By Clare Wall
AN ISLAND soldier with a passion for skateboarding has applied his skills to come second at the Army Snowboarding Champion-ship at Stubai Glacier in Austria.

Craftsman Matthew Hanks, 19, of Limerstone, serving in Germany with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, only started to practice with the army in December and won a divisional championship immediately before the full army event.
In addition to the overall second place, he also gained second place in the slope style competition and came third in the boarder cross event.
Cfmn Hanks, who went to Carisbrooke High School and joined the army in 2001, said: "I was really pleased to come in second place after my first championship, I think it is down to my skateboarding past."