THE hills of Dartmoor on a winter’s day maybe the nearest most West Devon people get to snow, but for one Whitchurch man his passion for his sport has earned him a spot in the Team GB snowboarding team.

Chris Gregory, aged 26, has been called up to represent Great Britain at snowboard cross for the 2017/18 season after impressing selectors with his feats on the ski slopes in national competitions.

The Royal Engineer and Army Commando is currently the inter-services Giant Slalom champion and has been a finalist at the British Championships held in Laax Switzerland, in both 2016 and 2017, competing against current Olympians.

He joined the Army in 2007 aged 17 and qualified as an engineer; Chris also earned a prestigious ‘Green Beret’ at the Royal Marine Commando Centre in Lympstone, Devon.

Corporal Chris is currently serving with the Royal Engineers in Chilwell, Nottingham and has recently served in both Cyprus and Kenya. The Army, through the elite athlete scheme, is supporting him as he represents his country in his chosen sport.

His father Lance, a former RAF ground engineer, said his son intends to base himself at the team GB camp in Austria from October and from there travel to compete at various international events.

Lance told the Times that Chris first snowboarded when they were on holiday in Italy in 2003, although even at the age of three Chris took to skiing like ‘a duck to water.’

‘Chris has certainly earned his place in Team GB after firstly representing his regiment, the Army and the Tri-Services. He’s in the snowboarding cross competition — where four to six skiers line-up at the top of a slope and race down; they go over jumps and go into the air — it’s quite scary to watch but Chris seems to enjoy it!’

Chris was fourth in this year’s British Snowboard Championship, held in Switzerland, in the open men’s, just missing out of third place — a split second behind the winner Billy Morgan, who is a professional with the Red Bull team and represented GB at the winter Olympics.

Now Chris’s efforts have been rewarded with a GB call-up.

Proud dad, along with his step mother Helen who is a nursing sister at Tavistock Hospital, will be following his progress keenly.

‘I am very proud of Chris. He has come a long way in a short time, thanks to all the hard work, dedication and training he has put in. I am really looking forward to going out and seeing him when he competes for Great Britain against international competition.’