After the great performances by our junior boys in the middle distance there were high hopes of a medal in the relay.    They certainly gave it a great shot and were in 2^nd place through legs one and two before some terrain collywobbles got to Tom Goddard on leg 3 and he slipped back to 9^th.   Nevertheless it showed that our boys certainly have the potential to be at the pointy end of the field.

Our elite men’s team were led out by first time elite Oscar Phillips and he did pretty well finishing just on 6 minutes down, although in 20^th overall.     Ricky Thackray had probably his best ride so far and did a similar time and got the team back in 14^th and Steve Cusworth managed to peg back another team to give us 13^th overall.     Taking out the second teams for some countries that gave us 9^th overall.

We fielded a second elite team, comprising of our other two juniors (Heath and Karl) and our lone female elite, in Melanie Simpson.     This provided them with another international race and it seems that they individually all rode quite well.

The Championships conclude on Saturday with the long distance championship event.

The organisers have sensibly put these last given the predicted hot weather and the long physical nature of the courses

JUNIOR MEN

1 Czech Republic   2:01:12

2 Finland 1       2:06:06

3 Russia 2        2:12:23

4 France 1        2:14:59

5 Russia 1        2:15:04

6 Lithuania 2:  18:06

7 Latvia 1        2:18:45

8 Sweden 1      2:19:51

9 Australia 1  2:26:31    ( 8^th official team)

Chris Firman 44.39 = 2^nd   Marc Gluskie 40.40 = 2^nd   Tom Goddard  60.12 = 9th

 JUNIOR WOMEN

1  Russia 1       2:06:36

2 Finland 1      2:10:25

3 Czech  Rep   2:11:36

4 Polish            2:19:47

5 France 1            2:25:12

6 Russia 2          2:38:39

ELITE MEN

1 Finland 1                  2:16:04

2 Russia 1                    2:16:47

3 Austria 1                    2:17:06

4 Czech Republ 1        2:20:00

5 Czech Republ           2          2:21:17

6 Finland 2                  2:21:21

7 Russia 2                    2:24:06

8 France 1                   2:24:13

9 Switzerland  1                      2:24:58

10 Italy 1                     2:31:53

11 Portugal 1                          2:32:03

12 Switzerland 2        2:33:28

13 Australia 1                         2:35:03    (9^th official team)

30 Australia 2                         3:13:22

AUS 1  Oscar Phillips 52.58 = 20^th;  Ricky Thackray 52.28 = 14^th;  Steve Cusworth 49.37 = 13^th.

AUS 2 Heath Jamieson 61.28 = 32^nd; Karl Withers 61.52 = 31^st; Melanie Simpson 70.02 = 30^th.

 ELITE WOMEN

1 Finland 1       2:15:12

2 Switzerland  2:17:31

3 Slovakia 1       2:26:02

4 Austria 1       2:27:48

5 France 1       2:28:36

6 Czech Rep    2:28:45

MASTERS SPRINT

2 –   W50   Carolyn Jackson

13 –  W50   Carolyn Cusworth

9 – W40     Tasmin Barnes

25 – M50     Richard Robinson

37 – M50     Peter Cusworth

2 – M60      Rob Garden (NZ)