After a poor result on the middle mountain bike orienteering race on Sunday I gave my place in the relay to Ifor who had ridden so much better the day before, and watched the relay, taking lots of photos and generally soaking up the atmosphere as Steph Fountain made her debut in a GB top taking over after a great ride by Andrew W.
The relay at World Cup races is a mixed team, 2 men and 1 women, the women riding the same length as the men! Strategy is still evolving with teams putting off their women either first or second, but of course still putting their big guns on the last leg ready for the inevitable head to head battles.
It makes for exciting racing with lots of chopping and changing of the lead, and rewards countries with strength in depth.
On the last leg it became a 4 way battle, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland andFinland. Coming out of the spectator control Kevin Haselburger had a 20-30 secs lead over Dane Eric Skovgaard Knudsen with the Finns and Swiss not far behind. Everybody rushed over to the finish tunnel to see who would crest the hill first. A very happy looking Eric coasted down the ramp from the last control, with a very frustrated Kevin just behind. Post race interviews by Maria revealed they had been swapping the lead all the way round the course, exciting stuff!
The minor event over it was time for the most important race of the day! The Italians had kindly agreed to let Danish rider/coach/organiser Johan Jacobson and I go out on the elite relay courses as soon as the winning riders were home rather than waiting till the afternoons open races. Cesare the event organiser insisted though that we did it properly getting us to lay our bikes down as in the relay for a proper showdown on gaffeled courses..
The Danish Team and the Brits lined up to watch us go. I got a good start but missed a track on the left opposite our hotel forcing me to go the long way round to number one. On the big climb from 2 to 3 I pulled Johan back in and passed him as he made some mistakes on the way to 5 before we turned for a leg across the map.
The idea of the race was for me to just enjoy it and finish the season with a good ride after the disappointment of the day before, though it didn’t make me any less competitive.
After a mad flat out high speed decent down the mountain road from the col, tyres howling on the tarmac, I made a mistake before the spectator control, it turns out the same as Kevin and Eric, missing a tiny track on the right forcing me onto a difficult to ride track working its way down a technical wooded valley bottom losing me time.
After a nicely taken 180 at the spectator control I gunned it for home but climbing the last hill could just see Johan ahead of me at the top just going into the town. Punching the last he was about 40 secs ahead. Great fun though and the sun had dried out the tracks around the vineyards making it much much faster.
Then came the standard rush to pack the bikes and head off to the airport and home but not before ice cream in the town square.
This weekend brings the first event in the Dark and White winter Mountain Bike Orienteering score series. Run from various locations all over The Peak District Dark and White have a reputation for well run events and accurate control placement.
