Australian National CX Championships 2025: Mega Women’s Preview
The biggest race in Australian cyclocross is taking place this Saturday in the Victorian town of Ballarat - the AusCycling Cyclocross National Championships.
We’ve already seen six rounds of Cyclocross National Series (CXNS) action and previewed the race course and the weather forecast and the Elite, U23 and U19 Men’s races, so now it’s time to dive into some of the contenders for the Elite Women’s, U23 Women’s and Junior (U19) Women’s national championships.
ELITE WOMEN
Izzy Flint flies down a mulchy hill at round 6 of the 2025 CXNS in Adelaide.
Photo: @rideadelaide
The Champion - Izzy Flint (TAS/Cervélo Shimano Australia)
Elite CX national championship participations: 1
Previous highest finish: Champion (2024)
A year ago Izzy Flint was a surprise winner of the CX national championships, taking the green and gold jersey at her first attempt. She was an admitted newcomer to the sport of cyclocross – she needed a lesson on dismounting and carrying her bike from 2023 Elite Men’s national champion Chris Aitken before the race – but by the end of proceedings she’d put the best women’s cross racers in Australia into the shade.
Those with knowledge of Flint’s background in mountain biking wouldn’t have been surprised – she was twice U23 national champion in both Cross country Short Track (XCC) and Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) mountain biking after all – but the Tasmanian has gone to another level since winning the Elite CX title last August.
Since then the 23 year-old has racked up four wins in the XCO National Series, won Australia’s most prestigious one-day marathon mountain bike race at the Otway Odyssey, and lost a nailbiting sprint finish to Bec Henderson for the Elite XCO national championship. She’s shown off the national jersey in cyclocross too, winning four of the six Cyclocross National Series (CXNS) rounds so far. The national champion was first over the line in rounds 1, 3, 4 and 6, with her ambitions only thwarted by a bout of gastroenteritis in round 2 and a strong ride from Sophie Sutton in round 5.
Twelve months ago, Flint’s biggest weakness would have been her inexperience with CX as a discipline, but she’ll return to Ballarat this week a more experienced and dangerous rider. The woman to beat.
Miranda Griffiths runs smoothly over the barriers at round 3 of the CXNS in Sydney.
Photo: CX Down Under
The Challenger - Miranda Griffiths (VIC/Batch Brewery x Seight)
Elite CX national championship participations: 2
Previous highest finish: 2nd (2023, 2024)
After a long career as a domestic road rider, Miranda Griffiths switched her focus to cross at the start of 2023 and found immediate success, winning two rounds of the National CX Series and a Victorian state title in her first season.
In the 2025 CXNS she’s racked up a win and three second-place finishes (behind Izzy Flint each time), but hasn’t raced her CX since a second-place finish in the Victorian CX Series in Castlemaine a month ago.
For as much success as she has had in her CX career so far, Griffiths’ real goal has been to win the national title in her hometown of Ballarat. She finished in second place in both 2023 and 2024, and with the CX national championships likely to move to a new venue next year this is her last chance to win the title in front of family and friends.
She’s capable of keeping Flint honest – especially in faster conditions – and on her best day the 44-year-old is good enough to take the win. One thing’s for sure: there won’t be many riders more motivated this year.
Safe to say that Zoe Davison was a popular winner of the Elite Women’s 2025 WA State CX Championships.
Photo: TonyLendrum
The smokey – Zoe Davison
(WA/Swan Drafting CC)
Elite CX national championship participations: 0
Previous highest finish: U23 champion (2024)
Last year’s U23 national champion has now aged into the Elite categories. Davison hasn’t competed at the CXNS this year, but has been dominant in Western Australia’s Numbat Cup series, winning all three races she competed in as well as the Elite Women’s state championship for the third year in a row. Her lap times last year would have placed her 5th in the Elite Women’s race, and 2 of the riders who finished above her in 2024 won’t be on the start line.
She’s also gotten plenty of experience racing in the mud this year, as two rounds of the Numbat Cup state series and the WA state championships were held in very wet and muddy conditions similar to those likely in Ballarat.
