Meet the ‘inspirational’ Whitcliffe Mount cycling star aiming for Olympic gold
She may only be 13, but Cleckheaton school pupil Annie Fearne has already set her sights on being an Olympic cycling gold medalist.
The talented teenager, from Oakenshaw, started on two wheels when she was six before joining Kirklees Cycling Academy.
Just two years later, in 2019, she was crowned the Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour champion, having won all the stages across the three-day event in her category.
COVID-19 may have then delayed her competitive progress, but she went onto win the same prestigious event as an under-12 the next time it was staged.
Recent success has followed at the National Youth Circuit Championships and the National Youth Omnium Final.
In November, Annie competed in the European Youth Championship in Slovakia, her first competition in mainland Europe, where she finished in an eye-catching 10th place.
She has now been invited onto the ‘Future Stars’ programme for Shibden Hope Apex RT, who are currently ranked as the number 1 junior, female race team in the world, while she has also been selected to go on to the British Cycling Regional School of Racing - a talent development programme where the impressive youngster could be trained up for the national squad.
“She is doing amazing,” said her proud mum, Sarah Fearne. “She is quite modest and humble. She doesn’t tell anyone what she does and she doesn’t brag about it all.
“She just totally inspires everybody without knowing it. She just works so hard and sacrifices so much, for a 13 year old girl.
“She is unbelievable.”
Reflecting on the first time she and her husband, Gavin, realised their daughter liked to ride fast on her bike - which resulted in an incident on a family holiday - Sarah said:
“Me and her dad are not cyclists. We do not ride at all. We were at the caravan at Larkham Leisure holiday park and she crashed into the owner’s car.
“We realised then that she obviously likes to ride fast so we said we’ll take her somewhere to a local club.
“We took her to Kirklees Cycling Academy and they are now Annie’s club. They are the best with her. She is their only female rider and they saw potential in her and have pushed her and pushed her to be the best that she is.”
And could she go on to be the very best in the whole world? Well, she was recently inspired after meeting cycling great Jason Kenny - the holder of the most Olympic gold medals (seven) and total medals (nine), for a British athlete - in Manchester last week.
“An Olympic gold medal would be lovely,” Annie told the Reporter Series. “I’d like to race the World Tour on the road and aspire to be like Cat Ferguson, Imogen Wolff and Katie Archibald.”
Sarah added: “She also wants Olympics rings tattooed on her! We’re like, ‘Okay, darling!”
Thanking Whitcliffe Mount school for their support of Annie, Sarah said:
“The staff at school are absolutely amazing. They have been so good with Annie and are so supportive and are always asking for updates.
“We fit Annie’s school work in and around.”
Katie Bland, Deputy Headteacher at Whitcliffe Mount, added:
“Annie is a polite, delightful and determined young lady. She is a pleasure to have at Whitcliffe.
“Her work ethic at school and towards cycling is impressive for someone of her age . She has a bright future ahead of her.”
Annie, whose most recent success was securing first place at the Icebreaker Series, round 1, event in Wales last Saturday, is now preparing for a training week in Calpe, Spain, next month.