Author: craigf

The 2011 NOL program has been announced. The program commences with the ACT Middle and Long Championships on the 12th and 13th of March. This is followed by the Easter Carnival events in WA. The third round of races and WOC Trials will be in Tasmania on 21st and 22nd of May. The final round will be held in conjunction with the Oceania Championships Carnival in October (Vic/NSW/ACT).

It has also been agreed to host a round of the NOL in Darwin in August 2012.

The full program with all events and formats will be published on the website in the next few days.

The stars of the Australian team at the World MTBO Championships today were certainly the Junior Men.  This was the first junior team that Australia has sent to an international MTBO competition and these boys used the experience that they gained through a week of racing to bring our team into a magnificent podium place finishing 5th in the relay competition.

Chris Firman led the team off and returned in 5th place just a few seconds ahead of Finland 2.  He was backed up next by Marc Gluskie then Luke Poland who both held on to that position (despite some order changes in the teams before and after them).  All 3 boys showed their sprinting prowess, each finishing just seconds ahead of their rival teams.  The race was won by the Czech Republic in a time of 2:56:32, this team leading the race from start to finish.  They were followed by Russia and Finland.  Demonstrating the depth of this event, both the Russian and Finnish teams winning medals were their number 2 teams.  WELL DONE BOYS!

Unfortunately our number 1 men’s team were disqualified after a great start by Steven Cuswoth.  Steven had finished the first leg in 9th place but our second rider Alex Randall appears to have been disqualified.  Our number 2 team of Grant Lebbink, Mary Fien and Mel Simpson finished in 28th place (17th nation).

I’m sure that the team will report on the inside story on their Blog.

I recommend taking a look at the official MTBO WOC site – it is a useful resource with maps from all the events as well as results, splits, videos and photos.  Full Relay results, splits, maps and photos

The MTBO World Championships continue tonight with the Long Distance Final.  The riders will be faced with a tough physical challenge given the steepness of the terrain shown in the maps put online to date.

Start times for the Australian riders are given below.  You can follow all the action at the following links.

Long Distance event information

Live Blog

M21
Steven Cusworth 10:27 (19:27 AEST)
Alex Randall 10:33 (19:33 AEST)
Adrian Jackson 10:57 (19:57 AEST)
Last Starter 11:57 (20:57 AEST)

W21
Mary Fien 10:25 (19:25 AEST)
Mel Simpson 10:34 (19:34 AEST)
Last Starter 11:55 (20:55 AEST)

M20
Marc Gluskie 9:47 (18:47 AEST)
Luke Poland 9:53 (18:53 AEST)
Chris Firman 10:29 (19:29 AEST)
Last Starter 11:47 (20:47 AEST)

M21 B Final
Grant Lebbink 15:39 (00:39 AEST)

To take a look at the maps and courses for previous events during the week use the event links from the MTBO WOC Home Page.

Adrian Jackson earned another silver medal today at the World MTBO Championships, this time in the Long distance race.

Adrian completed the 38.1km (1,250m climb!) course in 1:55:05 to be 2nd, 2 minutes behind the gold medallist Anton Foliforov of Russia.

The other Australians competing today also recorded some great performances.  In the women’s event (30.2km, 935m climb) Melanie Simpson finished 20th in a time of 2:14:04, and Mary Fien also rode strongly, finishing in 28th place at 2:18:45. Christine Schaffner of Switzerland won in a time of 1:54:05.

Alex Randall was 27th (2:08:19) and Steven Cusworth 48th (2:20:27).

The Junior Men continued to learn from these events and again recorded competitive performances in the tough conditions.  The event was won by Pekka Niemi of Finland in 1:46:00 just one second ahead of Maciej Gromadka of Poland.  Marc Gluskie was highest placed Australian at 24th (2:10:57), Luke Poland 29th (2:18:26) and Chris Firman looks to have lost a lot of time early to finish 37th (2:31:35).

The winning times for all the courses indicated that the terrain was steep and physical.  I look forward to riding the course from the luxury of my computer screen in the next few days.  The maps will be available here: Long Distance Results, Splits, Maps and Photos.

