Past pupil Abi rides to another national title
It's been another remarkable year on two wheels for Abi Smith, who has successfully defended her national gravel time trial title while taking on some of Europe’s toughest off-road races
FORMER RGS student Abi Smith continues to make her mark on the cycling world, adding another national title to her growing list of achievements.
The Team GB cyclist successfully defended her National Female Elite Gravel Time Trial title in 2026, winning the championship in the Forest of Ae in Dumfries and Galloway.
It is the latest success in an increasingly varied career for the 24-year-old Yorkshire woman, who has embraced gravel racing after two injury-hit seasons competing on the road.
It's a move which has brought a renewed enjoyment of racing after the challenges of her road career: “There’s more to life than taking hits on the head,” she says.
Abi has spent the year travelling across Europe to compete in races in Spain, Germany, Luxembourg and Finland, while also balancing her cycling with an 18-month conservation apprenticeship with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust through local charity Make It Wild.
She also qualified for the 2026 Gravel World Championships after finishing second at the UCI Gravel World Series race in Wales.
However, with the championships taking place in Australia, Abi made the decision to decline her place so she could continue her conservation apprenticeship.
There have still been plenty of memorable races. At the 175km Falling Leaves Lahti UCI Gravel World Series race in Finland, Abi finished sixth after more than five hours of racing.
She described the result as particularly satisfying given the disrupted nature of her season and her lack of long training rides.
Her season culminated in a very different kind of cycling challenge when she tackled the legendary Three Peaks Cyclocross race for the first time.
The 60km course crosses Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent and features almost 2,000 metres of climbing. Abi completed the gruelling event in 3 hours 57 minutes, finishing an impressive sixth in the women’s race - and just a few places behind Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee in the overall results.
Describing it as a mixture of fell running, mountain biking and 'whatever else that was', Abi said she was pleased to have pushed herself outside her comfort zone.
Her move into gravel followed a challenging period in road racing after two seasons with professional team Picnic PostNL were disrupted by three concussions. Abi moved to the Ribble Outliers for 2026, an off-road team created by Lancashire-based bike brand Ribble.
She discovered gravel almost by chance in 2025, racing the Welsh round of the UCI Gravel World Series on a borrowed bike and finishing second.
That was followed by victory at the National Gravel Time Trial Championships at Dalby Forest and a superb 15th-place finish at the 2025 Gravel World Championships in the Netherlands, where she was the first British rider home in the elite women’s race.
Alongside her cycling, Abi is now developing a career in conservation, something that gives her another reason to spend time outdoors.
“I love being outside every day - I think I’m slightly feral,” she said.
And after another year of racing, national success and pushing herself into new challenges, that adventurous spirit looks set to continue.
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