Most of the MTBO team has headed to Europe to meet up on July 2nd in Lisbon.
Melanie Simpson has been busy doing mtbo races in Denmark and Poland; Mary Fien has been warming up tackling Mont Ventoux and other Tour de France climbs and Luke Poland is busy cycling through Spain to meet the team in Portugal!
The team goes straight into some lead-up events on july 3-4 and then does some training near Chaves before the first event (the sprint) on July 11.

Look up our blog site for updates –http://ozmtboteam.socialfx.net.
There are already some interesting world cup maps and reports there from Melanie.

The Portuguese website has some interesting facts and history on all riders.
http://www.mtbwoc2010.fpo.pt

Leading medal winners are:
Ruslan Gritsan (RUS) = 11 – 5G  4S  2B
Mika Tervala (FIN)    = 10 – 6G  2S  2B
Adrian Jackson (AUS)=  7 – 4G   –    3B

Michi Gigon (Austria)= 13  – 5G  5S   3B
Ksenia Chernykh (RUS) 9     4G   4S  1B
Paivi Tommola (FIN)     8     5G  2S   1B

This year the elite championships and the third ever MTB JWOC are again at the one location.  However, Australia is making its debut at JWOC, with young guns Marc Gluskie (Tas), Luke Poland (ACT) and Chris Firman (QLD) eager to mix it with the Europeans.