The good  performances of the Aussie MTBO team continued today in the Middle Distance Championships held in the forest adjacent to Montalegre, the host town.   Adrian Jackson (67.14) again rode brilliantly to snare the silver medal, just being outpointed by the Flying Finn, Samuli Saarela by 40 seconds.  The large Italian contingent went berserk with joy when it was confirmed that Luca Dallavalle had held on to third, to be Italy’s first ever MTBO medallist.     Adrian, not having a top 10 world ranking due to  not racing overseas since last year, wasn‘t eligible for a red group start at the end of the field.   He thus was midway in the 94 starters and had to endure over an hour wait to see where he would finish.

Grant Lebbink unfortunately drew the very first start and was reasonably happy with his navigation, and finished in 48th position in 83 minutes.   Alex Randall was very happy with his ride and was in the top 10 for a long time until slipping to   21st, in a time of 75 mins.  A great result given the ever increasing depth of the competition.  Steve Cusworth was unhappy when he finished due to many small time losses and some dubious route choices.  However his 76 minute time and 25th place showed again what potential he has.

The elite girls saw Melanie Simpson place 25th in 69 minutes, with Mel rueing a 4 minute mistake when she inadvertently rode towards a later control.   Mary Fien was relieved to get a solid result (27th in 70mins) in the middle distance after bad performances at previous championships and is looking forward with more confidence to the long.  Austria’s Michaela Gigon again reasserted her status at the top of the women’s field with a speedy 60 minutes, ahead of Denmark’s Rikke Kornvig and Finn Marika Hara.

Unfortunately both junior championship races were declared void after a control was misplaced by 70 metres or so, being on a completely separate track junction.  Our three riders found the control with losses of only about 30 seconds, as did most.  Luke Poland had the presence of mind to take part of the tape that was in the correct place.  Luke was stoked with his ride, having navigated really well after a scrappy ride in the sprint.  He took 76 minutes.  Chris Firman wasn’t so pleased with his 71 minute ride, so was surprised that he was placed approximately 18th.  Marc Gluskie had some nav problems today taking 81.57mins but his fitness should see him bounce back in the long. The current plan is that the middle distance race is re-run tomorrow instead of the long prologue as planned, but we are awaiting details of how this will be organised and how the riders will be seeded for the actual long distance final.

The terrain was very hilly and winning times were 7-9 minutes longer than anticipated. Both Mary and Alex got caught up amidst different herds of cows whilst riding through a village.  The finish saw riders coming through the streets of Montalegre for the final controls before finishing adjacent to the Cavado River on the edge of town.  One item of interest is that all Scandinavian countries were represented for the first time, so the competition will only get stronger.    The long distance qualification is tomorrow in the mountains behind Chaves, about an hour away.

Kay Haarsma (Team Coach)

For more details, and to view maps of the courses go to:  World Championship Middle Distance event

Middle Distance results

Middle Distance splits

Australian team blog

The racing continues tonight with the Long Distance qualification event.  You can follow that live from the following link: 2010 World MTBO Championships website

Start times for tonight’s Long Qualification (2 heats for each class):
Adrian Jackson 11:00 (20:00 AEST)
Grant Lebbink 11:00 (20:00 AEST)
Mary Fien 11:04 (20:04 AEST)
Alex Randall 11:15 (20:15 AEST)
Steven Cusworth 11:24 (20:24 AEST)
Mel Simpson 11:37 (20:37 AEST)

JWOC Middle Distance Final (new course):
Luke Poland 10:54 (19:54 AEST)
Marc Gluskie 11:10 (20:10 AEST)
Chris Firman 11:38 (20:38 AEST)

The World MTBO Championships continued today with Long Distance qualification races for the Elites and a replacement final for the Middle Distance race for the junior classes.  Adrian Jackson has provided a comprehensive report on the team blog.

In the JWOC event, the Australians did not quite repeat their good rides from yesterday, but still recorded very competitive times and were pleased with their rides.  Chris Firman was best placed in 27th place, Luke Poland was 39th and Marc Gluskie 40th.  This is the first international championship for all these riders so good performances under pressure.  You can see the steepness of the terrain in this picture of Luke Poland in the sprint event.

The Australian senior men again rode exceptionally well with 3 qualifiers for the final.  Adrian Jackson was 7th in his heat with Steven Cusworth right behind in 10th.  Alex Randall was also 10th in a separate heat, while Grant Lebbink just missed qualification coming 24th in the third heat (20 qualifiers from each heat) after a mistake on the final control cost him 6 places.

