01/11/09
Wild Water Canoeing - fourth win for Oughton
Britain's Jessica Oughton  won the fifth race in the Wild Water River racing World Cup sreis in Tasmania - her 4th outright success.
 

31/10/09

Wild Water Canoeing - Nejd Znidarcic wins number three
Slovenian Nejd Znidacic, runner up in the classic distance third race of the current Wild Water River Racing World Cup Series in Tasmania was back on top of the medal podium today after winning the Brady Rapids Sprint.
Winner of the first two events earlier this week,  he beat Britain's Jon Schofield into second by 1.59s with his two descent time of  81.76s.
And it was gold at last for Germany's two times silver and opening sprint bronze winner Sabine Fusser who finished almost three seconds up with her time of 95.36s.
 

28/10/09

Wild Water Canoeing

27/10/09

Mountaiu Running

25/10/09
Orienteering - Birkinshaw and Lennox win Original Mountain Marathon
Steve Birkinshaw (Newcastle GB ) and Jethro Lennox (Glasgow GB) won the two day Original Mountain Marathon in Wales. Coming though from 2nd on the second day they made  up an eight minute deficit and overtook overnight leaders  Jon Morgan and Al Powell to win by almost four minutes in 9h 59m 15s.

Wild Water Canoeing - second wins for Znidarcic and Oughton
There were second K1 golds for both Britain's Jessica Oughton and Slovenia's Nejc Znidarcic on the second day of the World Wild Water River Racing World Cup Series in Tasmania.
The pair won their classic distance openers adding to their sprint wins on Saturday.

24/10/09
Wild Water River racing-  Znidarcic takes world cup sprint
Slovenia's Nejc Znidarcic converted his European K1  title win earlier this summer into a first World success at the World Wild Water River racing World Cup series in Tasmania.
The 25 year old won the sprint on the R Mersey course with a two descent time of 188.62s.
Australian Dan Hall claimed silver in 189.94 while Britain's Jon Schofield took bronze in 190.52.
Britain scored a 1/2 in the women's K1 with Jessica Oughton and Hannah Brown beating Germany's Sabine Fusser into third.
Oughton, on 207.18, was almost five seconds up on the field.
 

23/10/09
Orienteering -  Another rainy weeknd foprecast for Mountain marathon
Mark Seddon and John Hunt, the Original Mountain Marathon winners the last time the two day event was held in Wales in 2004 are in the strong elite lineup for this years event in the mountains at Builith Wells.
Last year, rain and high winds forced organisers  to call the Lake District event off on the first day. Rain is forecast again for Saturday.
Tim Higginbottom and Chris Near, first home that day run once again.
Previous winners Steve Birkinshaw  (with Scots hill running  internationalist Jethro Lennox) is also in the field.
 

22/10/09
Canoeing -Warm-up under way for wild water river racing world  cup in Oz
Competitors from 16 countries are in Tasmania for this years Wild Water River Racing World Cup.
Open practice is underway on the R Mersey for the first two events, Saturday's rapid sprint and the classic distance time trial on Sunday.
keep contact at
 www.wildwatertasmania.canoe.org.au
 

21/10/09
Open Water Swimming - There was defeat at last for Thomas Lurz of Austria, reports "The water is open .com" .
The series winner had notched up his tenth win out of ten appearances at the 10km Open Water World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (20th Oct).
The world champion clocked 1h44m53s as he beat Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin into second by just over a second.
But in today's (21st) final event of the series at the UAE's Hamyirah Beach, he lost out to Australian Trent Grimpsey who finished 25 metres ahead.
"I am the world 5K and 10K champion," he said, " and, yes, maybe I would have liked to win here. But I saw Trent leading and I didn't want to push it unnecessarily because the conditions were tough and I didn't want the others to overtake me in the end. So I'm happy with this second place. But, I have won the overall championship, so this makes it a bit tougher because I must defend the title now."
 

19/10/09
Orienteering - hosts run well at World Masters champs in Oz
Three women and three men became double world masters champions, winning both the sprint and the long distance finals in this year’s WMOC, held in conjunction with the World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia. Four of them were Australians - Natasha Key in W35 (long distance champion in 2008 too), Jennifer Bourne in W55, Warren Key in M50 and Hermann Wehner in M85. Birgitta Thunell, Sweden won both titles in W70 and Michael Thierolf, Germany did the same in M45

18/10/09
Cyclo-cross - Albert stays on top of the world
Belgium's World Champion Niels Albert made it 2/2 when he won today's Cyclo-cross Wor;d Cup race in Pizen.
He finished 18 seconds clear of fellow Belgian Sven Nys in 2nd with a time of 65m 13..

