Congratulations to orienteer Carolyn Jackson who again claimed gold in the recent World Masters Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Germany.   Despite inclement weather with 5 degrees temperature and rain that had the bike tracks resembling rivers, Carolyn was able to bring home gold in the long event and bronze medals in both the sprint & mass start races in the W55 class.

Queensland’s Tamsin Barnes (W50) just missed the medals with a 4^th, two 5ths and a 6^th while Victoria’s Bill Vandendool had 3 results in the top 10 in the strong M65 class.  New Zealand was also represented on the podium with Rachel Drew (W40) winning a bronze.

Carolyn Jackson’s great navigational ability has been well demonstrated over the years.  She has amassed 16 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals from the 7 Masters MTBO championships she has attended since her debut in Hungary in 2012.   All these Championships have been based in Europe so the Melbourne based rider has had to travel extensively.

Carolyn has formerly represented Australia in both foot and MTBO disciplines in the elite world championships, a feat that only a few other orienteers have managed.   She also races nationally in mt bike cross country, endurance and stage races and usually dominates her age class.

The next two weekends will see the culmination of the MTBO season, with 3 races in Canberra on October 18-20^th and then the 4 event Australian Championships at Maryborough, Victoria on Oct 25-27^th.   Carolyn will be racing at these events, along with the top Australian riders from all states as well as a strong 30 rider New Zealand contingent.