A TALENTED teen skier from the Valley gave his all against 35 world-class international athletes at a new competition, despite suffering a shoulder injury while training.

Richard Holt, 15, battled the pain to come 16th out of 23 at the FIS European Indoor Moguls Championships in Manchester, taking on skiers aged 14 to 28 who had travelled from countries as far afield as Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, and the USA.

The Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School student, who first took to the slopes at the tender age of three, said he was really pleased with his inaugural competition result.

He said: “I couldn’t have asked for anything better and I’m looking forward to competing in the future.”

Richard’s mum, Andrea Holt, headteacher of Sharneyford Primary School, said he had always had a natural talent for the sport.

She said: “Me and his dad, Andrew, took him to Lapland skiing when he was three-and-a-half he disappeared through a forest and me and his dad weren’t very good and we had to follow him and hope he came out the other side, and he did.

“He’s always loved it, but never thought of competing before joining the Great Britain freestyle team training at the Chill Factor and they asked him to represent Great Britain in the competition.

“He took a bad fall the day before the competition and hurt his shoulder. Me and his dad were both worried about him competing after it, but he was calm and happy.

“He loves to go off-piste and that’s why he does the bumps and moguls.”

Currently Richard trains twice a week at Ski Rossendale and once a fortnight at the Chill Factor in Manchester, which will increase in winter.

Andrea added: “It’s an expensive hobby. It was his birthday recently and all he wanted was a new pair of skis. He wants to be a ski instructor or an officer in the Army, because he found out they have a ski team.”