Meet the Greta Thunberg of UK Athletics – who attends Extinction Rebellion rallies

Telegraph

06-03-2025

When Innes FitzGerald emerged two winters ago as the outstanding young British distance runner of her generation, it was not long before she became even more widely known as the 'Greta Thunberg of sport'.
She had performed magnificently to finish fourth in the Under-20 European Cross Country Championships in Italy – aged just 16 – following a 20-hour coach and train journey from Devon to Turin that involved even cycling across Paris on a fold-up bike to make a rail connection.
She then promptly turned down the chance to travel to Australia for the 2023 World Cross Country Championships. 'I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loves ones as a result,' she wrote in an open to British Athletics.
Innes FitzGerald enjoys a runaway victory in the U20/17 women's race at the Cardiff Cross Challenge. pic.twitter.com/XgQlwGGk4T
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) November 9, 2024
FitzGerald would then follow up winning the London Mini Marathon by joining Extinction Rebellion activists who had gathered in Parliament Square.
Now 18, the environmental campaigning continues – and her running has gone from strength to strength – but the realities of pursuing her athletics dream has also prompted some deeply uncomfortable choices. She will make her senior international debut at the European Indoor Championship in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands this week, where she has travelled with the rest of a near 50-strong British team by air.
'Unfortunately, this time, I haven't managed to sort it out logistically – it's been quite complicated,' she explains. 'I've been very busy with uni stuff and other different family issues. I do feel like I should be getting the train there, and that's definitely something I'm going to be doing in the future.
'For me, it's quite gutting that the whole team aren't going together on the train, considering it's so close and so easy to do. Even though I might be doing the wrong thing, just still saying that it's wrong is better than just doing it and not saying it's wrong.
'Whenever I'm getting on a flight, it's never easy. I'm always thinking, 'Oh, I shouldn't be doing this', but I know that I've got to go to these championships to fill my dreams as a professional athlete. So it's just about balancing that and trying to do as much as I can in other areas of my life to try and make up for it, and also just speak out.'
A winner of the BBC Green Sport Award in 2023, FitzGerald is flattered by the Thunberg comparison. 'I think Greta is very inspirational,' she says. 'She kind of managed to mobilise so many young people. I think it's a compliment to be associated with her. If I can do anything near to what she's done, then I'll be very happy. I strongly believe that we, as athletes, have a responsibility.'
After growing up on a farm in Devon, FitzGerald's interest in climate change stemmed from her father and she now tries to make environmentally friendly changes in her life and will look into how she can carbon offset in the future. She has also been talking with a sports-focused group called Champions for Earth, which is trying to organise mass participation running events with a low carbon footprint.
'I feel like I have a responsibility to look after the people who are in the Global South, or directly affected by extreme weather events,' she says. 'We're not, in the UK, affected by it, but I feel the pain they're feeling, and I feel like it's my responsibility in a more privileged position to help them, and raise awareness for the situations they're in as a result of our actions.'
Since her running breakthrough two years ago, FitzGerald has dominated the European Under-20 Cross Country Championships with back-to-back wins. She then set a European indoor 3,000 metres age-group record of 8min 40.05sec earlier this year. Her strength and bold front-running style has prompted comparison with Paula Radcliffe.
She got into running as part of her sister's Duke of Edinburgh award and then built up to five 20-minute runs a week during the Covid lockdown. FitzGerald was soon then breaking 18 minutes at her local Seaton Parkrun before persuading her dad to start taking her training at Exeter Harriers, where she has since been mentored by Gavin Pavey and his wife Jo, a former European 10,000m champion and the only British athlete to have competed at five Olympic Games. After completing A-Levels last year in biology, physics and maths, FitzGerald is now studying for a degree in sport and exercise science at the University of Exeter.
'I don't like bigging people up too much, but Innes is very good,' says Gavin Pavey. 'We never know what's going to happen in the future, but it looks promising. She's doing things that other young athletes at this stage haven't done. What's good about what we're doing is her [weekly mileage] volumes aren't very high.'
FitzGerald is also emphasising a long-term approach. 'I never really thought I'd have this opportunity – I don't think there's too much pressure on me,' she says. 'I just want to go out there, enjoy it, soak it all up, and hopefully get into that final. That's where I believe I belong. Hopefully compete for one of those medals, but just getting close. There's lots more years of my career left. I don't want to jump into anything too soon, because I'll have nowhere to progress to. It's just about building up that mileage and intensity gradually.'