Skater Hannah jumps for joy on frozen field
Perfect ice rink near her Dunning home
A Perthshire teenager enjoyed a dream opportunity to ice skate in the open air when the cold snap provided the perfect natural rink near Findo Gask.
Before the pandemic, 13-year-old Hannah Robertson from Dunning competed all over the UK and hoped to enter the British Championships, but the 2020 competition was cancelled.
Her talent saw her visiting Kirkcaldy Ice Arena five days a week and she has kept up her training during restrictions with a daily online beam in to her coach Jackie Coubrough.
After briefly opening October to Christmas Eve, public ice rinks are closed again, however Hannah passed a high level test in December, so now she has her advanced novice short and long free skating certificate under her belt.
Last week, when Perthshire experienced night and daytime temperatures many degrees below zero, the perfect conditions arose for Hannah to take her passion outdoors.
Her mum Moira helped her find the ideal spot near their home in Dunning, an overspill of the River Earn which had flooded nearby fields.
Hannah, a pupil at the Community School of Auchterarder, grabbed her skates and the Chique Sport competition outfit she had got for Christmas and her mum brought along camping chairs and hot chocolate.
“Skating outside is something my daughter joked was on her bucket list,” explained Moira.
“If you think about it, the 1984 Olympic gold medal winners Torvill and Dean had to go to Alaska to train outside, and here we are in Scotland, it has been simply amazing.
“With everything closed, Hannah’s had to do everything online for the past seven months. She worked so hard to do her stretches and practise her choreography on Zoom, but it’s been awful for her to be off the ice and not have her coach beside her for so long. After we found this spot we have come back again and again.
“Hannah was determined to make the most of this rare opportunity and we got one last chance to enjoy it on Saturday before the surface started to melt. She knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Who would have thought a waterlogged field right by home would make such a perfect place for Hannah to practise her moves?”