Scotland’s top female surfer is recovering after a skateboarding accident earlier this month.
Megan Mackay, from Sandend near Banff, injured herself at her local park while out celebrating her exams.
She fell off her skateboard a few hours after sitting her geology exam at university and feared the worst when she heard her bones crack.
“I was shaking,” said Miss Mackay. “I think I was in shock because I could see my foot spasm. I found out I had two fractures and had to get pins in my ankle, and a cast on my whole foot.”
But the keen surfer hasn’t let her injury hold her back from training.
She said: “I’m working on my upper body and still swimming every day. I recently took up rowing to keep in shape as well.”
Miss Mackay, 20, hopes to get the cast off in the next few weeks and start training for the Scottish Interclub Championships in October.
Last year the Aberdeen student won the Women’s Open final of the Nordic Surf Games, which the Scottish Surfing Federation described as “the highest accomplishment of any Scottish surfer at an international event.”
For Miss Mackay, it was an incredible personal win.
She said: “My twin brother had died of a head injury just months before, so having the upcoming competition really made me focus on something other than that. He loved to surf. I worked really hard in the competition and was so surprised to win.”
Miss Mackay is looking forward to getting her cast removed and to take to the waves again.
She said: “When I surf I feel so connected to nature, I switch off from any problems in my head. Last October I was surfing in Aberdeen when I saw a humpback whale less than a metre away, which was a truly amazing experience.”