First-year junior Cat Ferguson tells us about her new team, how she finds balancing studies with racing, and her sporting goals for the rest of the year
At just 16, Cat Ferguson is no stranger to success on a bike. She was a serial winner at youth level; last year alone she won 23 times on road and track. Then, switching to cyclocross over the winter, her first season at junior level, her transition was seamless, taking six wins on the mud before rounding up the ‘cross season with a superb sixth at the junior cyclocross world championships.
Nonetheless, lining up against an incredibly strong and experienced field at the Capernwray road race on Sunday, her first national-level road race, facing riders as accomplished as 2022 National Road Series winner Sammie Stuart, Ferguson was considered an outsider at best. So when Ferguson stomped up Sunny Bank for the final time to take victory, many a head was turned.
I’m not sure how I’ll fit in in the junior peloton. But based on ‘cross, where I finished 4th in the Euros, and 6th in the worlds, I have a fairly good gauge
We can’t remember any first-year junior making such an impressive National B road racing debut (although there must be other examples out there). For comparison, the prolific Zoe Bäckstedt was third at the Halesowen women’s road race in 2021 (the first national road race after the Covid lockdowns) in her first National B. Serendipitously, Tom Pidcock’s first National B road race was also the Capernwray road race, back in April 2017, where he finished 4th.
Intrigued, we decided to catch a few words with the rising star after her incredibly impressive national road racing debut.
“I didn’t really have any expectations going into the race, as this was my first road race as a junior – ever”, Ferguson told The British Continental post-race. “I had quite a successful ‘cross season in the junior ranks, so I got a bit of a taste there of how junior racing is, but this was my first road race. This was also my first race for my new team, so I was just hopeful for a top ten, but my goal really was just to stay with the front group and use my abilities to the best that I could”.
She certainly did just that, in what appears to have been an impressively measured and mature performance for a rider of such a young age, judging by what she had to say about how she played things.
Cat Ferguson wins the 2023 Capernwray road race. Image: Ellen Isherwood
Ferguson wasn’t the only junior to impress at the race. Her Shibden Hopetech Apex teammate, Imogen Wolff, was 5th, with another teammate, Esther Wong, also in the top 20. A brilliant start for the new junior team, then.
It’s a seven-girl team of road riders and track riders, all first-year juniors. We’ve come together this year to get some more experience of racing abroad
“Shibden Hopetech Apex is a new junior girls team for this year,” Ferguson told us when we asked her to tell us a bit more about the newly-formed squad. “It’s a seven-girl team of road riders and track riders, all first-year juniors. We’ve come together this year to get some more experience of racing abroad. We have Gent-Wevelgem coming up at the end of March, and in April we have Borsele, a stage race with a time trial in it. We’re also targeting National As with the team as well.”
We won’t just see Ferguson in the black and green of Shibden Hopetech Apex this year, though. She is also on the Great Britain junior academy, meaning she will make regular appearances in the white and blue of the GB team too.
“I’m also quite lucky that I am on the junior academy for road and track which means I can race for GB quite a lot. This weekend I am going to Italy to race Binda for GB. It’s a really, really good set-up, having the both of them.”
2023 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships – Hoogerheide, Netherlands – Junior Women’s Race – Cat Ferguson of Great Britain. Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Ferguson, then, will have a busy schedule of racing, both at home and abroad. How will she balance these sporting demands with her studies, we wondered?
“Regarding studies, I’m in year 12 and I am doing A-Levels in Business, Sports Science, and Psychology. It is quite tough, I’ve found so far, having to balance the two. During the ‘cross season I was having to miss a lot of school, racing in Belgium. You do get used to it, having to do a lot of online schooling.
My school is really supportive in giving me time off and sending the work and giving me extra time to catch up
“I think the Covid lockdown period helped schools come up with better online systems, so that has really helped me. And my school is really supportive in giving me time off and sending the work and giving me extra time to catch up.”
2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, Round 9: Dublin – Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland – Cat Ferguson of Hope Factory Racing during the Elite Women’s race. Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
She has turned heads already at Capernwray, but Ferguson doesn’t intend to rest on her laurels for the remainder of the road season, even if she isn’t quite sure how she’ll slot into the pecking order of the international junior peloton.
