The granddaughter of Kilwinning expats has signed for a professional cycling team after beating amateur riders from across the globe in a gruelling online event.

Jim Reid, 69, and his wife Joyce, 69, moved down under in the 1980s with daughters Heather and Shonagh.

The couple’s granddaughter Neve Bradbury, 18, (Heather’s daughter) recently won a life changing one-year contract with professional cycling team Canyon-SRAM and will relocate to Girona after she was crowned winner of the 2020 Zwift Academy.

Neve, who has a twin sister Isla and a brother Sam, said: “I am absolutely stoked to have won and to join such a prestigious team as Canyon-SRAM is a dream come true.

“I think it will be tough at times to be away from family and friends back home in Australia but also really fun. I’m excited about the future.”

Proud grandfather Jim added: “We are thrilled for Neve being given the opportunity to race professionally in Europe and being part of a top team in Canyon-SRAM is incredible.

“She is a very sensible young lady with good life skills, and a good head on her shoulders, so we’re confident she’ll thrive in Girona. Neve always gives her best and we are so proud of the way she conducts herself both in triumph and defeat.”

Despite her Scottish heritage Neve has been unable to visit the country as of yet but hopes now she is living on the continent she will be able to make a trip to visit family.

The 18-year-old said: “Unfortunately, I have not visited Scotland but now that I’m based in Europe, hopefully I’ll be able to visit family in Kilwinning.

“I definitely feel the half Scottish in me and I’m very proud of my heritage.”

Her grandparents Jim and Joyce were both born in Kilwinning but decided early on in their marriage that they would like to travel the world and now stay in the Melbourne suburb of Wantirna.

Jim said: “A job came up in Australia and off we went in 1980. We returned to Scotland in 1985 for 15 months, just at the end of the miners’ strike but decided to return to Australia again.

“Although we miss our friends and family, we think it was the right decision for us. I still have a brother (John) in Kilwinning, an aunt in Stevenston, an aunt in Kilwinning, and a number of cousins across Scotland.”