Harnden crushes opposition to retain title
Muddy conditions suit powerful Trek rider
The muddier the better – that’s the view of reigning women’s national cyclo-cross champion Harriet Harnden, who retained her title with an impressive display of strength riding.
The Trek Factory Racing rider who specialises in enduro mountain biking powered through the Crawley mud in similar style to her nationals win two years earlier at Shrewsbury.
She faced tough competition from experienced cyclo-cross rider Anna Kay (Starcasino) but found her tempo during the opening lap, passing her rival and taking command of the race.
“I knew Anna was going to go off fast, and I just had to do my best to go with that,” said Harnden. “I just rode my own race and stuck at my own pace. I knew the conditions suited me.
“I knew I could go with Anna on a bad day so that just gave me a lot of confidence and I had faith that I had done all of the right work.
“It feels amazing to wear the jersey again. As I get older, each year I put more and more work into trying to earn the national jersey so each year I’m more grateful to wear those stripes, there is a lot of pride.
“I love the mud and it was muddy in Shrewsbury two years ago. It possibly suits somebody who has got a bit more power when it’s a bit slower.” Harnden placed fourth in a muddy under-23 World Championships at Valkenburg in 2018, then aged 16. Kay admitted that she needed to work on riding in deep mud after settling for third as Commonwealth Games gold medallist Annie Last beat her in a close battle for second.
Now aged 20, Harnden hopes to be selected and for more mud at this month’s World Championships in America.
“The muddier the better for me, I’m not so good in the fast races so fingers crossed for lots of mud,” she said.
“The muddier the better, I’m not so good in fast races”