Amber strikes gold on Scottish slopes

The eight-year-old from Halesowen landed first place in her under-12 category and almost managed a fine bronze in the under-16 age group.

The keen skier headed to the Bearsden Ski and Board Club in Scotland for her first competition on a dry slope and pulled off a series of impress jumps and tricks to land the medals.

Fennell travelled with mum Jenni and grandmother Dianne, who were both all too impressed with the youngster's attitude, performance and the event's overall set-up, writes Lewis Cox.

Grandma Di said: "It was the first time she'd ever touched a dry slope. It brings many differences.

"There's a different sized board and it requires different flexibility, but Amber just had a great big smile. She was loving it.

"She fell in practice and got a little upset but it spurred her on and to see her come off smiling and saying 'yes I did it!' when practising and competing was lovely."

Amber did a number of jumps, including a table top jump, a high-kicker and a 180 degrees hand-plant to wow the local officials.

Dianne said: "We weren't expecting anything, as it was her first time. It was a brilliant event and they were so fabulous and helpful. We'll definitely go back.

"Competing against much older girls and doing so well is great. Weight helps with snowboarding and she's only a little thing. They were very impressed with her."

Mum Jenni confirmed that despite her inexperience with the circuit and class, the Hurst Green Primary School student was not about to back down.

She said: "It was very cold and wet, but we were so proud of her. She didn't land in practice but we like to leave it up to her and she just gets on with it.

"She says in snowboarding, you have to 'go large or go home.' She said 'I'm going big', the jump was almost as tall as her."