TWO of Ireland’s up and coming young equestrian stars have secured places in the prestigious Ad Astra Academy in University College Dublin on the back of their sporting achievements.

Event rider Lucy Latta and show jumper Matthew Garrigan were among the 66 talented students who were awarded Ad Astra Elite Athlete scholarships at a special ceremony last month in O’Reilly Hall in UCD.

‘Ad astra’ is a Latin phrase meaning “to the stars” and the scholarship has three strands: academic, elite athletes and performing arts.

Through membership of the Academy, students displaying elite potential to international standards are encouraged and supported to develop their talent further.

As part of the programme, elite athletes like Lucy and Matt receive guidance and supportincluding a dedicated academic mentor, high performance coaching, physiologists, sports nutritionists and physiotherapist.

Of the 66 new scholars welcomed into the academy by director Dr Barbara Dooley, 34 were academic, 24 were elite athletes and eight were performing arts scholars.

Lucy is a first year student in Sport and Exercise Management and Matthew Garrigan who is a first year student in Agricultural Science at UCD.

IMPRESSIVE

Both riders have impressive sporting resumes that helped them secure their place in the academy.

Lucy’s roll of honour includes gold, silver and bronze team medals at pony and junior European Championship level, as well as strong results at Millstreet, Blenheim, Ballindenisk, Camphire and Hartpury internationals at young rider and senior level. She is also on the long list for the Rio Olympics.

Matt recently won a team silver medal in the Nations Cup in Palm Beach, Florida and last year placed in several high profile international shows including Dublin and Neeroteren, Belgium.

He was selected for a masterclass by former British show jumping chef d’equipe Rob Hoekstra and was one of four riders to be selected for competition bursaries in the United States by Eddie Macken.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Colin Boreham, director of the Ad Astra Elite Athlete, pointed out that eight Ad Astra Elite Athletes had qualified for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.

“We have 64 Ad Astra Elite Athlete Scholars from 12 sports, studying in some 24 academic disciplines. They are from widely differing backgrounds and circumstances, but they all share one thing in common, outstanding sporting ability and they play a critical role in cementing UCD’s reputation as one of the great sporting universities,” he added.