It is interesting that many kiwi's head overseas in search of fame, fortune and riches. And it isn't until they achieve something REALLY big (aka a mainstream win of some sort) that people actually get to hear about those people.
@samarasheppard is exactly one of those people. I have met Samara a few times over the past few years as she was a resident athlete with the educational institute that I work at. She is a really lovely lass who is full of grit, determination and commitment to her sport. She is a very humble young lady who is full of life and also a very smart cookie.
Her sport being cross country mountain biking doesn't get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media in New Zealand but it is a HUGE sport with tons of opportunities overseas. Did you know she won a World Cup race in 2012? No. Neither did I. But my aim is to keep up with whats happening in 2013!
@samarasheppard has a twitter account and a Facebook page through which you can keep up with her travels, exploits and undertakings from around the world but mainly in Europe (from what I understand). And guess what she has her location based as Wellington (yes - yet another Wellingtonian..... but she is REALLY a Rotorua gal)
You're not going to find out too much by just checking out her twitter account but if you link social media with her website -->
http://samarasheppard.com/ <-- then you'll get a pretty good picture of what life is like for a professional elite athlete.
Go hard Samara!
p.s. I hope you don't mind that I 'borrowed' one of your pictures for this blog post Samara! Let me know if I need to change it or remove it please =)
