Chris Firman  (Qld) made history by being Australia’s first individual JWOC MTBO podium placegetter with his 5^th in the middle championships yesterday in Hungary.  He was also  in our history making relay team that placed 5^th in 2010.    What a great result in the 65 person field that has increased dramatically in depth since the Jwoc’s inception!   Chris has travelled extensively to our national series and also to New Zealand to get competition and this fine result is a pleasing reward.   Chris was an early starter and actually was leading until the last starting group came through with some faster times.    The winner Czech’s  Krystof Bogar was a dual gold medal winner in 2011.  All our other junior boys raced well also, showing tremendous fitness on the fast, physical course and  in very hot conditions.

Melanie Simpson also rode excellently being just 4 minutes from a medal although in 23^rd place. Overshooting a turn-off to control 8 cost her almost two and a half minutes, but other than that she was riding as fast as the top women.    Switzerland’s Ursini Jaggi won her first gold medal.   Finnish rider Susanna Laurila was initially thought to have won but had punched a men’s control in a detailed area near the finish .   Quite a few riders “lost” a minute or so on an unmarked track towards the end of the course, which was quite a topic of debate.

With the courses being more physical than technical, with relatively few route choice headaches it was no surprise that the stronger male riders dominated the medals.    Finland’s Samuli Saarela added another gold to his collection ahead of Russian speedster Anton Foliforov, whilst there was a tie for 3^rd place.    Steve Cusworth was our best but had a variety of  mistakes that interrupted his flow.

There was further excitement when the Jackson name won gold also today.  This time it was Carolyn Jackson who had a strong win in W50.

There is a rest day tomorrow with the Championships resuming on Friday with the relays which are again being held in the open terrain, as utilised in the sprint.

I’m sure that there will be some interesting write ups in the team blog –http://ausmtboteam.blogspot.com.au

Jwoc men

1 Krystof Bogar      Czech Rep   41:25

2 Taaniel Tooming    Estonia      42:05

3 Grigory Medvedev   Russia      42:17

4 Marcell Horváth    Hungary      43:02

5 Chris Firman       Australia     43:22

6 Cedric Beill         France           43:35

13 Tom Goddard                         45.08

21 Marc Gluskie                          46.18

32 Heath Jamieson                      49.21

36 Karl Withers                          50.55

Elite women

1 Ursina Jäggi       Switzerland       46:40

2 Ingrid Stengard    Finland            47:35

3 Nina Hoffmann      Denmark       48:42

4 Ramune Arlauskiene Lithuania    48:44

5 Laura Scaravonati      Italy           48:46

6 Gaelle Barlet           France          48.48

23 Melanie Simpson                       52.26

42 Marquita Gelderman   NZ          57.25

58 Christine Browne   NZ               66.50

Elite men

1 Samuli Saarela     Finland     50:49

2 Anton Foliforov    Russia      51:42

3 Samuel Pökälä      Finland     51:46

3 Jan Svoboda        Czech Rep   51:46

5 Ruslan Gritsan     Russia         52:18

6 Jussi Laurila      Finland         52:19

68 Steve Cusworth                    62.54

79 Oscar Phillips                       67.09

80 Ricky Thackray                   67.22

MASTERS

W40 – 9th  Tasmin Barnes

M40 – 40th Bruce Patterson

W50 – 1^st   Carolyn Jackson

M50- 23rd  Peter Cusworth

M50 – 40th  Richard Robinson

M60 – 1st – Rob Garden (NZ)