TWO Malvern riders retained their winning jerseys at the HSBC UK National Mountain Bike Cross Country Championships in Cannock Chase.

Evie Richards, 22, remains the woman to beat in the under 23s and Harriet Harnden again secured the girls’ under 18s junior honours.

Both have followed similar paths, going to St James Primary School, Great Malvern, and The Chase.

They came through the T-Mo Racing mountain bike team run by Malvern’s former world champion Tracey Moseley and are members of Malvern Cycle Sport where they are coached by ex-Olympian Liam Killeen.

Richards, of Trek Factory Racing, led from the start.

She said: “I felt a bit tired during the week so I’m really happy to come here, enjoy the racing and get another national title.

“The competition is really good at the moment so I was super happy.

“I now go to the Mountain Bike World Cups, World Championships and then jump on the cyclo-cross bike.”

Harnden, of T-Mo, also won in impressive style.

“It feels really good and it was a tough race. It was a lot warmer than I thought,” she said.

“I felt the course in some places was a bit draggy but as a whole it was quite technical and tight which made it quite hard to get past people. It was good fun.”