New Earswick skier Matthew Pirrie has taken the winner's trophy in a season-long league series of dry slope downhill races.

The Joseph Rowntree School pupil made sure of the title in the final event of the Rossendale Summer League five-race summer series.

A member of Ravens Ski Club in Sunderland, 15-year-old Pirrie finished in third place in the last competition and won the under-16 overall championship with 147 points out of a possible 150.

The Ravens club finished third in the team event.

His 17-year-old sister Natalie took part in the final event in the under-19 women's league despite being in pain from injured knees which had caused her to miss the English national dry slope championships in Sunderland the previous weekend.

The York College student's determination paid off as she achieved a personal best time of just under 17 seconds to make sure of finishing second overall in the league series.

Updated: 16:38 Wednesday, September 24, 2003