In what was a very special day Great Britain won the mixed sprint relay and took home their second gold of the World University Orienteering Championships 2016. There was a real chance of winning following on from the great results at the individual sprint and confidence was high amongst the team members.

The course setters did a fantastic job with tricky route choices and good forking amongst the runners. First leg was Charlotte Ward (Humberside and Lincolnshire Orienteers/University of Sheffield) who put in an excellent performance finishing in 3rd place only 6 seconds down and well within sight of the leaders. Exactly the great start the team wanted. Peter Hodkinson (Nottinghamshire Orienteers/University of Tulsa) then powered round second leg building up a five second lead over Switzerland. Then it was the turn of World University Orienteering Champion Kris Jones (Forth Valley Orienteers/Swansea Bay Orienteering Club/University of Ulster) who blew away the field coming back with a massive 67 second lead over Norway. Finally it was down to Megan Carter Davies (Mid Wales Orienteering Club/University of Bristol) to finish the job and take the win which she did in some style. Megan increased the gap over the first section of the course and realising the win was on made sure of it in the latter  stages. The team all came down the finish together with a final lead over the Czech Republic of 50seconds. Job done.

1st Great Britain 54.57

Charlotte Ward 14.21

Peter Hodkinson 13.27

Kris Jones 12.46

Megan Carter-Davies 14.23

"Wow. I think the whole team are lost for words; it's hard to describe how happy we are! We prepared well together and believed we had the ability to get a medal, but you can never tell what will happen.  On a personal level I'm glad I was able to finish in the leading pack, despite a shaky start to the course.  World champions - it doesn't get better than that!"  Charlotte Ward

"That was crazy. After the Sprint I think we were confident that four safe runs could put us in contention for a medal but I hardly dared to believe it beforehand. Once we got racing I just loved every minute of it. Being at the sharp end of a relay is so exciting and I'm so proud that we produced a result which we've felt has been possible for a while. It's such a fantastic feeling to share this as a team! I'm more excited than ever for the Relay coming up."  Peter Hodkinson

"Wow, what a great feeling. I don't think we could have written a better script today. Everyone did their job to perfection. This far surpasses the great feelings from the individual. It is a great reflection of the hard work that everyone puts in, not just us four who stood on the podium but all the British athletes and support staff."  Kris Jones

"We knew we were a strong team before the race and could medal if we all had clean runs. In quarantine I was getting so nervous but when I came out and saw on the screen that Kris was coming with over a minute lead, I felt so chilled out and ran a fairly solid race, taking the time to check when needed. We're all absolutely ecstatic with the result, still can't believe it!!" Megan Carter-Davies

The whole team is absolutely delighted and we move on now to the middle distance race on Wednesday.

Item posted by Scott Parker, Administrator, on behalf of Ed Nicholas, Team Leader, World Universities Orienteering Championships 2016.