CHARLIE Somers Cocks from Warton, Carnforth, has returned with five gold medals in the Women’s 55 class at the Mountain Bike Orienteering World Championships held at Idanha a Nova in Portugal.

With three individual races and two relay events, it was a busy week. The opening race was the Mixed Sprint relay, which this year was a demonstration event. Somers Cocks was paired with Sheffield rider Killian Lomas in the over 100 yrs combined age class.

With Somers Cocks on the first leg she pulled out a lead, which on the second leg Lomas built on. Again on the third leg Somers Cocks extended that lead and Lomas on the last leg returned to bring this British team back in 57 minutes and a Gold medal, several minutes clear of the second placed Australian team.

The first official race was the Individual Sprint Race with an expected winning time of around 18 minutes. It required some accurate navigation and some fast riding around a complex network of cobbled streets and alleyways in one of the traditional hillside villages in the area. Somers Cocks was a clear winner also finishing ahead of the women’s 50 class who shared the same course.

The next day saw the Middle distance race with a winning time of around an hour taking place in the more traditional forest environment, an undulating area of Eucalyptus and pine plantation with a complex track network.

Again Somers Cocks dominated her class with a clear win and a third Gold medal.

A rest day was then followed by the Long distance race which was in a very remote area right on the Spanish border with a mixture of eucalyptus plantations and abandoned farm land.

The start was high up on a ridge with the first control several kilometres away requiring both a difficult route choice decision combined with some exacting navigation at speed whilst descending into the area.

Finding the best route and executing it well allowed her to immediately pull out a 3 minute lead on her rivals. After just under two hours of racing the Gold medal was again the result.

The end of the week and all that was left was the three person mixed relay with a combined age of 160. Again this was a demonstration event this year and Somers Cocks was on the first leg.

After 37 minutes of racing she had pulled out a one minute lead. Peter Simmonds (Army) consolidated this on the second leg and Nick Dallimore from South Wales brought the British team home in first place and another gold medal.

Charlie Somers Cocks is Head of Global Talent at Impact International and manages to juggle her training with a busy working life frequently working overseas.

She is kindly supported by Holgates Holiday Parks, Silverdale with the use of their gym – a vital part of her preparation.