Angus Robinson

Tom Goddard

The MTBO WORLD TITLES concluded with the long championship. Twenty year old Tom Goddard produced another top notch performance with 12^th in his final JWOC race in the physically demanding Estonian forest.  This gave him 4 top results, with 15ths in the other two individual races and a good lead out leg in the relay.   The standard of JWOC has improved markedly in recent years.  Cedric Beill, France ended the week with 4 gold medals in the Junior Championships.  Last year’s dominant jwoc man, Czech Krystof Bogar stepped straight into elite ranks and won two gold medals.  Angus Robinson (VIC) did well in his debut year, placing 31st, while Karl Withers (QLD) took 37th.

In the elite ranks Alex Randall excelled in his favourite distance by placing a close 19^th and had many higher ranked riders behind him.   The new rules only allowed Australia two starters in this discipline.  WA’s Ricky Thackray was disappointed with his 55^th.  The young Czech Krystof Bogar, who started mid-field incredibly won the men’s race by more than 3 minutes with Samuli Saarela, Finland in the silver medal position

Carolyn Jackson overcame a broken shoe mishap in the warm-up to achieve her best result of 32^nd.  The strength of Finland was again demonstrated when Marika Hara won her third gold medal in successive races, taking the Long distance title with a ride 2 minutes 53 seconds faster than her compatriot Susanna Laurila. The bronze medal went to the Swede Cecilia Thomasson, winner of the sprint earlier in the week, proving her ability in all types of terrain.   The last couple of years has seen the entry and now emergence of Sweden as a leading nation in MTBO.

All maps, photos and results:*

Leading results – Long distance

Women

1. Marika Hara FIN  1:42:41
2. Susanna Laurila FIN  1:45:34
3. Cecilia Thomasson SWE  1:46:46
4. Emily Benham GBR  1:47:33
5. Ingrid Stengård FIN  1:48:18
6. Maja Rothweiler SUI  1:50:13

Men

1. Krystof Bogar CZE  1:55:24
2. Samuli Saarela FIN  1:58:30
3. Anton Foliforov RUS  1:59:20
4. Vojtech Stransky CZE  1:59:38
5. Ruslan Gritsan RUS  1:59:44
6. Tõnis Erm EST  1:59:53

Junior medallists

Women

Gold – Svetlana Poverina RUS    Silver – Ruska Saarela FIN     Bronze – Katerina Novakova CZE

Men

Gold – Cedric Beill FRA               Silver – Tomas Stanek CZE     Bronze – Vojtech Ludvik CZE

12 Tom Goddard;       31^st Angus Robinson;         37^th  Karl Withers.

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