British BMX champion Iris Hajda may only be 10 years old but she is wise beyond her years and knows bike racing like a veteran of the sport.

“You can get pipped at the line if you don’t go fast enough,” she tells BBC South Today.

“The finish isn’t after the last jump so you have to pedal quickly to get to the white line after that final one.

“At my age your finish times are between 37 and 50 seconds, depending on what track you’re racing on.”

Hajda, from Reading, has competed at the World Championships in Glasgow – four weeks after suffering a broken collarbone – and the European Championships in France.

The youngster recently raced to victory at the British BMX Championships in Derby in August, to be crowned British girls supercross champion.

“It was really good,” she added. “I was competing against girls of a similar age and next year I will race the boys too.

“Next year I will be going to the World Championships in America.

“It’s probably my favourite race because you can make lots of new friends and sometimes you swap jerseys with other racers too, it is a lot of fun.”