Beijing, China 2016

Great Britain's elite athletes Alice Leake, Charlotte Ward, Chris Smithard, Peter Hodkinson and Will Gardener are now four races in to the Park World Tour 2016 in China.

There have been some fantastic results so far with two second place finishes for GB Alice Leake and one third place for GB Peter Hodkinson. 

Photo above:  Top 3 men and women in Park World Tour China stage 1 - first individual race (left to right): Peter Hodkinson (GBR) - 3rd place, Huao Shung (CHI) - 3rd place, Maja Alm (DEN) - 1st place, Johan Runesson (SWE) - 1st place, Alice Leake (GBR) - 2nd place, Yannick Michiels (BEL) - 2nd place.  (Credit:  pwt.com)

Photo above:  Beijing, China 2016, Park World Tour China Stage 2 - top 3 men and women in the Sprint on the prize winnning podium.  Great Britain's Alice Leake (left) on the prize winning podium again - in 2nd position.   (Credit:  pwt.com)

The athletes have one race remaining before returning to the UK on Monday. 

Alice Leake, said: "I am really enjoy the orienteering in Beijing. It's great to have performed well in the new terrain and to have achieved two podium positions. We are having lots of fun competing in the events alongside the Chinese National Championships and School Championships.  It's good to see that orienteering is growing in China". 

Will Gardener found the first race of the week challenging, and said:  "The race in the Beijing Botanical Gardens was more like a Forest Sprint; a bit of a shock to the system as we never really do these in Britain". 

After coming into the competition with a bad cold, Charlotte Ward hasn't had the results she hoped for and commented:  "The terrain here is very different and I have found it difficult to get into the mapping style. Having said this, the races have been a lot of fun and it has been such a cool experience meeting lots of other athletes from around the World".

Peter Hodkinson who is relishing the new challenges and performing very well, said:  "I love Beijing O-week."

Full results and more photos can be found on the Park World Tour website here. 

Item posted by Jennie Taylor, Marketing Manager