Could be a wildcard for a podium spot – or maybe more - if things fall her way.
Others to watch
Peta Mullens (VIC/Liv Australia)
The Elite Women’s national champion in 2017 and 2019, the multi-discipline star has previously been the national champion in road racing, three forms of cross country mountain biking (Olympic, marathon and eliminator) and is also an accomplished gravel racer.
There is one caveat, though: Mullens is recovering from a wrist injury she suffered last weekend. The rider from Bendigo has communicated to CXDU that her participation on the day is conditional on her wrist feeling good (or at least tolerably painful). If she passes her fitness test, she’ll be a force to be reckoned with.Fi Morris (VIC/MAAP Sixpence CX)
The last Australian to race in the Elite Women’s CX World Championships back in 2024, Fi Morris has only raced once in 2025, as she’s spent most of the Aussie CX season on a bike holiday in Europe.
While long rides in the European summer won’t bear much resemblance to thrashing around a Ballarat park in the dead of an Aussie winter, she did finish second in her only race of the CX season so far at Dirty Deeds CX in early August.Maddie Wasserbaech (SA/Butterfields Ziptrak Racing)
The winner of the Junior Women’s race here in 2024, Maddie Wasserbaech is eligible for the U23 crown for the next four years, so we expected her to challenge the likes of Sophie Sutton and Ruby Taylor for that jersey.
Instead, she’s lining up for the Elite Women’s race at her first possible opportunity - the equivalent of walking into prison on your first day and swinging on the biggest, meanest inmate in there.
It’s not just mindless optimism, either: Wasserbaech has racked up two podium finishes in her first year racing in the Elite Women’s field at the CXNS - including a second place at round 2 in Geelong back in June – and won the South Australian Elite title two weeks ago.
The South Australian will have plenty of support from the other Croweaters in attendance, and has previously gotten lessons from former national CX champion Tommy Chapman. Can she spring a surprise?
U23 WOMEN
Zoe Davison powers through the mud at the 2025 WA State CX Championships.
Photo: TonyLendrum
The Champion - Zoe Davison
(WA/Swan Drafting CC)
U23 CX national championship participations: 1
Previous highest finish: Champion (2024)
Zoe Davison was the winner of the U23 Women’s race in 2024, ahead of Anook Simpson and Alanna van de Hoef.
In 2025 she’s aged out of the U23 category, and will compete for the Elite Women’s national title.
The Challenger - Sophie Sutton (QLD/Buttefields Ziptrak Racing)
Sophie Sutton chose the most efficient way to get clean after a very dirty round 5 of the CNXS in Adelaide.
Photo: @rideadelaide
U23 CX national championship participations: 1
Previous highest finish: Champion (2023)
The only rider not named Izzy Flint or Miranda Griffiths to have won an Elite Women’s race at CXNS level in 2025, Sophie Sutton will be returning to the Ballarat circuit where she was crowned U23 national champion in 2023.
Raised in Victoria but now living in Queensland, Sutton proved her Elite racing credentials when she won round 5 of the CXNS in foul conditions in Adelaide in July. She’s certainly no stranger to racing in bad weather, as both that win in Adelaide and her U23 triumph in 2023 both came in wet and muddy conditions.
She’s opted to compete for the U23 national championship in her final year of eligibility for the category, and will be hoping to repeat her success from two years ago.
Ruby Taylor scampers up the run-up on her way to winning the Elite Women’s race at Dirty Deeds CX.
Photo: Peter Toogood
The Smokey - Ruby Taylor (VIC/Praties Cycling Team)
U23 CX national championship participations: 0
Previous highest finish: U19 Champion (2023)
We first encountered Ruby Taylor in a club gravel race in early 2022, when she jumped in the mixed C grade field and had little trouble keeping up with much older and more powerful riders at around 15 years old – only complaining after the race was over that all the older men were getting in her way on the descents!
