Laura Schroter, from Horsham, has been named as the winner of the Mark Todd Bridging the Gap Scholarship 2018-2019, after a great day under the expert instruction of Sir Mark Todd.

This year’s scholarship selection panel consisted of Sir Mark Todd, Lizzel Winter and Gill Watson as coaching experts, Cam Price as Managing Director of Keyflow Feeds and Carol Allison on behalf of The Mark Todd Collection. The calibre of all the finalists, who were Libby Seed, Laura Schroter, Alycia Port, Ashley Edmond, Melissa Joannides and Amy Hawley, was impeccable throughout all phases of dressage, show jumping and interview and the panel had a difficult decision to select the winner.

Laura, 23, started her eventing career as a working pupil for Gemma Tattersall, progressing to ride for Donal Barnwell at The Billy Stud. Gaining valuable experience under her mentors, she has now progressed to running her own competition yard as well as coaching other riders.

The runner up spot went to Alycia Port, and third place to Melissa Joannides, who each received £200 and £100 respectively of British Eventing training vouchers to use for Bridging the Gap training in 2019. All six finalists received a rug, saddle cloth and jacket, kindly donated by The Mark Todd Collection.

Sir Mark Todd commented: “We had a particularly strong line-up this year, with all of our riders having strengths in different areas. Consequently, it took a fair bit of deliberation but it was, ultimately, a unanimous decision. Although not everyone can win, Bridging the Gap finalists should always see the invitation to attend as an acknowledgement of their ability. I hope they all took something away from the experience and we wish them every success in the future.”

Cam Price added: “We were certainly spoilt for talent this year but Laura is a deserving winner: she ticked all the boxes in terms of her set-up at home, her horsepower, ambition, drive and talent, and we hope that she will go on to be another successful scholar for Bridging the Gap.”

Carol Allison, on behalf of The Mark Todd Collection, noted: “From a commercial viewpoint, we were impressed that the riders had solid goals in mind, with plans in place to help achieve and fund their competitive ambitions, whilst also being aware of the importance of networking with owners, clients and sponsors.”

As the series has become further established, Bridging the Gap is delivering everything it set out to achieve and it is great for all to see the training series progress and gain in popularity. Stepping up to the higher levels is undoubtedly a challenge, but Gill and Lizzel’s tireless work is giving confidence to many riders through both the training days and the competition course walks they run each year.

Find out more about the series HERE.

Photo courtesy of The Mark Todd Collection.