Interviews: Nikki Harris

 

14th of March, 2006; by Larry Hickmott
Nikki's Website: http://www.nikkiharris.co.uk/ 

Commonwealth Game Features Page

 

One of the countries top up and coming young riders is Nikki Harris who will be riding the Commonwealth Games this week for England. She tells us she is expecting to ride the Points race on the track and then the Road Race on the final day of the Games. Talking about her preparation, Nikki says "I have been preparing a lot for these events, doing quite a few miles in Majorca during the Great Britain training camps out there, and now that I'm Sydney, I will be concentrating more on speed work in training on the track which is going well."

Nikki, like many who ride for Great Britain, has experience at World Cups and a World Championships. Not only that, she rode, and won an event (MTB) at the Youth Commonwealth Games so we asked is she nervous at the thought of riding the Commonwealth Games?

"It's good that I've had a lot of chances to compete in other major championships so for me it's more about just getting on with the racing and enjoying it as much as possible. You don't realise how big the Commonwealth Games are until you actually tell people you're going to ride in them and then it kinda hits you that this is a lot bigger than events I have previously done. So yeah, I do tend to get nervous now and again and I'm sure by the time the competitions begin, I will definitely be getting nervous."

Nikki, like many of the team riding the Sydney World Cup, flew out to Sydney not that long ago and says its been great coming out to Australia a few weeks before she need to compete.

"The weather is a big factor and being here early has let us get used to the heat and the time difference. Its great also just being able to train with the all the team and chill out. We are going to be doing some racing out here before hand which is another good thing , crits and track racing in the warm weather appeals to me a lot more than going round bumpy cold wet roads back home!

"We are staying right by the beach and there are some nice little coffee shops to go sit in when we are not training so we can relax and recover that way. We're also lucky because we are training on the track at Sydney where the World Cup will be in a few weeks and apparently that track is the same as the one at Melbourne, so it's perfect."

Since Christmas, Nikki tells us that she has been pleased to get in some good blocks of road work in between suffering cold and chest infections which saw her having to miss quite a bit of time training with her fellow squad riders. As for racing, Nikki is looking forward to doing some criteriums and also a team pursuit against the Aussies which she says is going to be real good fun. Then, it's the World Cup which started this weekend and you read more about here on BritishCycling.org.uk.

Finally, asked what the best and worst bits were about being in Australia to prepare for the Commonwealth Games,Nikki says "I think the best things about being over here away from home is that we're able to train in good weather and focus on our training. This helps me to get a lot more out of the efforts etc I'm doing and there's also a lot more relaxation time which is always a bonus."

Footnote: Since talking to Nikki prior to the Sydney World Cup for the above interview, the Derbyshire lass won her first World Track Medal in Sydney 10 days ago. As she came off the track, Nikki couldn't believe she had won a medal in a World Cup!

"I can't believe it" she said to me as he came off the track. "I am so pleased with that. The plan was to sit in for the first 40 laps and then show myself in the race and keep attacking and stuff. The first attack I did, I went away with the World Champion, Visser and the Spanish girl and after I did a lap and a half on the front, we just went on team pursuit style."

"I knew I had to get some points and I didn't really follow anybody because if you do that things can go wrong so I stuck to my plan and it worked." Asked did she know she was in third in the closing stages and did that effect her and make her nervous?

"I didn't panic but at the same time I didn't want to do anything stupid and fall off so I tried to be as safe as possible and looked around and stuff." I then put it to her that after the last World Track Cup at Manchester in December which didn't go that well for her, the here result must be a huge boost before the Games. "Definitely! After Manchester I was so annoyed with myself and coming here I wanted to really show what I am capable of." You certainly did that Nikki!

Good luck to Nikki for the Commonwealth Games.

 

Nikki's Sydney Photo Album