Megan Carroll first set foot on the ice at the old Williamfied Ice Rink in Stirling where her dad took her skating once or twice, but her ice skating journey really took off shortly after this when The PEAK opened in 2009.

She quickly fell in love with ice skating and was not long before Megan had signed up to Active Stirling’s Learn to Skate programme when she was just seven-years-old.

Within a year, she had progressed through to level 7 and after quickly realising how much she loved it and how good she was at it, she sought additional 1-2-1 lessons from Fiona McGiff one of the skating coaches with Stirling New Figure Skating club, before moving on to work with Gemma Stark.

Megan is still a regular member of SNFSC and has represented Stirling nationally in competitions.

Gemma commented: “Megan is right up there with the best that she has coached and she has come a long way in the five years that they have worked together, achieving things that most others don’t in a lifetime of skating.

" The facilities at the PEAK are some of the best she has visited as everything is under one roof.

"Megan is part of the GB Development squad and this means she qualifies for full, free access to the centre.”

Such is the dedication needed to compete at the top level that extra hours are put in at the gym, in the sports hall and at home with a ballet teacher in Megan’s converted garage. All of this on top of the eight ice sessions that Megan completes per week, some of which last up to three hours.

Both Gemma and Megan hope that in future more skating hours are available at the PEAK.

Skating hours are often limited because of curling and so Megan currently travels to Murrayfield and Coatbridge to train also.

At Murrayfield she is coached in ice dancing with the aim of helping her improve her skating skills, a discipline in which she won Bronze medal in her age category at the British Solo Ice Dance Championships last year.

In the meantime, Megan is currently in training for her next event in Dundee this month and has a very real chance of one day competing at the Winter Olympic.

Active Stirling are proud to be associated with Megan and is behind her in her quest to become a future Winter Olympian.