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ANDREW BATCHELOR: Dundee’s star skaters deserve funding to match their talent

As Olympian Natasha McKay and fellow Dundee skaters celebrate British Championship success, it's time their sport got the support it deserves.

Photo shows Natasha McKay figure skating.
Dundee skater Natasha McKay won her sixth British Championship title after achieving her Olympic dream. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson.

Sunday was World Ice Skating Day and Dundee marked it in fine style at the British Championships in Sheffield.

Natasha McKay was named British Ice Skating Champion, capping what has been a fantastic year for the city skater.

But hers was not the only Dundee victory.

Local skaters returned home with a whole string of trophies, suggesting the future for figure skating in Dundee is very bright.

image shows the writer Andrew Batchelor next to a quote: "I'd love to see more funding being made available for these incredibly talented young figure skaters who have so much potential to represent their city and their country in national and international competitions.."

Most people sat up and took notice of Natasha McKay when she was picked for Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

But with six British Ice Skating Championship titles under her belt, she has been leading the field for years, and I was over the moon to hear she had won again.

Rooting for Natasha this year has been amazing – from watching her achieve her Olympic dream to seeing her break records on the ice.

Natasha McKay during her Olympic debut.
Natasha McKay during her Olympic debut.

There were the odd trolls, of course, when she didn’t finish among the medalists in Beijing.

But none of that mattered. The important thing was that she was on the Olympic stage, proving she was one of the best in the world – and showing all of us back home what a fellow Dundonian could do.

Figure skaters all over the world dream of getting to the Olympics. Only a handful fulfill that ambition. And for Natasha, it was a dream that took 20 years to come true.

photo shows Natasha McKay on the ice at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
Natasha McKay at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

Her British Championship win is a perfect way to end the year, and puts her in a strong position for the season ahead.

Dundee skaters can be world-beaters – with the right support

But Natasha wasn’t the only local skater to return victorious from  Sheffield at the weekend.

Joining her at the championships were Anastasia Vaipan-Law and her partner Luke Digby, who retained the British Senior Pair Champions title for the second time.

One of the best things with any sport is rooting for the next generation and we have some shining examples here in Lucy Hay and Kyle McLeod, who are now the British Junior Pair Champions, and Emma Lyons, who won bronze in the Junior Ladies.

With talent like that coming through, Dundee is well placed to become the base for Britain’s next generation of figure skating stars.

photo shows Luke Digby, Anastasia Vaipan-Law, Natasha McKay, Lucy Hay and Kyle McLeod lined up on the ice with their trophies.
Dundee figure skating success at British Championships in Sheffield. from left to right Luke Digby, Anastasia Vaipan-Law, Natasha McKay, Lucy Hay and Kyle McLeod Image: Ice Dundee.

Despite all of the success, there are challenges. Not least financial ones.

I’ve seen Natasha discuss how difficult it is to get funding for ice skating in interviews.

It probably struggles compared to other higher-profile sports. But I’d love to see more funding being made available for these incredibly talented young figure skaters who have so much potential to represent their city and their country in national and international competitions.

It wasn’t a sport I knew much about until I started sitting up and taking notice of these local skaters.

But it’s a brilliant one to watch, and I hope their successes encourage a whole new generation of Dundonians to take to the ice.

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