Julia Hargreaves, a member of the Australian Olympic Equestrian team, returned to Armidale to be congratulated by students at her alma mater New England Girls’ School on September 11.
Now based in Europe, Ms Hargreaves made the visit as part of a month-long holiday in Australia. At the London Olympics she was part of the Australian showjumping team and made the individual finals.
Ms Hargreaves credits her school years as a riding student at NEGS as being invaluable in developing her riding skills and determination to succeed in the sport.
During her visit to the school, she inspected the new Equestrian Centre facilities including a multi-million dollar indoor arena and stable complex officially opened earlier this year and also looked over the construction of a 2-star (intermediate) standard equestrian cross country course. She met with students of St John’s Co-educational Primary School, was the special guest at a senior school assembly, and discussed the finer techniques of showjumping with equestrian students.