The granddaughter of Keswick shop owners Tony and Jean Rathbone picked up a bronze medal when she made her Great Britain debut in the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.

Megan Rathbone, 23, a Sheffield Hallam University student who plays for Nottingham Vipers, was representing GB in the Division Two Group A tournament in South Korea. She had been a late addition to the squad after impressing at the World Student Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan in February.

The GB side battled back from a disappointing start after they were beaten by The Netherlands 5-4, hosts South Korea 3-1 and North Korea 3-2 in sudden death overtime.

A thumping 8-2 win against Slovenia set up a bronze medal decider against Australia, which GB won 5-3 to take third place.

The venue at Gangneung in South Korea will be the centre for ice events for the 2018 Olympic Games. The tournament was used as a test event, enabling the GB ladies to experience Olympic style organisation and security.

Megan had represented GB at Under-18 level but had not made the full squad due to injury and the birth of her son Hugo, now one.

She said: “The experience was amazing. To make my debut on the Olympic rink was a dream come true, it is such an honour to represent your country.

“We had a bad start against The Netherlands, losing a goal after only 31 seconds. We kept battling but we could not quite pull it back.

“South Korea has been in a training camp as preparations for the Olympics, but we gave them a battle. We were very disappointed to lose to North Korea but I think we showed our true potential against Slovenia.

“The security surrounding the North Korean team was something else. All the teams were in the same hotel complex but we were not allowed to mix with the North Koreans at all.

"They had their own security and at least five coach loads of South Korean police went wherever they went.

“It was a fabulous week with a wonderful team group. We battled and it was incredible to sing the national anthem after our victories.

“The medal was the icing on the cake, it was just a shame it was not gold.”.

Megan’s father is former Cumbrian Newspapers photographer Robert Rathbone, who flew out to South Korea to watch Megan play.