On the final day of WOC the relay was held. The relay at WOC is probably the most interesting race for a spectator and one of the more exciting to be a part of besides the sprint.  It begins with a high-speed mass start followed by high-speed mistakes made under pressure and then it’s time for the other two runners to go out and do the same thing!

The Mass Start of the Womens relay

I was not originally selected to run in the relay and in the end I didn’t run either…although I really wanted to be out there in the 30degC + heat! I did however run in the morning in the spectator races, I had a fun run around but made a couple of costly mistakes in terms of route choice which is something I will need to work on I think….at least one thing I can take from racing in France.

Lizzie ran an awesome race to come back in 6^th place on first leg a couple of seconds ahead of Sweden. Penny and Amber ran the next two legs to finish in 16^th place amongst a pretty strong Womens field. At the front end it all came down to the final 4 controls and there was a see-saw battle between about 5 different countries.  Finland pulled through to win in the sprint to the finish…one of the more exciting relay finishes in recent history!

The men’s race was a bit more straight-forward with France prancing away to victory in their own country anchored by none other than Thierry Gueorgiou. Ross rolled his ankle quite badly on the 4^th control of the first leg and by the time he was back in most of the second leg runners were due back in. Chris and Toby had pretty solid runs but finished well down in the placings.

Then after it was all done and dusted it was time to head for a quick shower before heading to the banquet. It was an interesting banquet this year as the time-table had been so rushed that it was about the only opportunity to interact with the other teams as everyone was staying at different places in the area.