THE daughter of a Stanhope man, who emigrated to Australia over 20 years ago, has set her sights on the Olympics.
Cienna Tinkler (15), whose grandmother, Jan, still lives in Stanhope, is a talented and competitive cyclist, training daily towards her goal of the 2032 Olympics. Her parents – Chris and Alison Tinkler – are very supportive and have encouraged her through her passion.
She has worked her way through different sports beginning as a young child at ‘Little Nippers’, a group that taught and practised surf life-saving at sea. She followed that up with an interest in swimming in pools and then transitioned into triathlons.
Chris explained, “Cienna started training at the local velodrome to improve her cycling for triathlons but found her passion for cycling and now she also competes in road cycling but track is her main goal.”
The youngster’s trainer is Peter Dawson who holds an Olympic Gold Medal and she has been track cycling for well over a year, training up to 16 hours a week, following a programme developed by Peter. It is paying off because this year, Cienna won three bronze medals in the Brisbane 2025 track nationals, breaking two state records!
She also won gold in Perth in the national elimination race and followed it up with five out of five gold medals in the state championships. It was there that she broke her own record for individual pursuit (IP).
It is a busy time for the family, which also includes Cienna’s younger sister, Kyah (13) whose sport is netball but she also enjoys crocheting. Cienna has just competed in the Omnium Nationals in Melbourne and won the U17 Austral Wheelrace. This was an important result because as yet, she is not at Elite level and will need to compete at U19 and U23 before she can do so.
And in the New Year, she is off to the Australian Junior Track Series for Round 3.
Chris has made Australia his home but he still misses Weardale and watches its progress via social media. He is one of the many Weardalians who leave the area and make their mark on the world.
He left in 2003 to travel around Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore before settling in Oz. Chris has been employed by JSW Drilling for the last 21 years. In the beginning, he was an Offsider, then a Driller and was raised to the position of Supervisor and has been Project Manager for the last 12 years. He works in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and lives in Greenfields, Mandurah – around an hour from Perth.
Chris met and married Alison, who is Australian with an English mother.
The family enjoy life and have high hopes for their girls. Meanwhile, Weardale is watching Cienna and will be supporting her from the other side of the world. Good luck, Cienna, when you win that Olympic medal, Weardale will be claiming you as their own!
