Seagrave encouraging more women to race the 'hardest downhill track'

Tahnee Seagrave competes for the Orbea FMD team

Elite women's rider Tahnée Seagrave acknowledges that recruiting for the world's hardest downhill racing track is hard work in itself.

Seagrave has been tasked by the race organisers of Red Bull Hardline to source and invite top female athletes to compete in the world's hardest downhill track.

Hardline Wales is a downhill race which will be staged in Machynlleth, Powys, on 26-27 July.

"It does feel like an honour to be invited there and it's obviously the hardest track you can find," Seagrave told BBC Sport Wales.

"People really want to push themselves and prove themselves and be crowned winner of Hardline.

"Red Bull tell me the amount of places there are and I go and seek riders.

"Sometimes it's hard to even get people that are willing to do it just because it's obviously so hard.

"The risk is really high especially for World Cup racers that have a full season of racing it's sometimes not worth the risk."

But the 30-year-old acknowledges that Hardline Wales is "always a hard one" to recruit for given the demands of the race.

Last year, during the 10th anniversary of the event, female competitors made history, by ticking off some of the races most challenging features such as the infamous road gap.

"I remember standing on the road gap and when I saw Cami [Cami Nogueira] who hit the road gap first and did it first I was just I was nearly in tears just because it was this feature that I've looked at ever since Hardline began," Seagrave added.

"I remember when I saw the first Hardline I thought there's no way in a million years I would ever hit something that big.

"To see the first girl do it and then inspired me to then go and do it, it was personally a huge achievement but also it just meant so much more than that for women's mountain biking.

"I think for me it is seeing other women do stuff makes me realize that things are possible."

The first woman to ride the Hardline course in Wales was 23-year-old New Zealander Jess Blewitt in 2023, but she was not able to complete a full top-to-bottom race run.

"We have only seen two women do a full top to bottom [at Hardline] and that was Gracey Hemstreet and Louise Ferguson in Tasmania," said Seagrave, who is based in Llanfyllin in mid Wales.

"We haven't seen one in Wales yet but I think, I like to think that we will do very soon.

"I'm hoping that the more people see her [Gracey] and the other girls, the more youngsters will come up and want to attend and want to be invited and we'll just see it grow and grow."

Seagrave races with a younger competitor Phoebe Gale for Orbea FMD and says having other women in the sport to support one another is a big reassurance.

"I know that me and Phoebe really enjoy racing together and we've even said to each other oh at least we've got each other when we're scared or when like it rains or when the features are scary we know that we're both there doing it together and that's a comforting feeling," Seagrave, a former Junior World Champion.

This style of relationship is rare for racers Seagrave explains as opposed to World Cup racing, Hardline is different as racers spend time together supporting each other to overcome the challenges on the track.

She also mentions that Hardline is the only event that brings together athletes in multiple areas of the biking world

"Hardline is a great event because it brings the best from each discipline so you do see free riders, you do see some of the biggest names from each discipline. it's not like other events," Seagrave said.

"For me approaching Hardline is so much different to a World Cup race because I haven't done a top to bottom at Hardline.

"I've ticked off 90 % of the features in both events but it's just, so for me to think of, to form a race run in my head I'm not quite there yet."

Seagrave will not be competing at this year's Hardline due to World Cup commitments,

But she will be in Dinas Mawddwy cheering on brother Kaos Seagrave and hopes to see other female riders take on the "hardest track."