CAFRE Students Tara Armstrong and Martin Rice Join HRI as Navan and Fairyhouse Interns
HRI Summer interns meeting HRI staff and racecourse managers – Photo: Healy Racing.
Tara Armstrong from Lisburn, Co Antrim and Martin Rice from Downpatrick, Co. Down have been selected as the Navan Racecourse and Fairyhouse Racecourse Student Interns, through the Horse Racing Ireland Internship Programme They will commence their twelve-week work placements at the tracks next Monday, June 8th.
This is the second year of the HRI Student Internship Programme which was launched in November 2013. Over 140 applications were received from students throughout the country with 47 students shortlisted and interviewed.
HRI has appointed seven interns for the summer season of 2015. Four of them will work in HRI’s racecourses: Leopardstown, Fairyhouse, Navan and Tipperary and three will go to HRI’s head office at Ballymany, Kildare, in the Marketing Department, The Racing Department and TOTE Ireland.
Pictured L to R: Tara Armstrong (Navan Intern), Peter Killeen (Manager of Navan Racecourse) and Amy Harding (Operations Manager). Photo: Healy Racing.
Tara and Martin have both just completed their Bachelor of Science degrees in Equine Management in CAFRE (College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise), Enniskillen. Tara has travelled to Japan and France gaining experience in the Industry. Tara also plays Netball and has represented Ulster in Badminton. Martin has taken out his Amateur rider’s licence and also enjoys hurling and swimming. He is an assistant instructor at the Royal Lifesaving Society in Downpatrick.
As part of their roles at the tracks the interns will assist in many areas of racecourse operations such as marketing, sales, social media, website maintenance, raceday operations and the promotion of events over the summer season.
Commenting on the HRI Student Internship Programme, Carol Nolan, Group HR Manager of Horse Racing Ireland said: “We were pleasantly surprised with the number of applications received for the internship programme this year and the standard of applications was extremely high. The HRI internship programme is a great opportunity for students to expand their industry contacts, broaden their knowledge of the industry and gain valuable marketing experience.”
