HOLLY Harris began her under 23s Mountain Bike World Cup campaign in fifth place in the opening round on Sunday.
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After winning the national championships, Harris competed in the green and gold against the best in the world at the Cairns event.
Having participated in the World Cup last year, Harris said beginning the 2016 event locally was a great chance to gauge where her form is at early on in the competition.
“It was the first world cup round so I wasn’t really sure where my form was at, so it was dipping my toe in the water a bit,” she said.
“I have done a few world cup rounds before but this was the first one this year and my form is a lot better than it has been so it was a bit different.
“It was really exciting.
“I didn’t have too many goals.
“The track is really technical so I guess I really wanted to nail the course and get out my best performance.”
The event in Cairns saw plenty of supporters cheering the Australian team on the sidelines.
A few of Harris’ New England Mountain Bikers teammates made the trip north to cheer her on.
“Because there was an Australian World Cup there were a lot of Aussies cheering there so it was amazing,” Harris said.
“There were people all around the track and it was absolutely crazy.
“There were people I didn’t really know cheering for me so it was really cool.
“A few people from the club actually came up and watched the world cup which was awesome.
“Having them there was so cool.
“The club is so active so we have really good tracks to train on so I am pretty spoilt club-wise.
Harris is planning her trip to Europe, where the next round of the World Cup will kick into gear in Albstadt, Germany.