In the women’s races, Mary Fien finished in 15th in her heat, ready for a good ride in the final.  Melanie Simpson (our #1 news correspondent and blogger) took quite a long time after stopping to help an injured competitor out on the course but still finished to qualify for the final.

Results (Full Results, splits and Maps available from the WOC website)

Junior Men (Middle Distance Final)
1. Pekka Niemi   FIN 49:47
2. Krystof Bogar  CZE 50:53
3. Mikhail Utkin  RUS 51:16
28. Chris Firman  AUS 58:44
39. Luke Poland  AUS 65:55
40. Marc Gluskie  AUS 66:10

Junior Women (Middle Distance Final)
1. Olga Vinogradova RUS 49:34
2. Barbro Kvale  NOR 51:58
3. Magdalena Seifertova CZE 52:51

WOC Men Heat A (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Kevin Haselsberger AUT 73:03
2. Davide Machado  POR 75:01
3. Andrey Kornev  RUS 76:19
7. Adrian Jackson  AUS 76:35
10. Steven Cusworth AUS 78:05

WOC Men Heat B (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Anton Foliforov  RUS 73:44
2. Juho Saarinen  FIN 76:55
3. Clement Souvray  FRA 78:25
10. Alex Randall  AUS 82:02

WOC Men Heat C (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Erik Skovgaard Knudsen DEN 76:55
2. Luca Dallavalle   ITA 79:08
3. Marek Pospisek   CZE 80:47
24. Grant Lebbink   AUS 96:06

WOC Women Heat A (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Martina Tichovska CZE 77:18
2. Maja Rothweiler  SWI 79:48
3. Micheala Gigon  AUT 80:25
29. Melanie Simpson AUS 136:40*
*Awaiting decision on time adjustment for stopping for injured competitor

WOC Women Heat B (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Ksenia Chernykh  RUS 82:28
2. Christine Schaffner SWI 83:53
3. Line Brun Stallknecht DEN 87:26
15. Mary Fien  AUS 94:34

The World MTBO Championships continues today with the middle distance event to be held tonight (Australian time).  The Portuguese have a fantastic web site with live coverage of the events – results and comments.  You can follow all the action here:

Middle Distance Event Information Page

Live Event Coverage Blog

The Australian team start times are listed below – you should be able to see all the action and medals before bed time or for the Tour de France fanatics its a great warm-up before the mountain climbing action gets well underway!

Men

Grant Lebbink 10:00 (19:00 AEST)

Alex Randall 10:50 (19:50 AEST)

Steven Cusworth 11:38 (20:38 AEST)

Adrian Jackson 11:56 (20:56 AEST)

Last Starter 13:04 (22:04 AEST)

Women

Mary Fien 10:33 (19:33 AEST)

Mel Simpson 11:33 (20:33 AEST)

Last Starter 11:57 (20:57 AEST)

Junior Men

Luke Poland 11:01 (20:01 AEST)

Marc Gluskie 11:47 (20:47 AEST)

Chris Firman 12:25 (21:25 AEST)

Last Starter 12:45 (21:45 AEST)

Australian orienteers have continued to perform well in the hilly terrain of Portugal.  Today saw the Middle Distance events – keenly watched online by a contingent of Aussies.

Most suspense was around the mens’ race with all four Australian riders having early start times (our last starter Adrian Jackson was finished not long after the last start of the day).  All men had great rides with Adrian once again leading the charge.  His time of 67:14 had him sitting in the leading position for over an hour before Samuli Saarela of Finland came through to take Gold with a 40 second lead.  The bronze medal was won by Luca Dallavalle of Italy in 70:02.  Next best Australian was Alex Randall in 21st place with 75:07, Steven Cusworth 25th in 76:44 and Grant Lebbink 48th in 83:57.

The womens’ event was won by multi World Champion Michaela Gigon of Austria in a time of 60:32.  She was followed by Rikke Kornvig of Denmark and last years’ gold medallist Marika Hara of Finland took bronze this time around.  Mel Simpson was the best placed Australian in 25th place (69:32) with Mary Fien close behind in 27th (70:13).  So both girls were close to the leaderboard.

