2011 Archives
Solid performances by both teams in the relay Saturday, 27 August 2011
Middle final and another top 10 for Tom Friday, 26 August 2011
A couple of maps Friday, 26 August 2011
Middle Distance Start Times Thursday, 25 August 2011
Long Final - long, hot and hilly - and a 9th in the junior mens for Tom! Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Quick summary of the long qualification / prologe race. Tuesday, 23 August 2011
The commemorative monument Monday, 22 August 2011
Report from the team coach Sunday, 21 August 2011
Settled into WOC accommodation Sunday, 21 August 2011
Photos Saturday, 20 August 2011
Training Part 2 Friday, 19 August 2011
Training Part 1 Friday, 19 August 2011
Gearing up for Italy Thursday, 28 July 2011 Gearing up for Italy

The commemorative monument

Monday, 22 August 2011

There are two topics from yesterdays blog entry that I would like to elaborate on today: the commemorative monument and the yellow-orange passages.  

 The Commemorative Monument unveiling was attended by Kay and myself this morning.  I think here pictures will suffice to tell the story:

 

The monument prior to the grand unveiling....

 

The mayor of Montecchio Maggiore the process of unveiling the monument wearing a champions jersey that she had just been presented... 

 

And there it is!!  A lasting piece of evidence of the 2011 MTBO World Championships.

The only thing that pictures can not do justice to in this instance is the speech by the stone maker explaining the significance of the work. I have attempted to summarise the contents of this speech from memory, but cannot pretend to have captured the whole meaning behind the monument. He said that this monument represents the internationally significant event, the partnership, the valleys and hill tops of the Veneto area and the excellent food and wine produced in the region.  

The orange passages were again a source of confusion at the model event again today. The map below shows a network of these passages at 1:7500 scale.  Unfortunately, some of the subtleties were lost on the 1:15000 version of the map. While the map seems fairly straightforward, on the ground the difference between a orange passage and the otherwise very clear rides between grape vines is very confusing. Even when navigating off embankments there were times that, for example, the lower route appeared more clear than when the orange line was mapped above the embankment.  Kay has been promised at the team leaders meeting tonight that the maps for the qualifier and finals will be more accurate.   


Tomorrow is the long qualification for both our senior and riders.  First start is at 09:30 (or 17:30 EST) and there will be live results available here. (Note: this link takes you to the generic website of "Race Centre Suite" who will be providing the live results service, it is unclear if home viewers should be looking at this site or via the MTB WOC 2011 home website)

The teams start times are as follows:

Steven Cusworth - 09:33

Chris Firman  - 09:43

Alex Randell - 09:57

Melanie Simpson - 10:07

Marc Gluskie - 10:41

Oscar Phillips - 10:59

Tom Goddard - 11:23