Mountainbiker scores second shot at world title

UQ student Anna Sheldon will pedal her way through beech forests in Slovakia for a second tilt at the world mountain bike orienteering crown.

Ms Sheldon, a PhD student in soil science and UQ sporting scholarship winner, said she hoped to improve on the bronze medal she won at last year’s world championships.

Mountain bike orienteering combines the skill of bike riding in rough terrain with map reading and navigation on-the-fly.

Before cyclists race, they are given one minute to study a map which shows them terrain and slope and tracks of different grade, width and speed.

Cyclists have to work out the best routes between checkpoints as they race and glance at the swivelling map on their handlebars.

Ms Sheldon qualified for the world championships after trials outside Ballarat in Victoria, finishing second in a 16-kilometre race and third in the 20-kilometre race

She said she would race in world ranking events in the Czech Republic next month before the world championships in Slovakia in September.

She expects most competition from Austrian, Swiss and Finnish riders.

The 24-year-old from St Lucia is Queensland’s top-ranked female orienteer and a three-time Australian representative at the Junior World Orienteering Championships.

Media: Ms Sheldon (0407 574 878, 3346 9546, a.sheldon@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (3365 2619)