17/10/09
Orienteering - Former Euro X-C champ Jorgensen too fast for the opposition at Masters
Former world medalist Carsten Jorgensen won the premier M35 title at the World Masters Chamionships in Australia.
The Dane, also a former European Cross-country Champion, now resident in New Zealand where he is the current national champion, finished just short of five minutes clear of local Australian hopeful Grant Bluett in second.
Natsha Keys gave Australia gold in the women's 35 championship.
 

15/10/09
Cyclo-cross- World champion Albert is the man to beat.
World Champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and Katherine Compton (USA) go into this weekend's second stage of the Cyclo-cross world cup series at Pizen with wins at Treviso two weeks ago under their belts.
 Both built on early attacks to notch up substantial wins.
It was Albert's second cup win of his  career.
 

12/10/09
Mountain Running - Swiss orienteer wins World Long Distance title.
Swiss orienteering internationalist Marc Lauenstein won the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship title at Soll in Austria.
Racing over the full 42km plus distance in the Kaisermarathon, the Swiss beat N Zealand's Jon Wyatt into second by just under six minutes with his time of 3h 06m 20.2s.
Czech Anna Pichrtova was women's winner in 3h 28m 57.2s.

09/10/09
Orienteering - Top Brazilans will run in Istanbul
Fifteen Brazilians will contest the men's and women's elite fields at next month's Istanbul Five Day Orienteering international.

08/10/09
Mountain Biking - Big turnout expected for Scots 24hr endurnace event
The Relentless 24 Hr Mountain Biking Endurance Race gets underway in Fort William, Scotland on Saturday.
The winner is the rider who completes the greatest number of 8 mile laps of the hilly forest trail centred on the Nevis Range Centre.
With team and individual entry available on the day, a field of around 300 is expected for the Le Mans style mass start.
 

6/10/09
Mountain Running - Wyatt and Mayr win Grand Prix series
New Zealand's Jon Wyatt retained the World Mountain Running Grand Prix  trophy despite his 8th place in the final in Slovenia.
A third win out of three outings was good enough to give Austria's Andrea Mayr the women's trophy.

4/10/09
Mountain running - Grand Prix final results from Slovenia
Women - 1 Andrea Mayr (AUT) 45m41.4s, 2 Anna Frost (NZL) 47;19.2, 3 Lucia Krkoc (SLOV) 47;35.4
Men - 1 Antonio Toninelli (ITA) 40m03.7s, 2 Robert Krupicka (Cze) 40:09.8, 3 Marco De Gasperi (ITA) 40:16.6.

2/10/09
Mountain Running - Grand Prix ends in Slovenia on Saturday.
The challenging 9.5k course on Smarna gora just outside Ljubljana climbs 750m and drops 290m.
This is the 30th edition of the race and all the winners of the men's event since 1994 will be present: Lucio Fregona, Marco Degasperi, Emanulle Manzi, Jonathan Wyatt, Robert Krupicka, Andrzej Dlughosz and local Mitja Kosovelj, who wan the last race in 2008.
In the women's race last year's winner and course record holder Andre Mayr from Austria will try to improve her mark. Local favorites Mateja Kosovelj and Lucija Krkoc will fight to get space on the podium.

1/10/09
Orienteering - world masters warm up in Canberra-
But, some notable Scandinavians are missing.

