FORMER McDonald's manageress Emily Foster swapped a life of frying burgers for one of physical and mental endurance when she joined the Army.

And the super soldier has proved that she can push herself through the pain barrier after taking part in one of the British Army's toughest ski competitions.

The 26-year-old former pupil of Accrington's Moorhead High School, a gunner with the 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, took part in the Nordic cross-country skiing section of Exercise Spartan Hike, the Land Command UK, Northern Ireland and Territorial Army ski championships in Serre Chevalier in the French Alps.

Over a ten days, Emily endured temperatures of -18C and battled against other competitors in the 10km and 15km cross-country competitions, as well as the challenging biathlon and military patrol races.

During the biathlon, Emily was part of a four-man team and had to ski across a 7.5km or 10km course before shooting eight rounds of ammunition at a target, first standing, then lying down.

Next, in the military race, the team dressed in arctic smocks and carried 40kg rucksacks, rifles, food and drink over a 20km course which at certain points involved having to take off their skis and climb up the sides of mountains. Along the way they also completed mental and physical command tasks, as well as firing on two ranges.

It is the second time Emily has taken part in the competition and despite being very fit, particularly enjoying running and triathlon, she admitted that Nordic skiing was "very hard work."

She said: "We went straight out to Norway for training as soon as we came back from a six-month United Nations tour of Cyprus, so there has been quite a lot of catching up to do. I really love it as it keeps me very fit and not a lot of people have the opportunity to do this in their job."

Emily joined the Army two years.

Picture: Emily takes aim during the shooting part of the Nordic Biathlon race