“I’m not sure how I’ll fit in in the junior peloton. But based on ‘cross, where I finished 4th in the Euros, and 6th in the worlds, I have a fairly good gauge. My goals are to be selected for the junior road world champs and I’d also like to go to the European track champs as well, and target a couple of the Nations Cup races too, focusing on the hillier ones.”
These targets feel entirely realistic given Ferguson’s steep upward trajectory to date. It is surely only a matter of time before she is raising her arms across the line once again.
At just 16, Cat Ferguson is no stranger to success on a bike. She was a serial winner at youth level; last year alone she won 23 times on road and track. Then, switching to cyclocross over the winter, her first season at junior level, her transition was seamless, taking six wins on the mud before rounding up the ‘cross season with a superb sixth at the junior cyclocross world championships.
Nonetheless, lining up against an incredibly strong and experienced field at the Capernwray road race on Sunday, her first national-level road race, facing riders as accomplished as 2022 National Road Series winner Sammie Stuart, Ferguson was considered an outsider at best. So when Ferguson stomped up Sunny Bank for the final time to take victory, many a head was turned.
We can’t remember any first-year junior making such an impressive National B road racing debut (although there must be other examples out there). For comparison, the prolific Zoe Bäckstedt was third at the Halesowen women’s road race in 2021 (the first national road race after the Covid lockdowns) in her first National B. Serendipitously, Tom Pidcock’s first National B road race was also the Capernwray road race, back in April 2017, where he finished 4th.
Intrigued, we decided to catch a few words with the rising star after her incredibly impressive national road racing debut.
“I didn’t really have any expectations going into the race, as this was my first road race as a junior – ever”, Ferguson told The British Continental post-race. “I had quite a successful ‘cross season in the junior ranks, so I got a bit of a taste there of how junior racing is, but this was my first road race. This was also my first race for my new team, so I was just hopeful for a top ten, but my goal really was just to stay with the front group and use my abilities to the best that I could”.
She certainly did just that, in what appears to have been an impressively measured and mature performance for a rider of such a young age, judging by what she had to say about how she played things.
Ferguson wasn’t the only junior to impress at the race. Her Shibden Hopetech Apex teammate, Imogen Wolff, was 5th, with another teammate, Esther Wong, also in the top 20. A brilliant start for the new junior team, then.
“Shibden Hopetech Apex is a new junior girls team for this year,” Ferguson told us when we asked her to tell us a bit more about the newly-formed squad. “It’s a seven-girl team of road riders and track riders, all first-year juniors. We’ve come together this year to get some more experience of racing abroad. We have Gent-Wevelgem coming up at the end of March, and in April we have Borsele, a stage race with a time trial in it. We’re also targeting National As with the team as well.”
We won’t just see Ferguson in the black and green of Shibden Hopetech Apex this year, though. She is also on the Great Britain junior academy, meaning she will make regular appearances in the white and blue of the GB team too.
“I’m also quite lucky that I am on the junior academy for road and track which means I can race for GB quite a lot. This weekend I am going to Italy to race Binda for GB. It’s a really, really good set-up, having the both of them.”
Ferguson, then, will have a busy schedule of racing, both at home and abroad. How will she balance these sporting demands with her studies, we wondered?
“Regarding studies, I’m in year 12 and I am doing A-Levels in Business, Sports Science, and Psychology. It is quite tough, I’ve found so far, having to balance the two. During the ‘cross season I was having to miss a lot of school, racing in Belgium. You do get used to it, having to do a lot of online schooling.
“I think the Covid lockdown period helped schools come up with better online systems, so that has really helped me. And my school is really supportive in giving me time off and sending the work and giving me extra time to catch up.”
She has turned heads already at Capernwray, but Ferguson doesn’t intend to rest on her laurels for the remainder of the road season, even if she isn’t quite sure how she’ll slot into the pecking order of the international junior peloton.
“I’m not sure how I’ll fit in in the junior peloton. But based on ‘cross, where I finished 4th in the Euros, and 6th in the worlds, I have a fairly good gauge. My goals are to be selected for the junior road world champs and I’d also like to go to the European track champs as well, and target a couple of the Nations Cup races too, focusing on the hillier ones.”
These targets feel entirely realistic given Ferguson’s steep upward trajectory to date. It is surely only a matter of time before she is raising her arms across the line once again.
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