Crse 1 Men Master  (36)          5.3 km  200 m   13 C

Nick Ajderian               203302        GBR .     10:52
Nick Barrable               500167        GBR .    11:04
Dave Coustick               667766        GBR .     11:08
Bill Edwards               1010164         HV Z      9:56
Rinat Gataulin             1005780        RUS .     11:14
Mikhail Griaznevich          43137        GBR .     10:20
Eddie Harwood               904904        GBR .     11:06
David Jenkins               204169         BS A     10:44
Carsten Joergensen          701025         PP Z     10:36
Wong Kin Ip                 115138        HKG .     10:48
Magne Knudsen                44267         BS A     10:12
Vadim Konyshev             1302092        RUS .     10:04
Piotr Lada                  204370        POL .     10:42
Leif E. Larsen              500122        DEN .     11:02
Göran Larsson               553390        SWE .     11:00
Per Magnusson                44194        SWE .     10:50
Roger Maher                 261250        GBR .     10:10
Henry Marston                50405        GBR .     10:06
Mark Nemeth                 510115         TF Q     10:32
Philippe Page               689004        FRA .     10:56
Raimondas Paknys             41133        LTU .     10:34
Ari Piiroinen              2014120         BS A     10:54
Julius Ptashekas            510200        LTU .     11:12
Marius Ptashekas            929405        LTU .     11:26
Andy Robinson                39975        GBR .     11:18
Mark Saunders               590204        GBR .     10:46
Takashi Sugiyama            241417        JPN .     10:14
Kari Talltjärn              259304        SWE .     10:26
Graham Turner                41212         RR A     11:10
Henrikas Ulevicius          501182        LTU .     10:40
Wim Vervoort                701728        BEL .     11:20
Christian Wehrli            501997        SUI .     11:16
Laenen Wiet                 703062        BEL .     10:58
Konrad Wildi                 54685        SUI .     10:02
Geoff Wood                  200093         PO A      9:58

Crse 2B Women Master  (31)       4.5 km  190 m   11 C
Svetlana Anori               44189        RUS .     11:12
Natalia Babeti              338704        USA .     11:32
Alice Bedwell               503485        GBR .     10:26
Karen Blatchford            250494         NC N     11:14
Lies Borghs                   4959        BEL .     10:06
Liz Bourne                  258486         AO A     12:00
Valerie Brammall            406204         EV T     11:42
Toni Brown                  348028         BS A     11:02
Anitra Dowling              204045         EU V     10:50
Susan Edwards                33225         HV Z     12:04
Alexandra Filonyuk           41190        RUS .     11:06
Inara Gipsle                 44193        GBR .     11:40
Helena Griggs               334996         AL T     10:40
Lena Jansson                 33474        SWE .     11:30
Ritva Kajava                302871        FIN .     10:54
Julie Leung                 354661         TF Q     10:42
Carey Nazzer                257981         TA Z     11:04
Maria Nordwall              259407        SWE .     11:52
Sandra Olivier             1000716        FRA .     10:20
Merike Paapson              660309        EST .     10:14
Angela Pearson              300706        CAN .     10:46
Vitalija Ptashekiene        501176        LTU .     11:28
Anita Scherrer              402436         RR A      9:58
Andrea Schiwy               406231         AL T     11:54
Simonne Silvi                 4550        BEL .     10:48
Elke Theiss                 423891        BEL .     10:38
Birgitta Thunell             15121        SWE .     11:08
Jurate Ulevichiene          501167        LTU .     11:50
Helen Way                  2014101         RR A     11:58
Carol Young                  24938        GBR .     10:10
 

30/09/09
Trail Running - Vietnamese hideout optional extra...
Visiting a war time hideout is an optional extra for runners in the three day Vietnam Ultra Marathon which gets underway tomorrow (Thursday).
The trail race covers 89kms over the three days in the mountainous region close to the Laos border.
On the third day, runners can make a 3km detour which will take them through the war time tunnel.
There is a 70 strong lineup from Europe, Asia, Australasia, N America and Africa for the event organised by a NGO for village development in the area.

29/09/09
Swimming - Lurz cements Open Water World Cup lead
Germany's world champion Thomas Lurz heads the men's open water world cup swimming rankings going into Sunday's World Cup Open Water event in Hong Kong
Earlier this month he notched up his 6th win in a row in China beating  Russia's Abrosmov Ktill by just over a scond with his 10km time of 1h 55m 10.98s.

28/09/09
Orienteering - Swiss rule cup on home ground
Simone Niggli rounded off her season in the best possible way by winning the PostFinance Sprint in Zurich city centre and in so doing, becoming the overall winner of the 2009 World Cup. Daniel Hubmann also won for the second day running, finishing with a huge points lead in the men’s World Cup.
Simone has steadily regained her best form as the year has progressed after giving birth last year, and today’s win confirms her standing as the world’s best female orienteer yet again – she also won the World Cup every year from 2004 to 2007 inclusive. Today’s victory was by a margin of 18 seconds over Anne Margrethe Hausken, with one of the others in close contention for the title, Marianne Andersen, coming third a further 4 seconds down. The third contender, Helena Jansson, was disqualified.
Daniel Hubmann won by 16 seconds over his compatriot David Schneider, and the Russian Andrey Khramov took third place, 5 seconds slower again. The Swiss runners provided plenty of excitement for the big crowds of spectators, taking 5 of the first 6 places. Daniel Hubmann’s only serious challenger for the title, Thierry Gueorgiou, could only finish eleventh today, although he was in fact only 56 seconds slower than Hubmann.

