10:47am Friday 12th April 2013
TEENAGER Eve Aspinall is going downhill fast... and the faster the better.
For the Bolton-born 14-year-old is making a name for herself as an international ski racer.
Eve, who lived in Bradshaw up to the age of eight when her family moved to New Zealand, is one of the highest-rated young talents in her adopted country.
She only took up ski racing after emigrating and has been on the fast track to success ever since.
She is one of the hottest prospects in New Zealand, and recently competed against the best in the world at the annual Whistler Cup in Canada where she gained vital experience as part of the New Zealand under-14s squad.
She is a regular on the podium at national events in the various disciplines of ski racing – slalom, giant slalom and super G – and was second out of more than 100 in the North Island secondary school under-16s championships, missing out on gold by 0.01secs.
A former pupil at St Maxentius Primary School, Harwood, and Bolton School, she learned to ski at an indoor facility in Auckland where her talent was identified and she now flies to Christchurch every weekend in winter months to train.
Despite leaving Bolton six years ago she has not severed her ties with Bolton, continuing to follow the fortunes of Bolton Wanderers where she was a season tickets holder with her dad, Geoff, a former Bolton Social Services employee who now works at North Shore Hospital in Auckland.
Her mum, Cathleen – a former nurse at Royal Bolton Hospital and now a professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland School of Nursing – said: “Eve has a promising future if she continues to work and train hard. We are very proud of her, as are her family in Bolton, in particular her grandparents, Mary Jarvis and Jenny Aspinall.”
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