Cheshire teenager becomes first ever British Women's Speedway Champion
Video report and article by Granada Reports journalist Claire Hannah
A teenager from Cheshire making waves in the world of Speedway - and has been crowned the first ever British ladies champion.
When ITV News first met Katie Gordon in 2019, she was 15 and already breaking down barriers in the male-dominated speedway world by becoming the first female to ride at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester, the home of the Belle Vue Aces.
With only a handful of female riders in the UK, Katie, from Knutsford, was keen to make her mark, saying she "wanted to do it to prove women can".
Fast forward three years and that is exactly what she has done, having become the first ever NORA British Women's Speedway Champion.
Katie, 18, took her riding to the next level at the Championship on the Isle of Wight, competing against seven of the UK’s top female speedway riders racing in a 3-round series in July and August.
Cumulative scores were used to determine the top four riders who then took part in a dramatic 'winner takes all' grand final to decide the first Women’s Champion.
Despite her success, Katie has told ITV News she still wants to be known as a 'speedway rider' regardless of her gender.
"This is one of the only sports where men and women can compete against each other without it being weird," she says.
"When I'm racing and in my kit, you can't see my ponytail. The men don't treat me like a woman riding, they treat me as another rider and if I beat them, that's the way it goes".
Katie is now waiting for the results of her A Levels to see if she has got into University, but says she won't be giving up her ambitions on the track.
She said: "In a few years time I would like to go to Poland, as speedway is a lot bigger over there, but most of all I want to keep encouraging more women to get involved in speedway and to see more women around the sport".
Katie started racing on the grass tracks aged nine.
She sat on her first 125cc speedway bike at the age of 13, then at 15 had her first outings on a 500cc bike.
In 2019 she was invited to be the Belle Vue Aces mascot, an opportunity "too good to miss" as it enabled her to ride regularly at the National Speedway Stadium.
Since then Katie has ridden in the British Youth Championship at Belle Vue in October 2020 and is continuing to break down barriers for women in the sport.
Katie is part of the Redcar Cubs Speedway team in the Northern Junior League, riding for them in her first season in 2021.
Katie also made her international debut in speedway in July 2022, riding for Great Britain in a Women's Open meeting during the FIM Flat Track World Championships in Diedenbergen, Germany.