How did you feel when you realised you had won a silver medal? Initially disbelief, then elation, particularly for the long; I’d thought a medal in the sprint was an outside possibility, with many having little experience or interest, but a medal in the long was completely unexpected. 

What preparation did you do for WMOC? We’ve run in Portugal every spring for the last few years; this year we added a few days of training in dune terrain further north up the coast.  It was good for BOC2008 too.  Being retired now gives me more time to run too.

What did you think of the terrain, course, organisation, the Portugese modus operandi? All excellent; I’m sure David May’s efforts as IOF event advisor made a difference to the standard of the competition.

Will you be there in Australia to defend your Silver? Still deciding, but hoping so.

Do you think your success will make winning easier in the future? Not really – maybe the opposite has been demonstrated by my runs at the O-ringen two weeks later – I was DQ’ed on the first day and had a disaster on the last.

What was the best thing of the whole WMOC08? WMOC has always seemed poor value for money and use of a week’s holiday with only three events.  The addition of the sprint made WMOC08 a much better proposition.

What was the worst experience you had during WMOC08? Losing nearly 2 minutes on the first control in the long final and thinking I had blown any chance of a good result

How long do you think it will take to beat WMOC08s GB medal tally? Portugal is a ‘neutral’ country, with none of the main orienteering nations having a home advantage.  It is more difficult in most venues.