3/6/04: Good Luck to the GB EOC Team!
It feels completely wrong to not be in the Great Britain Team for the
European Championships next month but luckily Oli and I are a bit more used
to being left out of things after this winter so we have been able to come up
with a positive plan to ensure our World Championships goals aren’t damaged.
We both know we didn’t do ‘well enough’ in the selection races
instead leaving the door wide open for the selectors not to pick us. I was reasonably
pleased with my 2nd place in the NE in the Forest of Dean but disappointed with
my other 3 runs – especially with losing 10 minutes at control 13 at Holme
Fell (I haven’t been lost like that in the UK since I was about 9 yrs
old!). Oli ran well in all the selection races, unfortunate to mispunch in one,
but results of 6th, 3rd, and 6th were not good enough to make the team.
We know what we have to do in the WOC selection races in August and feel confident that we will succeed. We have been told we need to give the selectors no option but to pick us so this is what we will do. Before then we will have over 2 weeks of training in Västerås as well as racing in Jukola and Fin5. Oli will also compete in Tampere Games and Forssa Phone Games and stay in Sweden between the official WOC training camp and selection races (I’ll be flying home to be a bridesmaid at my sister Rosie’s wedding on August 6th!).