News
World MTBO Championship Relays
Posted: 24/08/12
The relays took place on an open area of karst grassland 20km East of Veszprem. With temperatures at times in the mid 40s degrees wide open spaces and no shade were not particularly welcome and certainly took their toll on many riders. Wide open grassy areas also meant high risk of punctures on the many small thorn bushes.
The area was an ex NATO training area and there were warnings of debris on the area. Worst areas were made out of bounds but Emily Benham ended up with a long length of copper wire wrapped around her deraillieur and disc brake. Pippa Archer had a really good ride after her mechanical misfortune earlier in the week to reclaim some of the lost places. Steph Fountain then had a solid ride to bring the team in 17th place.
Ian Nixon started the Elite mens challenge in 29th position. Andy Douglas then had a real flier to end the second leg in 17th position. Edwyn Oliver-Evans stepping up from Junior to ride in the Elite brought the team home in 23rd.
Andy Conn opened the account for the M40s in 2nd place which Al Powell then improved to 1st. Unfortunately Killian Lomas made an uncharacteristic error by missing a control in the final leg.
Tony Brand-Barker started the M50 challenge with a nightmare ride by falling off before he even reached the start triangle! A major navigation error and a puncture ruled out any chance of victory for the M50s. Keith Dawson and Stuart Norman did their best to make up time and eventually finished 4th.
It was our open team of Duncan Archer, Patrick Higgins and Chris Brand-Barker who produced the result of the day by finishing second against many elite riders who did not make their 1st teams.
With the prospect of another very hot day tomorrow it looks like it is going to be a very tough Long course championship.