24/09/09
Orienteering - World Cup finals - Hubmann or Gueorgiou? Andersen or Jansson - or Niggli?
Who will take overall victory in the World Cup this year? That question will be decided this weekend when the two final events take place in and around Zurich, Switzerland. Both races count for World Cup points, along with a competitor’s best 5 of the 7 races held so far.

A fascinating battle can be anticipated between home runner Daniel Hubmann, World Champion at Long Distance, and Thierry Gueorgiou of France, Middle Distance World Champion. Hubmann leads Gueorgiou by 15 points in the current standings, but with 100 points for a win, 80 points for second place and 60 for third, this situation can rapidly change. Current third overall is Sweden’s Peter Öberg, but with 76 points fewer than Hubmann he may not find it possible to advance on that position.

Minna Kauppi, Finland, current leader in the women’s standings, is injured and sadly will not be taking part this weekend. Second to her is Marianne Andersen, Norway, who leads third-placed Helena Jansson, Sweden by 55 points. Andersen won two silver individual medals in the World Championships in Hungary and will be aiming to be at the top this time after Sunday’s race. But there is another contender for the title – no less than Simone Niggli, newly-crowned Long Distance World Champion, who on home ground will for sure be out to prove that her come-back after childbirth is complete. Niggli has just 15 points fewer than Jansson in the standings.

Saturday’s race is at Middle Distance, in complex and in parts hilly forest terrain with very varied runnability. The 40 runners with the highest World Cup standings run last, starting in reverse order (leader starts last).

The final race on Sunday is the annual PostFinance Sprint, which this year will be held in the heart of Zurich city and in the historic old town on a festival day when the whole centre of Zurich will be traffic-free. This area of Zurich is completely new for orienteering, and a very large crowd of spectators can be expected. The participants in each class will be the 40 highest-placed competitors in the World Cup standings after Saturday’s race.
IOF website www.orienteering.org
 
 

22/09/09
Mountain Running - Spain finishes Skyrunner trial series
This weekend's major mountain run is the Puyada a Oturia in the Spanish Pyrenees close to Huesco.
The last of the Skyrunning International trials series starts and finishes at 750m in Penta Sardas.
But over 38 kms the route climbs to1357m on Santa Engracia descends back to the valley and then climbs 1921m on Pico Oturia.

21/09/09
Mountain Biking -  World Cup series
Julien Absalom (Fra), Elizabeth Osl (Aut) win the cross-country world cup series.
Australia's Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier of France take the downhill.
And  world champion Jared Graves (Aus) and Dutch rider Anneke Beerten win the 4X.

18/09/09
Orienteering - Hubmann does it again
Switzerland's World long distance champion Daniel Hubmann made it 2 out of 2 at the World Military orienteering Championships in Lithunania taking the 5.4k middle diatnce title in 27m30s .
He beat Russian internationalist  Valentin Novitov  into second by 5 seconds.
 

17/09/09
Orienteering - Hubmann number one again.

Swiss World champion Daniel Hubmann won the World Military Long Distance title in Estonia.
On a day which saw a world class international turnout in the men's 15km run the hoped for repeat of the world championship head to head between Hubmann and Thietty Gueorgiou  (winner last year) failed to materialise with the Frenchman out injured.
Hubmann clocked 76m19s to beat Francois Gonon of France into second by 3m 43s.
Matthias merz of Switzerland was third.
The middle distance championship is on Friday.

16/09/09
Orienteering - As the European season closes action gets underway "down under".
 

Chewton Diggings near Bendigo

The Australian orienteering championships season is underway.
West Australian Champs were last weekend, and continue this along with Queensland
Then everyone is off to the national championships in Victoria from 26th Sept and 4th Oct., which includes the Victorian Long Champs.
The middle distance run on the Chewton Diggings mine working near Bendigo looks like something different.
A week later it is the Canberra 2-Day which leads into the World Masters Championships neat Sydney.
 