Unfortunately it appears that a control misplacement resulted in the cancellation of the Junior Mens and Junior Womens courses.  The unofficial results had the best placed Australian was Chris Firman with a time of 71:03 fininshing in 22nd place.  Luke Poland was 30th in a time of 76:22 and Marc Gluskie 36th in 81:57.

Adrian Jackson has managed to be the first man to successfully defend his sprint world champion title, winning the day over Estonia’s Tonis Erm by 18 second (Adrian’s Race Report).  Steven Cusworth also had an impressive ride in is first international sprint race, he was disappointed to lose about a minute towards the end of the race but still finished in 22^nd place in amongst some very experienced riders. Steve’s speed was on track for a top 10 finish!  Alex Randall and Grant Lebbink were also happy with their rides, although Grant also had difficulty towards the end around the ruined castle.

In the women’s race, Mel Simpson and Mary Fien rode steadily and after Mary’s first control both girls had clean rides with hesitations to check the map.

The junior men, all of whom were competing in their first international event, performed well.  Chris Firman was the first of the juniors in 28^thplace in a time of 21:50, he also had difficulty towards the end of the course.  Marc Gluskie was only one place behind in a time of 22:02 and felt that he’d managed to maintain a speed that he could still navigate well.  Luke Poland made a mistake on the way to the first control and was caught by the prepubescent Italian junior boy and kept seeing him through out the race.  Ultimately he finished in 39^th position in 23:54.

RESULTS:

Women
1. Anna Kaminska (POL) 21:25
2. Christina Schaffner (SUI) 21:27
3. Martina Tichovska (CZE) 22:04
28. Melanie Simpson (AUS) 25:47
40. Mary Fien (AUS) 28:32

Men
1. Adrian Jackson (AUS) 22:08
2. Tonis Erm (EST) 22:26
3. Anton Foliforov (RUS) 22:30
22. Steven Cusworth (AUS) 24:45
32. Alex Randall (AUS) 25:30
63. Grant Lebbink (AUS) 30:01

Junior Men
1. Grigory Medvedev (RUS) 17:58
2. Andreas Konrig (DEN) 18:10
3. Krystof Bogar (CZE) 18:32
28. Chris Firman (AUS) 21:50
29. Marc Gluskie (AUS) 22:02
39. Luke Poland (AUS) 23:54

For more details follow these links.

World Championship Sprint event (Maps, Videos)

Sprint results

Sprint splits

Australian team blog

The Championships continue with the Middle Distance event tomorrow.  You can follow each event live on the web – go to the 2010 World MTBO Championships website.

Details of the schedule for the next week – remember that Portugal is 9 hours behind the East Coast of Australia.

Mel Simpson

The Australian JWOC team have finished a tough week of competition in the sand dunes of Northern Denmark. No doubt there are plenty of preparations for tonights banquet, the traditional finish to championships.

The relay terrain is very hilly and different to the technical sand dune challenges of the Middle and Long Distance races. The legs of the relay were 7.4-7.7km for the first two legs in the men, with a shorter 5.4-5.6km final leg. For the women the first two legs were 5.4-5.6km and the final lege 3.1-3.2km. These variances add a little more complexity to the decisions coaches have to make when selecting teams.

In the women’s race Belinda Lawford (AUS1) and Claire Butler (AUS2) finished just 2 secs apart in 29th and 30th, 13mins behind Denmark’s Emma Klingenberg. On the 2nd leg Sarah Buckerfield produced her best run of the week to post 13th fastest time and pulled AUS1 team up to 16th place. Georgia Parsons (AUS2) in her first JWOC jumped 3 spots to 27th. On the 3rd leg Lillian Burrill was unable to maintain the high position and AUS1 finished in 23rd place and Brea Pearce brought AUS2 across the line in 28th.

In the men’s race, Lachlan Dow (AUS1) handed over in 23rd with Josh Blachford not far behind in 28th. Oscar Phillips moved through the field to pull AUS2 up into 25th, with Ian Lawford falling a little to 27th. On the final leg, Kurt Neumann AUS1 leapfrogged Oliver Poland AUS2 with the teams finishing 27th and 31st respectively.

The Scandinavian nations continued their dominance of the championships with the Denmark winning the women’s and Norway winning the men’s class.

Keep an eye out for the final installments of the JWOC team blog.

JWOC Middle Final 9/7 2010
Full Results