KEY POINTS:
A rising young Christchurch cycling star was seriously injured after being hit by a truck during a race in Taranaki yesterday.
Harriet Smithies, 16, suffered head and shoulder injuries and a collapsed lung and was admitted to New Plymouth's Taranaki Base Hospital in a critical condition.
A hospital spokeswoman said this morning Harriet's had improved slightly overnight, but was still in a serious condition.
The national under-17 women's road champion, was competing in the three-day Queen's Birthday Weekend Cycle Tour of Taranaki.
Harriet was leading the race and was only 5km from the finish line, when the truck came out of a side road on to the State Highway 3 near Waitara and struck her, Cycling New Plymouth president Terry Allen told the Taranaki Daily News.
Mr Allen said traffic was light, conditions were perfect and he was at a loss to say why the accident had occurred.
"The riders who found her were really shook up. It put a huge dampener on the day's racing."
Harriet, who is a sponsored rider for Sarah Ulmer's SUB team, had recently been selected to represent New Zealand in the under-19 Tour of Canberra in July, the first step towards the world championships.
She was also chosen in the women's under-19 team in the Oceania road and track cycling championships in Invercargill last November.
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