Ski soldier goes from novice to champion in three months

Soldier Kris Dillon had never skied only three months ago but he is a fast learner and is now an Army champion.

Kris, 19, from Colton, east Leeds, has won a gold medal in his first skiing competition and helped his team to ski to victory in the Army's UK Divisional Ski Championships in France.

Having never skied until three months ago he was testing his nerve and fitness to the limit during the Alpine section of Exercise Spartan Hike in the ski resort of Serre Chevalier.

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Kris is training to be an armourer with 10 Training Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers but over the week-long exercise he was standing on top of a snow-covered mountain and pointing his skis downhill to compete in the formidable slalom, grand slalom, super G and downhill competitions.

He won the gold medal for being the fastest novice skier in the giant slalom and completed the heart-stopping downhill race, which involved skiing at speed down a course of nearly 1,500 metres with a 504 metre drop, in an impressive two minutes and 20 seconds.

His efforts helped his team, 10 Training Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, win the Spartan Hike Cup with the highest points for both Alpine and Nordic events.

"I had a couple of lessons in an indoor ski school and then went straight out to Austria for four weeks in December to start training," said Kris.

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"I have been taking tips and copying everyone else, but I think that luckily I'm a bit of a natural.

"This is the beginning of my skiing career and I definitely want to carry on. There is no way I thought I would have been doing anything like this when I joined the Army – it's amazing, literally amazing."

Kris, a former pupil of Garforth Comprehensive School, joined the Army last year after taking an electrician's course at Leeds College of Technology.

He is currently training with 10 Training Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Bordon, Hampshire, before being posted to a REME battalion in Germany or the UK.

His parents, Jeremy and Joanne Dillon, live in Colton.

Results for the whole of the Spartan Hike competition can be found on www.spartanhike.co.uk

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