A local athlete has made a last appeal to the Perthshire public to help her skiing dreams come true.
Just months after breaking her back, Perth skier Charlie Guest has been desperately crowdfunding to make it to the World Championships later this year.
Recognised as one of Great Britain’s potential future sporting stars, Charlie has already established herself as the women’s British number one in slalom and number two in giant slalom.
In an ambitious bid to make it to the top of her sport, she turned to crowdfunding with a 40-day campaign to help make her dream come true.
Charlie has until the end of today to meet her fundraising target.
Calling on members of the public to support her bid to participate in the upcoming World Championships, as well as the Olympics in South Korea in 2018, Charlie has offered a range of funding opportunities.
She said: “To get to the top in any sport you have to dedicate yourself to the training, seven days a week, 12 months a year.
“I’ve been skiing since I was three years old and I know I can reach the summit and become world number one, I just need help with the necessary funding to get to the next stage.
“The average ‘season’ for me lasts from August pretty much all the way through until May and involves frequent travel to countries all over the world to make the most of the snow, wherever it is.
“It’s expensive, but for local people and businesses to be part of my journey is incredibly important, and I feel that I have a lot to offer.
“I really appreciate every single donation from the very small to the very large.”
Charlie was the first British girl to win an international children’s race after making the British children’s team, and is now firmly on track to make the World Championships team for February having already met the qualification criteria.
Her career was almost derailed when she landed on a boulder when training in Sweden and broke her back, but she has made a full recovery.
Charlie has a crowdfunding page at www.makeachamp.com/charlieguest.