Teen star saddles up for US success

Courteney Lowe only needed a year to go from outstanding agegrouper to elite cycling star.
Now the Tauranga teenager has taken an even bigger jump up the ladder, signing on with a team in the United States.
Lowe, who turns 20 later this month, left this week to link with the FCS team in Dallas, Texas.
"It's pretty big and it's the next step for me," Lowe said. "I've got to do this to be seen by the top teams and the aim is to be seen by the bigger, fully professional outfits and hopefully that's where I'll end up. I've taken that next step up now, although I've still got a long way to go."
At the same time, she's also picked up her first major personal sponsor, with Tauranga firm Craigs Investment Partners helping send her on her way.
"They're the reason I'm going over - I wouldn't have been able to do this without their support."
Her overseas odyssey is a big deal for someone who only began taking the sport seriously five years ago while at Otumoetai College.
Her links stretch back much further through her father, Rick, the chef at the Tauranga restaurant Somerset Cottage, who took her on casual outings that gradually grew more competitive.
Just 18 months ago, the Tauranga Road Cycling Club member won the under-19 time trial and road race titles in Motueka and earlier this year, she finished second in the prestigious Tour de Femme in Nelson.
But her most satisfying result, which wasn't even her own, came last month at the Tour of New Zealand. Lowe was in the NZ team that helped Catherine Cheatley push into second overall, amid an international-class field of top riders.
Working alongside Commonwealth Games medallist Linda Villumsen, former rower and multi-sporter Melanie Burke and newcomer Kate Chilcott, Lowe admitted doing the donkey work proved supremely satisfying.
"We just worked so hard for the whole four days and it was great to get Cath up into second and finish as the second team overall. It was really good teamwork and in each stage success, you felt like you won even though it was someone else in your team."
Chilcott will join her in the six-strong FCS (Foundation for the Cultivation of Sport) team, which will be competing in a number of top cycling races throughout America against elite cyclists.
"I am just going to these races with the hope of achieving some podium finishes and to learn as much as I can," she said.
Craigs managing director Frank Aldridge was in turn delighted to be supporting a talented local achieve her dreams.
"We are pleased that we can support Courteney's ambition to become an elite cyclist. For someone so young from the Bay of Plenty Region, to have achieved to the level she has in cycling, requires a lot of determination and self discipline, and we are only too pleased to help her make it to the next level within her cycling career."