embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: May 2013
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Friday, 31 May 2013. Race 1 - Denmark Sprint. Assembly in the sun! Part of the preparation for EOC involves races in Denmark and Sweden. At about 4pm we saw dark clouds looming on the horizon. We knew thunder was due so decided we should get out at 6pm at first start and hopefully be back before the rain. The plan worked like a charm, as, after our cool down, the rain started and the thunder rolled. Fortunately, we were safe and cozy in the bobil. This time in ...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: Silver in WOC middle
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/08/silver-in-woc-middle.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Thursday, 29 August 2013. Silver in WOC middle. Diamant Apex T29.1. This is actually my 5th silver of my career (3 at junior level and 2 at elite) which are framed on either side by a lonely gold and a lonely bronze! But I just won my 2nd WOC medal after an almost flawless race so I can't be disappointed to be beaten by the faster woman on race day. Map of WE course with route. As I started the 3 min countdown procedure I heard my wonderful boyfriend being anno...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: The re-race and World Cup leader!
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-re-race-and-world-cup-leader.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Thursday, 20 June 2013. The re-race and World Cup leader! I'm now up to Race 9 in my 3 weeks of racing. Fairly intensive but fortunately I have the fitness to deal with it. Prior to todays race I was ranked =3rd in the world, and including today I currently lead the World Cup (based on our prelim. calculations! After a recovery day yesterday with a couple of hours easy biking to the relay to spectate, I was feeling good for todays Sprint re-race. As I sped arou...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: The good ol' 26 vs 29'er argument!
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-good-ol-26-vs-29er-argument.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Tuesday, 3 September 2013. The good ol' 26 vs 29'er argument! Not many people realised, but I had two bikes at WOC this year. One, I had last year, my trusty 8.4kg 26'er Diamant. The other, my new 1 month old 9.4kg 29'er Diamant. For non bikers, both the bike weights are very light for each wheel size. You won't find many MTBO'ers with lighter bikes. The reason not many people noticed, was that they look almost identical. I spent the next 3 weeks testing the bi...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: World Champs Sprint, from 1st to 5th to DSQ
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/08/world-champs-sprint-from-1st-to-5th-to.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Tuesday, 27 August 2013. World Champs Sprint, from 1st to 5th to DSQ. What started out as a really good race went wrong in two ways that should never happen. We arrived at quarantine in the morning before the 11am cut off. Quickly finding a corner to call 'home' for a few hours. I spent the first hour wandering around, looking at the start chute, start kite and focussing my mind on the task ahead. I think the situation also shows the need for MTBO to have defin...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: O-Ringen 2013 - An 'organisers' perspective
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/07/o-ringen-2013-organisers-perspective.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Sunday, 28 July 2013. O-Ringen 2013 - An 'organisers' perspective. When I moved to Scandinavia last year, I was immediately asked if I wanted to go to Boden by Hans Jørgen. Naturally the first response has to be 'where? Boden has many hidden treasures. Boden, 100km south of the Arctic Circle was at the time, the furthest north I'd been. So I could hardly turn down the opportunity (I was swayed in my decision by the prospect of two night train journeys). But aft...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: EUROPEAN CHAMPION!!!
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/06/european-champion.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Tuesday, 18 June 2013. Yes, you read that right! I'm European Champion of the middle distance. Still not quite sunk in yet . After the stress of yesterday, we spent the evening relaxing being 'orienteers' and finding all the mistakes on the map. Not to complain about it, but merely for our own entertainment! Once I left the pre-start for my 1km ride to the start, I felt more focussed and the negativity was gone. Seeing the other girls waiting wasn't a distr...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: The countdown begins ...
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-countdown-begins.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Saturday, 17 August 2013. The countdown begins . Actually the countdown began several weeks ago, but each week begins a new countdown. One less interval session done, one less training session, one less sleep to go. So what's the plan for the next few weeks? The team arrive on Friday evening for a bit of extra training like us. Despite how chaotic the last months have been (Poland, illness, Pilsen, Boden, UK) training has actually been going well. My interv...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: September 2013
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Tuesday, 3 September 2013. The good ol' 26 vs 29'er argument! Not many people realised, but I had two bikes at WOC this year. One, I had last year, my trusty 8.4kg 26'er Diamant. The other, my new 1 month old 9.4kg 29'er Diamant. For non bikers, both the bike weights are very light for each wheel size. You won't find many MTBO'ers with lighter bikes. The reason not many people noticed, was that they look almost identical. I spent the next 3 weeks testing the bi...
embenham1.blogspot.com
Emily Benham: January 2013
http://embenham1.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html
Mountain Bike Orienteering - Elite Athlete. Sunday, 27 January 2013. Kvarnsveden GoIF OK - our new Swedish club. Hans Jørgen and I recently joined a Swedish club, Kvarnsveden GoIF OK, who we will represent at Swedish Ski-O races and champs, and Swedish MTBO Cup and Champs in 2013 and onwards. The have been kind enough to give us each a brand new ski suit and MTBO kit. I am sure there will be some photos of us competing to come in the following days! My time was 40% of the winner - 14.56 (me), 10....After...