 
 
 
 

15/09/09
Outdoor Sports face another busy week
This is another busy week for sport in the "great outdoors".
The 1st Commonwealth Mountain and Distance Racing Championships kick off on the 17th at Keswick in England's Lake District.
This is World Marathon Canoe Championship week at  Crestuma  in Portugal where  the action gets underway on Wednesday with the Masters World Cup marathon events while the main featrures are scheduled for Friday Satrurday and Sunday.
The mountain bike world cup series finishes with cross-country, downhill and 4X at Schladming in Austria.
And a good turnout of the world's top orienteers are expected to turn out for three days of competition (18-20th) in the Tour de Trorodnheim - the Norwegian venue for next year's World Championships.

14/09/09
Mountain Biking - Absalom is X-C world cup leader
It was second again for world cross-country silver medalist Julien Absalom at the final world cup event in Chambery.
But with four wins out of seven in the series, the French man is  top of the overall world cup standings beating on day winner Burry Stander  of S Africa into second  by over 300 points.

13/09/09
Canoeing - Old hands and new faces starred at World Slalom Canoeing Championships in Spain
Slovakia's two times Olympic title winners Paval and  Peter Hochschorner kept the canadian doubles title ( their third win) finishing just 0.14 of a second up on fellow countrymen Ladislav and Peter Skantar in 2nd.
And two times Olympic Canadian singles winner Tony Estanquet (FRA)  beat world title holder and 96/08 Olympic gold medalist Michal Martikan of Slovakia for gold finishing over two seconds up with his 106.25s clean run.
The Kayak events saw two new championship medalist top the podium with Jasmin Schonberg (GER) and Peter Kauzer (SLO),  who finished two seconds clear with his fast time of 92.84s, taking the titles.
The new women's canadian doubles event was liitered with high penalty scores but in the final Leanne Guinea led an Australian one, two, three onto the podium.

12/09/09
Canoeing - Slovaks tops in team championships at World Slalom Champs
Slovakia topped the team title results table at the World Canoe Slalom Championships at Seu d'Urgell in Spain winning both the men's  canadian doubles  and singles title  and taking silver in the women's  kayak.
Great Britain came next winning the women's kayak , taking silver in the men's kayak  behind the Czechs and bronze in the new women's canadian doubles.
RESULTS
WC1 - Australia 154.51, Spain 211.98 Gb 285.46
MC2 - Slovakia 113.51(2), 2 Germany 116.97 (4), 3 GB 117.20 (2)
WK1 GBR 112.79 (0), 2 Slovakia 118.14 (4), 3 Gremany 119.84 (2)
MC1 Slovakia 100.84 (0), 2 France 103.77 (2), 3 Spain 106.68 (0)
MK1 Czech Rep 98.17 (2) GBR 99.46 (0) Spain 100.62 (2)
 

11/09/09
Orienteering - Lithuania and Ukraine take  long distance Deaflyimpcs gold in Taipei
Tomas Kuzminski (Lithuania) and Myrna Checkunova (Ukraine) were long distance orienteering  title winners at the Deaflimpics in Taipei today (FRI).
Middle distance runners up Vytutas Remeika  (Ltu) and Iana Melnyk won silver again while bronze went to  Denmark's Allan Thesbjerg and Lithuania's Adrija Kulbokaite.
Results
Women - 1 Myrna Checkunova (UKR) 60:36, 2  Iana Melnyk  (UKR) 69:41, 3 Adrija Kulbokaite (LTU) 76:35
Men - 1 Tomas Kuzminskis  (LTU)  56:16,  2  Vytautas Remeika (LTU) 59:39, 3 Allan Thesbjerg (DEN) 62:32.

10/09/09
Canoeing - Dave Florence is first to get Olympic selection
Britain's David Florence, canadian doubles and singles paddler at this week's World Slalom Canoeing Championships does so as the first to gain Olympic selection.
Not that the Edinburgh man has been named for 2012 just yet but the UK Post Office features the Scot  on one of seven olympic 2012 stamps to be issued next month.

09/09/09
Orienteering -  Ukraine clean sweep in Taipei
The Ukraine posted a clean sweep of the women's middle distance medals at the Deaflympics in Taipei today.(WED).
Tetiana Bida beat Iana Melnyk for gold by just fifteen seconds with her time of 33m35s while Maryna Chekhunkova took bronze in 34.46.
Russia's Victor Dinges, men's sprint winner on Tuesday, also won the men's middle distance title.
His time of 35m11  beat Vytautas Remeika of Lithuania into second on 38.10.  just 8 seconds up on bronze winner Ferenc Mihalyi of Hungary.

