MTBO America

2010 MTBO WOC and World Cup Round 3 in Montalegre, Portugal

The 2010 World MTB Orienteering Championships (WOC) were held in Montalegre, Portugal last month, along side Round 3 of the MTBO Worlds Cup (WOC/World Cup Round 3 Event Website). Athletes from Europe, Asia, and Australia competed in Sprint, Middle, and Long Distance events for WOC medals and World Cup points that will count towards next month’s final Worlds Cup round in Italy. This time Russia, not Denmark, proved that it is the emerging dominant force in World Class Mountain Bike Orienteering.

Read the rest of this entry »

Team Denmark takes Bronze: Results of 2 years of MTBO Camp (Photo: Mette Rieck)

In the sport of Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO), it’s no mystery that European teams dominate. But it is how they dominate that should be the focus for aspiring American MTBO athletes. For some time, many Individual and Team coaching techniques have utilized the same training methods as cross-country mountain bike racers. Repetitive technical work, intervals, endurance rides, and strength training have all been hallmarks of a good mountain bike training program. Read the rest of this entry »

MTBO Star Marquita Gelderman (NZL) has managed to achieve world-class level in mountain bike orienteering after a broken leg (Photo by Paula Lehtomaki)

MTBO Star Marquita Gelderman, New Zealand

“Broken Leg Led to New Success”
By Erik Borg

Eleven years ago Marquita Gelderman was hopping around the children’s course on crutches. Now the athlete from New Zealand is one of the world’s best in Mountain Bike Orienteering. She just lacks a medal.

– “Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if the good results are true! I’m really pleased how well I have done, but I would like to do just a little bit better and have an IOF medal around my neck! I wish I was five or ten years younger, even though age isn’t such a handicap on the bike,” says Marquita.

Last year the New Zealander was fourth in the sprint and fifth on the middle distance at the World Championships in Poland. She achieved a fourth placing in 2005 too, and in 2006 eighth place on the middle distance was her best result. In her first championship in 2004 her best placing was 15th.

In earlier years Marquita was a very good foot orienteer, and has seven national titles at middle distance and one over long distance in New Zealand. In 1995 she took part in the World Championships in Orienteering in Germany, where 13th place in the relay was her best.

Injury and Recovery

An injury whilst competing in the New Zealand Middle Distance Championships in 1997 brought about a change in Marquita’s sporting career. She broke her leg when she tripped while running down a hill. It was in an open farmland area, so the helicopter could land close by her and take her to hospital. She broke the top of her tibia, right in the knee joint.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Danish winning team in the relay: Lasse B Pedersen (left), Torbjørn Gasbjerg and Søren Strunge (Photo by Mette Reick).

“We motivate and encourage each other”
By Erik Borg

The Danish team was very impressive during the World MTB Orienteering Championships. The double winner Lasse Brun Pedersen thinks the big success is a result of the hard competition in Denmark, good team mates and good training.

– “We have had four to six people who have given each other tough competition in the races in Denmark, and at the same time we have encouraged and given inspiration to each other in a positive way, says Lasse. He won the sprint and had the first leg in the relay at the championships in Poland, where he and his team mates Torbjørn Gasbjerg and Søren Strunge won gold.”

– “It was terrific to come home with two gold medals. There aren’t many that have got two golds in the same championships before, he says.”

How was it, getting the different golds?

– “The sprint was an individual effort and it’s great to be the best in sprint. The relay was in fact completely different. That was team work, and it had been the team’s goal since the previous World Championships. We have trained and prepared a lot together to produce an optimal team feeling and have the base for a gold, he says.” Read the rest of this entry »

MTBO Star Adrian Jackson (AUS) won gold on home ground four years ago, but he feels that the gold he won this year is bigger (Photo by Janet Buchan)

MTBO Star Adrian Jackson, Australia

“Winning overseas is a bigger achievement”
By Erik Borg

Adrian Jackson won gold on home ground four years ago, but he feels that the gold he won this year is bigger. The Australian is now aiming for a totally perfect mountain bike WOC. – It’s a bit bigger to get gold overseas. Today the standard is also much higher than it used to be. Had I competed as well as I do now four years ago, I could then have  on all the races at WOC, says Adrian. The 25-year-old Australian from Melbourne started mountain bike orienteering seriously at the end of 2003, and he made really fast progress: in 2004 he won gold on home ground in Australia. He had been active in foot-orienteering for years, and took part in the Junior World Orienteering Championships both in 2002 and 2003. He is still running in some orienteering events.

- “Orienteering is good training in reading maps, and I have done a few races in the last year,” he says.

Good in All Ways

Why have you ended up with MTB orienteering when you also did so well in orienteering and took part in the Junior World Orienteering championships?

– “I didn’t change suddenly, it happened over time. I think my body is more suited to cycling than running,” he says.

– “Adrian trains very hard and is very strong psychologically,” says Kay Haarsma, the Australian coach and manager.

Outside of sport, Adrian is studying towards a PhD in Aerospace Engineering. He has a couple of years of study left. Read the rest of this entry »