her. Em kept the pressure on even though she was feeling sick that morning managing to hang on to 6^th place through spectator and dug in deep to hold it to the end, mixing it with some Swiss guys, their women having gone out on first leg.
The team knew before the start that GB rookie Bobby Smyth would not be in a position to put in the sort of performance needed on last leg, so for me and Em we were really happy with our result at the end of leg two and for Bobby the pressure was off and we told him just to go and enjoy himself. Unfortunately after a good start Bobby didn’t finish the course, losing his SI card before the spectator control.

Celebrations continued when Charlie and Sarah both came in 1^st from their

chasing starts to be crowned IOF World Masters Champions and Tony BB took advantage of mistakes by the riders in front of him in this pursuit chasing start to leap frog up to Bronze, a great result for them and British Mountain Bike Orienteering in general.

The World Masters next year is in Dalana, Sweden in June (Combined with a World Cup again), and British Masters in M/W 40, 50 & 60 should really consider the event. Sarah, Charlie, Tony, John, John, Bryan and Andy have shown that fitness gained on a diet of 3 hour score MBOs in the UK give GB riders in good chance against the Worlds best 40+ riders.