Team GB at the World Mountain Bike 'O' Champs
Bruce Duncan / 29.06.2006
The British MTBO team fly out to Finland next week for the World Championships, being held in the town of Joensuu, about 450km North East of Helsinki from 9th-14th July. Bruce Duncan of Saab Salomon is one of many familiar AR names on the team and gave SleepMonsters this update Team GB’s preparations.The championships consist of a long qualification race, middle final, rest day, then long final, and a relay, followed by the all important banquet!
The team have prepared well for this years championships, with a national series of races ranging from Scotland in the snow, to Aldershot in the scorching heat, and all of the races have been hotly contested, with places at a premium for the team, everyone knew they had to race well all year and at the selection races to guarantee their place in the team.
Andy Conn raced a few early races, and then headed out to Europe to train and race at some of the major races spread out all over the continent. He has been and raced in Finland near the venue for the championships, scouted out many of the places we will go to, and also looked at important things such as local bike shops, food, accommodation and travel. He came back for the British Championships, and showed he was in good form by winning the Middle distance race.
Mark Hayman is a slight surprise, now living out in Italy with his wife and child, he trains almost everyday, but few people on the MTBO circuit knew him, so when he turned up at the British Championships and performed outstandingly to take 2nd and 1st place in the Long Distance, he was bound to get the call. Mark is a former elite foot orienteer, forced to stop due to a bad hip, but now using his nav savvy and bike fitness to race well in the MTBO scene.
Andy Simpson was a gambling man. He has been working out in the states this year, so with no form going into the test races, he knew he had to put it all on the line to get a good result to ensure selection, and flying home for a weekend of racing from the States was not cheap either!! He performed well, and was mightily relieved to be picked.
