11/5/05: World Cups
It was great for me and Oli to be back in the GBR team together at the recent World Cups in Guildford. Unfortunately the week didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped but on reflection there are lots of good things we can take away with us and use during our preparation for the World Champs.

A big thank you to the other athletes, staff and organisers and most of all to all the fantastic supporters who travelled down to the races and made it a week to remember for us!

I was delighted to finish 3rd in the sprint qualification (behind Simone and Minna!) around Surrey University and to follow this up with 19th in the final in Battersea Park - my 2nd= best ever result!

We were both disappointed with our middle distance runs - I started too slowly and then slowed further in the tricky part of the course before making a big mistake when I caught my 4 minute girl later on. Oli ran well apart from a couple of 10 second errors and one larger one coming into the easier final section - bizarrely we both missed the same control! Oli's run left him 24th a good result but along way down on his goal of top-10.

The team as a whole performed well although we missed former-World Champion Jamie Stevenson (who had to drop out at the last minute due to a virus). The women's team were particularly successful with all the girls finishing in the top-21 in at least one race and 3 (Heather, Helen, Sarah) in the top-21 in all 3 races.

Congratulations to Heather Monro for 3 top-10s and making it onto the podium in the sprint and to Mark Nixon on making his senior-team debut. Great Britain definitely ended the competition on a high as clear winners of the banquet in our matching outfits!

PS Check out Thierry's new website (unfortunately only in French at the moment) for maps of Lithuania etc: www.tero.fr/

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