Since then her off-road riding has gone from strength to strength – winning the Junior CX national title here in 2023 (injuries prevented her from defending the crown last year), finishing second in the Junior XCO national championships in 2025 and recently being announced as a member of the Australian team for the upcoming mountain bike world championships in Switzerland.
The Praties rider has only raced her CX bike twice this season, finishing 3rd in the Elite Women’s race at round 1 of the CXNS back in June and taking the win in A Grade women at Dirty Deeds CX two weeks ago. This is her first year racing in U23s, and she’s good enough that the prospective battle with Sutton is too close for us to call.
Others to watch
Alanna van de Hoef (QLD/Orbea Women’s Racing)
Third in the U23 race here 12 months ago, Alanna van de Hoef has taken part in four rounds of CXNS racing so far this year, with a 4th place in round 2 in Geelong her best finish for the year.
The Queenslander also has international racing experience, as she was part of the AusCycling CX Development Squad that raced the Kansai Cyclo-cross Biwako Grand Prix in Japan in late 2023. As there are only three riders in the field she’s guaranteed at least third spot if she finishes – but will she be able to set her sights higher with a good ride?
JUNIOR (U19) WOMEN
Maddie Wasserbaech speeds her way to the Women’s A Grade win at round 4 of The Pedla Crossfire Cup.
Photo: @turn8photography
The Champion - Maddie Wasserbaech (SA/Butterfields Ziptrak Racing)
Junior CX national championship participations: 1
Previous highest finish: Champion (2024)
Maddie Wasserbaech was the winner of the U23 Women’s race in 2024, ahead of Amelie Burrell and Alicia Reynolds.
In 2025 the South Australian aged out of the Junior category, and has chosen to compete for the Elite Women’s national title.
Alana Fletcher was all alone at round 5 of the CXNS in Adelaide - faster than not only her fellow Juniors, but all the Elite Women as well.
Photo: @rideadelaide
The Challenger - Alana Fletcher (VIC/Rad Cycles & Gear)
Junior CX national championship participations: 0
Previous highest finish: N/A
Each year the sport of cyclocross in Australia sees a mix of newcomers – riders trying cyclocross for the first time after coming across from road racing, gravel riding or mountain biking. Of all the new riders to have come onto the CX scene in 2025, none have impressed us more than Alana Fletcher.
The softly-spoken youngster from Bendigo Mountain Bike Club has had a remarkable first season in cyclocross, sweeping the Junior Women’s race in all five rounds of the CXNS she’s competed in and winning three rounds and the overall Women’s A Grade title at the Victorian CX Series. Particularly notable was her performance in round 5 of the CXNS in Adelaide, when the 16 year-old started at the same time as the Elite Women’s field and beat everyone home by almost a minute!
Mountain biking is her primary discipline, but she’s taken to CX like a duck to water. Can she cap off a memorable first season with a national championship?
Perfect shouldering technique from Alicia Reynolds at round 6 of this year’s CXNS.
Photo: @rideadelaide
The Smokey - Alicia Reynolds (WA/Midland Cycle Club)
Junior CX national championship participations: 1
Previous highest finish: 3rd (2024)
The Western Australian got a lot of cyclocross experience under her belt late last year, when she followed up a third place at the Australian national championships with a stint in Europe – attending a UCI cyclocross camp in Switzerland and racing in the UK, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
She won the Junior Women’s race at round 2 of the CXNS in June and took her state championship in very muddy conditions two weeks ago, so she is unlikely to be fazed by the slippery conditions in Ballarat. Will she be able to challenge Fletcher for the title?
Others to watch
Zoe Jackson (VIC/CycleInn)
The fifth place finisher in the U17 Women’s race last year is guaranteed to improve on that placing this year, and should finish at least third if she can get through her race without issues.
The racing won’t be televised, but you can follow all the action by following CX Down Under on Facebook and Instagram - we’ll be doing our best to document all the highs and lows of the day!
Who’s your tip to be Australia’s National Champions for the women’s categories in 2025? Who are you cheering for? Let us know in the comments below!