In another hard fought race at the Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania Emily Benham won a hard fought Gold medal in the Long Distance race.

The race was held in the beautiful Verkiai Forest Park just outside Vilnius.  The myriad of small lakes and steep river valleys made for challenging route choice problems.

After 45 kilometres and 29 controls, it was down to the very last two kilometres when a small mistake by Olga Shipilova-Granodova of Russia and an inspired route choice by Emily allowed her to ride to the Gold in a tough uphill finish.  Over the last 40 minutes of a tough course, Emily and Olga exchanged the lead several times much to the excitement of the crowd watching the GPS tracking on the big screens in the arena.  A brave committed ride by Czech rider Martina Tichovska gave her the Silver only 30 seconds down but it was Emily's day again.  

The last race of these World Championships is the Sprint taking place in the Old Town of Vilnius.

The win in the Long clinched Emily's victory in the Women's World Cup Series for the third year in a row.

Congratulations Emily!