MTBO relays

As last leg rider Alex went out into the forest with his team sitting in 20th position. A good ride was needed to bring them up into where they deserved to be which was in the early to mid teens, (Adrian Jackson, Australia's gun rider, didn't travel this year due to a family bereavement..had he been there a different story would have been told) .

And he did it, coming in 9th fastest on the last leg he brought his team up to 15th position...well done Alex, a great ride under immense pressure.

For anyone looking at the results 2 things need clarification.

Firstly only one national team features in the results, so Alex's team was 15th in the results but 17th over the line as both France and Russia had 2 teams faster than the Aussies. Actually when it was live, the results had Aus 2 as 14th, but somehow the UK team's results hadn't featured.

Secondly, why was the stronger team called Aus2? Superstition. What happened was that in one of the very early World Championships Aus 2, then the weaker team, beat Aus 1 and if memory serves did it in another year too, or maybe did it in the womens race as well. Whatever. When the fickle finger of fate talks to you like that, you listen and since then the stronger team is always called Aus 2 and has always been the faster team.

Lesson...don't mess with fate!