Canberra cycling prodigy Harriet Burbidge-Smith had been on her BMX bike for almost two decades, ever since she was a four-year-old. “My parents realised even at that age I was really enjoying the bike,” she recalls. “They looked up local activities and the BMX club was one of them. They took me there and I couldn’t stay away.”
Burbidge-Smith, known simply as “Haz” in the BMX community, was an instant hit. “From a very young age I was going overseas to compete,” she says. The Australian won two amateur world championships and eight national crowns. A future of success beckoned – Olympic and world titles were within her grasp. And then she stopped.