08/09/09
Canoeing - Scoccer man Sven back Irish paddler
Former England soccer manager Sven Goran Ericsson is one of hundreds of Nottingham people who have helped sponsor Irish canoeist Helen Barnes at this week's World Slalom Canoe Championships in Spain.
Like all the others, a sticker with his picture will be on Helen's kayak as she takes to the rapids at La Seu d'Urgell.
Helen used to paddle for Britain but switched her international allegiance four years ago.
Short of cash to back her trip to Spain, she asked players and the management with her local Nottingham team for their backing ......... a minimum of one pound.
"Sven gave me more than a pound so I'll put his sticker up front," says Helen.
The local council have helped out with a £500 grant.
Also in the Irish team are ...Eoin Rheinisch, Neil Caffrey, Ciaran Heurtau and Hannah Craig.

07/09/09
Orienteering - Park World Tour goes to Scotland in 2010
Scotland will host the 2010 Park World Tour event with the world’s best orienteers expected to turn out to compete for a €5000 prize fund
Perth has added the orienteering international to its 800 year celebration programme.
The heats will be held at Scone Palace on Friday 10th September and Perth City Centre will be used to stage the final the following day.

06/09/09
Mountain Running Championships - Italy
African countries dominated themen's World Mountain Running Championship in the Italian Alps today,  filling seven of the top ten places.
Uganda's Geoffrey Kusuru made up for disappointment in the World Track Championships where he ran over 10,000 but failed to feature in the top places, as he took gold almost a minute clear in 54m51s.
Italy claimed gold, silver and bronze in the women's race with Elisa Desco leading the trio home in 43m39s.

06/09/09
Mountain Biking - World Championships
British 35 year old Steve Peat crowned his illustrious mountain biking career with a first ever world down hill championship title at Canberra today.
Four times a silver medalist, Peat beat S Africa's four times world cup event winner, Greg Minnaar unto second by 0.05s with his time of 2m 30,33s.
Emmeline Raggot of France, bronze medalist last year, won the women's title.
Peat

05/09/09
Mountain Biking
Switzerland's Nino Schurter, u-23 winner last year,  beat four times former world champion and current Olympic title holder Julian Absalom of France into second, to win the World Mountain Bike Cross-country title in Canberra today (Sat).
Absalom led with the Swiss pinned to his tail until with just over a kilometre to go of the 45km race Schurter capitalised on a bad gear shift by Absalom and surged ahead to win.
He weas just three seconds ahead in a time of 2h 4m 39s.
In the women's elite race, a broken chain on the first lap seemed to have put paid to Irina's Kalentieva's chance.
But the Russina came back to win 13 seconds clear of Norway's Lina Byberg in 1h 43m 20s.

04/09/09
Mountain Biking
Australia took double 4X gold at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Canberra.
Beijin BMX olympian, Jared Graves took the men's title at the 4th time of trying.
Carolin Buchanan, a two times world cup event winner, produced her best result todate as she beat US world number 3, Jill Kintner into second.
The Canberra local was coming back from the back injury which kept her from the recent BMX world championships.
S Africa's Burry Stander won the u-23 cross country.

03/09/09
Mountain Biking-
Seattle's three times world champion Jill Kintner tops the qualifiers going into tomorrow's 4X finals.
And Australian BMX olympian Jared  Graves topped the men's rankings.
In the cross-country Italy's Gerhard Kerschbaumer won the junior men's title breaking clear on the fourth of five laps to finish 1m 19s clear in 1h 31m01s.

02/09/09
Mountain Biking -  Europe's women dominated the u-23 and junior cross-country medal places at the World Mountain Biking Championships at Canberra.
Poland's European title holder Aleksandra Dawidowus won the u-23 championship while Pauline Ferrand-Prevot- already the age group raod race winner in Moscow this year, proved her versatility as she added the junior cross-country title to her tally.

01/09/09
Mountain Racing  - Scotland's World Long Distance Mountain Racing Champion Jethro Lennox  will defend his title at next month's World title race in Austria.
Last year Lennox won in England.
This year's 26.2 mile marathon Kaiser Marathon course in the Alps which finishes at the summit of the 1829m Hohe Salve will prove more testing.
But his recent two day 70km mountain marathon orienteering win in Norway is sure to give him confidence.
New Zealand's Jon Wyatt holds the Kaiser Marathon record at 3h 3m.

