A TEENAGER is on the fast track to success in the skiing world, after emerging triumphant in an unseasonal event staged minus the snow.

Craig Ruddick outpaced the opposition on the country's biggest dry ski slope to win his first major title, over the giant slalom course in the Scottish Junior Two Championship.

On what was one of the hottest weekends of the year, Craig put his dry skiing expertise into practice to make light work of the 20 gates on the Hill End slope in Edinburgh.

A regular on the dry slope at Silksworth, Sunderland, Craig, of Pittington, near Durham City, said Hill End was a more testing venue.

"It's probably the most challenging ski slope in the country because it's not only the longest, but also the steepest.

"I went up and had some practice on Friday and the competition was on over the weekend.

"Most dry slopes are not big enough for giant slalom. I've only ever done it on snow, so this was a bit of a first.

"But it went well and I was the only competitor to get under 25 seconds, with a three-tenths of a second gap ahead of the next best.

"It sounds marginal, but it's quite a bit in skiing," said Craig, a member of the Northern regional skiing squad.

The 17-year-old Durham Sixth Form Centre student, who is preparing to start his A-level year, hopes to repeat his Scottish success in the English Championship at High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, and in the British Championship at Llandudno, in Wales, in coming weeks.

Craig took up the sport as a ten-year-old by following in older brother Scott's tracks.

Scott began using the Silksworth slope for practice before a school skiing holiday, and Craig went along too.