“ I did three years of the Italian Championship and two in the European Junior Cup. I started the first ever Supersport 300 World Championship season, but it didn’ t really work out, so I went back home after that. I’ d been working closely with the marketing team of a sponsor in New Zealand and I really liked what they did, so I went back home and got a job in marketing. I then finished off my university degree as well, which was a business degree, majoring in marketing, and I’ ve worked in marketing ever since.“ I’ ve always competed in the New Zealand Championship, which runs over the summer, from December through to April. My husband and I both race, so it’ s always busy. At times it’ s really hard, especially to afford it, and you just have to keep the ball rolling to try and get sponsorship in and things like that. But yeah, I’ ve been very fortunate to be able to ride a lot over the years.”
CARVING A PATH“ It’ s such a unique sport. I don’ t think there’ s a super clear pathway yet, but I do think there’ s a lot of people back home, especially in Australia, doing a great job, and New Zealand is just starting to invest time in developing the right classes for juniors. Now with the Oceania Junior
Cup and the Asia Talent Cup, we’ re seeing quite a few Australians and young Kiwis coming through. So, I think the pathway is getting clearer and clearer.“ The big challenge for everyone is money. You obviously need to fund it and it’ s just a huge amount of money. And if you think about it logically, you think this is crazy. This is a house deposit every year that you’ re spending to go racing! The other issue is, if you’ re looking for a sponsor from Australia or New Zealand, you need to give them value and marketing and publicity in Australia and New Zealand where these companies are based, but then you’ re coming to Europe and racing there. So, it’ s tough to give them value for money and to keep that going long term. And then there’ s the challenge of getting into a good team, easier said than done when you come from the other side of the world. When you first arrive here, you don’ t know who you’ re going to be working with or even if your bike’ s going to be a good one! This is one good thing about WorldWCR because it essentially removes this‘ unknown’ aspect.“ WorldWCR helps create that pathway for people like me who are from outside of Europe. It’ s pretty hard to get here and to get into a
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