After the British Championships in June and my selection for 
the British Team Mid July saw me part of a team of three British men and five 
women traveling to Tel Aviv in Israel to take part in the 7th World Mountain 
Bike Orienteering Championships. The events spread over the week consisted of 
long distance qualifier, middle distance, sprint, relay and long 
final.

Getting bikes out to international competitions is always a headache but luckily British Midland came to the rescue giving us extra baggage allowance free of charge and a special concession to carry the gas cartridges needed for inflating tyres during the races.

The gas was essential as were the severe anti puncture measures taken by competitors as it was apparent on arrival that the warnings given by organisers about Israeli thorns were not to be underestimated. We all used various methods from Kevlar tyre liners and slime tubes to extra ‘wheel milk’ and tubeless tyres, which were successful in preventing punctures out on the course, though the nightly ritual of thorn pulling did yield a harvest of spikes.

Temperature was the other factor that the organisers made sure the competitors did not lose focus on, with a lecture about how to stay healthy in the Israeli summer heat. The weather was the same every day, at least 32 in the shade and 36 – 40 in the sun! Luckily the team had air conditioned accommodation at the Ben Shemen Youth education village where all the competitors were housed, giving the competition a very social atmosphere, eating together.

The model (practice) event areas adjacent to the accommodation gave us a fair indication of what was to come; dusty gravel tracks, rocky single tracks, dense prickly vegetation and of course the heat.

The riding was exciting and challenging and the navigation difficult because the rough terrain bouncing the mapboard around made reading it harder.

The Long qualification event was held some distance away in an area of farmland and orchards mixed with small stands of pine forest. The top 20 from each of the 3 qualification races went through to the final to be held

later in the week. I missed qualification by just 1 position and was fairly gutted as I didn’t make many mistakes and analysis of the splits afterwards showed I probably just didn’t give it enough welly on the hills. The event finished in a pool area (well not in it which might have been interesting perhaps) where we could cool off swimming in the shade whilst waiting in race quarantine, a pleasant change from quarantines in previous European races.

Screens with results and commentary all added to the excellent atmosphere.

The middle race was held a short ride from the event centre on Ben Shemen Forest, though the climb up to the start area on a dusty track in full sun was tough in itself, however bottles of ice cold water in the pre-start area were a nice touch by the organisers.

In the men’s race after I made an early mistake it was neck and neck between Andy Conn and myself, me eventually piping Andy by 6 seconds to take 55 place. The riding was very technical with fantastic rocky single track descents and would be a cracking place for a MTB holiday.

The WOC circus then had a rest day where the team enjoyed the therapeutic muds of The Dead Sea before moving on to the relay whilst I spent the morning in lectures becoming an International Orienteering Federation Advisor. In the afternoon I got a lift out to the Long race training area and had a catastrophic puncture when a stick went straight through the tyre and snapped off. The wheel milk worked however and I was able to ride the 2km back to the car. My driver a Swede managed to come off at high speed on a gravely corner and after first aid had to drive me back wincing every time he changed gear.

The relay was back on the middle race area of Ben Shemen but didn’t start until 4 pm, with the first leg riders really feeling the effects of the build up of the afternoons heat. I got a fantastic start in the men’s race and reached the distant start flag in 3rd position after the Le Mans style race to the bikes. I managed to stay with the main pack until the top riders strength showed through on the hills and pulled away. Unfortunately this effort caused several mistakes and I then spent the rest of the race clawing my way back up the field handing over to Andy 12 minutes down. A solid ride from Andy gained several places before handing over to Bryan who after a very nasty crash brought the team home in 16th position, a little disappointing.

Sprint racing on mountain bikes is always very exciting and the courses at Neot Kdumim did not disappoint. Set in terraced olive groves with a mixture of gravel and complex winding asphalted tracks with sharp climbs the

course planning gave lots of route choice options.

In the men’s race, I was in the coveted last start slot for the GBR men, and retained my position as the top British man in these shorter races completing the course just 30 seconds outside of world ranking points in 44th position. In the closing controls I was caught by eventual 2nd place rider and we both took a daft short cut down some terraced farm land. Lasse didn’t hesitate and jumped 2 meters off a wall, bike in hand. I stopped, saw no alternative and jumped too. I pulled back ahead slightly with another carried shortcut and sprinted up to the finish my best international result to date.

The week’s finale was the long race, held again some distance to the south of the event centre in a steeply forested series of very hot dry valleys, criss-crossed by a network of large gravel roads and tracks. It was a very well planned event with huge route choice legs traversing the 1:20000 10 meter contour map.

Not having qualified I spent the morning taking photos of the finals before heading out on the ‘B’ final which utilized the women’s course. Deciding to really give it some welly and prove I could also perform over the longer distances I started really strongly making only a couple of route choice errors. I finished in a very hot 3rd place and only 10 secs behind the time of the World Champion woman. Although not a proper result it being a B final it was probably my best ride of the week and I felt very satisfied going into the banquet (party) that night held around a swimming pool.

The party including the final prize giving was great, sitting under the stars chatting to other teams and swapping shirts, a fitting end to a fantastic week of racing in a very interesting county.

My thanks go to Walton Chasers Orienteering Club, Lichfield City Cycling club and all the people who helped finance the trip by taking part in the guess the millage competition.

Mark Stogell