National skating champion Ben Penhaligon has returned to the Eden Project to do a special sequence on the rink where he first went on the ice.

Ben, part of a sporting family from St Austell, was first taken to the Eden rink at the age of 11 by his grandfather Mike Penhaligon.

 He quickly proved to be a natural – and nine years on, the biggest achievement of his career so far was winning the recent UK Junior Pairs title with Canadian partner Gabrielle Leversque at the British Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield last month. 

Ben got his skates on before a public session at Eden to go through some of his best moves and record a film to mark the return to his local rink:

The 20-year-old said: ’This is where I really got into skating and was given so much encouragement. My granddad used to take me to Eden when it opened for the winter season. I originally used hockey skates and eventually started using figure skates and practised whenever I could.’

Over the New Year holidays Ben continued to sharpen his skills on the Eden rink and has loved seeing a host of familiar faces.