Harriet Harnden and Matt Walker retained their national titles in Rhyd-y-Felin as first year juniors Heather Wilson and George Madley were crowned the winners in Wales.
With lots of track changes throughout the year, it was mostly new terrain for the riders to tackle. The rain on seeding day made the track difficult to ride in the morning, but got getting faster and faster throughout race day, with the best conditions being for the senior open race.
In the elite women’s race, Harriet Harnden stormed to the win in a time of 3:44.606 to secure her back-to-back national title. Harnden was followed by Mikayla Parton two seconds behind, while Louise Ferguson clocked 3:46.866 to take the bronze.
Matt Walker took the elite open win, beating world champion Charlie Hatton by three seconds. Walker clocked 3:06.050 to take the title ahead of Hatton on 3:09.123, while it was a dead hear for third with Luke Williamson and Joe Breeden both finishing on 3:11.169.
Heather Wilson stormed to the junior women’s win as the only rider in the category to dip under four minutes. Wilson clocked 3:58.400 to take the win ahead of Lacey Holmes and Charlotte Tuckwood.
It was a tight junior open race, with the top three riders all finishing on 3:19. George Hadley seized the victory, clocking 3:19.011 as Will Haines came home on 3:19.042 to take second. Daniel Parfitt rounded off the podium in third with 3:19.244.
