News
Gold Medal for Emily Benham
Posted: 19/06/13
Emily Benham achieved her dream of winning an elite European Championship title in Mountain Bike Orienteering by winning gold in the middle distance race at the European Championships in Poland. Em found the conditions very tough and said she "had the race of her life" despite the humid 30°C heat in the forests of Zamosc. The conditions were very different from her current base in Norway where Em is supported by club Morgans Vale.
Em beat 2nd placed Cecilia Thomasson of Sweden by 2 minutes 13 seconds. Benham’s time of 47.43 was also 3 minutes 23 seconds faster than bronze medallist Ingrid Stengard of Finland. Building on last summer’s silver medal at the World Championships, this was a fantastic result for Emily and represents the first European Champion title for Great Britain.
The middle distance course was 14.5km with 270m of climb and 16 control points. The first half of the course was in the hills with the route choices taking athletes through deep valleys and over high hills. Not only was the terrain tough, but the tracks exceptional muddy and slippery due to recent heavy rainfall across Central Europe. At the half way control, Emily was in touch with the leaders, but this all changed when the course took athletes through the technical forest section. With many winding paths and dense green vegetation, it became difficult to see more than 20m ahead, so constant map contact was crucial. Having a very controlled and focussed second half saw Emily make no major time losses to take the win.
Due to the sprint race being void due to an unfair situation, Emily now leads the World Cup. The sprint race will be re-raced with a different course on Thursday. There are high hopes for a top 6 place in the sprint, and maintaining the World Cup lead! Benham is currently ranked 9th in the world with 5455 points (pending todays point score, this may change).
Emily started Mountain Bike Orienteering in 2007 after having orienteered with Sarum Orienteering Club since the age of 11. She achieved four top 6 results from Junior World Championships in 2008/2009 and was chosen as Wiltshire and Swindon’s Sports Personality of the Year in 2010. See Emily’s blog at www.embenham1.blogspot.com for more details.