News
Southern MBO Series Round One
Posted: 24/01/11
WOW! What a fantastic turn out at todays event!! Wimborne Orienteers deserve a massive thank-you for organising and planning the race, and for speaking with the ‘Weather Gods’ to arrange a dry day!
The rain over the recent weeks had left the ground a little soggy undertyre, but muddy puddles are part of the fun. Hurn Forest was a great area for our first event. The flat terrain is great for beginners to the sport, and the navigation held just the right amount of complexity to challenge the competitors but without getting too lost! Everyone I spoke had a great time out in the forest, and seemed to enjoy warming up with tea, coffee and burgers from the ‘Fuel’ catering wagon.
There was some competition on the A/B course between the GB team members. Mark Stodgell had a storming ride to win the course in a time of 38.29, his recent illness seems not to have affected his legs. Ifor Powell was a close second in 39.04 and followed by local Wessex member Jon Brooke, 42.15 – a great ride from Jon. Emily Benham was 4th and top woman with a time of 43.04, with new MBO’er Nicky Griffin as 2nd woman in a highly credible time of 61.20. Melanie Slade of Wimborne took 3rd place in a time of 64.09.
On the C/D course Tim Houlder won in a time of 29.55 followed by Andy Fale in 30.24 and top woman Joanne Pickering in 31.23.
At MBO South we learnt a fair bit today too. At the rest of the series events, we will have a larger stock of map boards for you to rent and purchase (today they were in large demand but unfortunately not enough to go around). We will also be providing ‘toggles’ for you to attach your SI card to the bike, keeping it safe and preventing loss! In addition we will have a stock of inner tubes and gas canisters, so you needn’t worry if you end up with a puncture – as one chap found out today on the way to the start …
Thank you all so much for making today a great success. We hope to see you at the next event for the Southern Series on 19th March at Swinley Forest/Star Posts.
In co-ordination with this event, MBO South are organising a training weekend. After the race has finished we will be heading out for cool-down ride with some of the GB team members for some MTB skills. If you feel you need to brush up on your bike skills, or want some advice on how to get up that climb that challenged you, we can help. In the evening there will also be a meeting about MTBO for 2011 in the UK, where you can find out about the national series and GB team selection for international races. On Sunday morning, we hope to hold some short MTBO training with focus on distractions.