31/08/09
Mountain Running
Kenyan world grand prix race winners,    Jon Sombol and Geoffrey Ndungu,  will not compere in next weekend's world championships, say the Italian organisers.
But Uganda will provide a strong World track championship presence.
Martin Toroitich, Simon Ayeko and Geoffrey Kusuro did not record the best of performances in Berlin, but have a chance to conclude the season on a good note- reports African Monitor.
Instead of returning home with the rest of the team, the trio travelled to Italy for next Saturday's World Mountain Running Championships.
Toroitich, an elder brother to former world junior champion Boniface Kiprop, finished 22nd in the 10,000m final in Berlin.
Ayeko and Kusuro lost out in the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m respectively.
Torino could afford all three the chance to make amends..
Moses Cherop, who finished second in the national event, will join the rest of the team next week.

30/08/09
Orienteering
Christian Christensen and Maja Alm won the Danish Middle distance titles at Godding Forest Vedje.

In Signe Søes's absence it was internationalist Maja Alm OK from HTF in Haderslev who was the big favorite to win the 5.1 km long course  and Maja  did not disappoint. She has already led clear by as she came into the arena  with Masha Semak from Farum OK 2 minutes and 45 seconds down.

29/08/09
Mountain Biking.
French women dominated the premier 30-34 division at the World Masters Mountain Bike Championships on home ground at  the Alpine resort of Parloup.
Mireille Robin came home under a minute clear of Britain's Nina Davies in the Cross-country with a time of 1h  26m 30s.
And Chantal Bonaglia came through from 5th to win the downhill by 0.81s with her time of 3m45.46s.
The men's cross country title went to Italy with Massimo Folcarelli who finished the five lap course over three minutes clear in 1h 48m 41.27s.
And the downhill went to Britian's Lee Bertram by almost two seconds with his time of 2:42.64.

29/08/09
Orienteering
Norways top sprinter and five times world cup medal winner Oystein Kvall Ostebyo won his national sprint title at Porsgrunn while fellow internationalist Marianne Anderssen won the women's championship.

28/08/09
Outdoor sport has a busy top level week ahead.   There are world championships in Slalom Canoeing in Spain, Mountain Biking in Australia and Mountain Racing in Italy.  Results coming up here.

27/08/09
ORIENTEERING         - The controversey surrounding the World Orienteering Championship Relay in Hungary last week continues with French middle distance champion Thierry Gueorgiou saying that he does not think the medals should have been awarded.
(see blog   http://tero1.free.fr  )
The race ended in chaos when last lap leaders Gueorgiou, Norway's Anders Nordberg and Czech  runner Michal Smola stopped to help Swede Martin Johannson who had been speared in the leg by a broken branch.Gueorgiou, joined by Smola, helped Johannson while Nordberg ran for help.
All three later finished the course while Johansson was taken to hospital.
But in the meantime runners from Switzerland Russia and Finland ran on unaware and crossed the line in the medal winning positions.
At the prize giving,  all three were publically thanked for their actions and complimented on their sporting behaviour..
But then in a muted ceremony the medals were presented to the Swiss, Russian and Finnish teams.
"I would have appreciated seeing the result cancelled," says Gueorgiou, adding ....."What is the meaning of these medals? Half value or no value at all."
But event director Tibor Zsigmond told web site Attack Point (www.attackpoint.org) that the decision was not taken lightly to go ahead.
The teams were asked their opinion and it all came down to a split committee decision.
Last year, Ggeorgiou  lost out on the final leg of the relay when again he seemed set for victory.
He swallowed a bee and was stung in the throat forcing him to retire from the race to seek urgent medical assistance.

26/08/09
MOUNTAIN RACING -   Double success for Kenya at recent Mountain Running Grand Prix Events could herald an African takeover of this IAAF sport to match their domination on the track roads and cross-country.
In Norway (15th Aug) Kenyan Jon Sombol (69:55) beat world six times world title winner  Jon Wyatt (70:00) of New Zealand into second at the 8.2km uphill Skaala race in Norway..
The Kenyans tried out in mountain running some years ago but made heavy weather of it.
Sombol's win followed up a GP win by Geoffrey Ndung'u in Austria the previous weekend.