Armidale’s Holly Harris has taken the mountain bike world by storm and is now listed as one of the globe’s best.
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She has climbed to No.90 in the elite women’s world rankings.
It’s a massive accomplishment considering she is still an under-23 racer.
“It was pretty exciting [the ranking], especially because it was elite as well and I am not even the elite category yet,” she said.
Along with rising in the world rankings, Harris is now the No.2 ranked woman mountain biker in Australia.
It’s been a long season for Harris, who returned from racing in the World Cup in Europe less than a week ago.
But after taking some time off, she is ready to get back into the swing of things.
“I have been training really, really hard this year,” she said.
“And I started my training in January, then I raced Grafton to Inverell, and then I pretty much hopped on a plane the next day.
“I found that I was really tired overseas.
“I think that my body just needed a rest.”
After having a week off the bike, Harris has her sights firmly set on the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“I have definitely had a longer break off the bike than I normally would have, just to try and repair,” she said.
“But apart from that I am cutting back my hours and focusing on really high intensity training and doing a little bit more in the gym, so it is not as much long endurance rides.”
As her world ranking suggest, it has been a good year for Harris.
She even performed well on the road, finishing second in the inaugural Grafton to Inverell women’s race.
In February, she continued her rise in elite-level mountain biking with a double victory in the Victorian rounds of the Cross Country National Series.