NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2009 49
An invitation to
Climb on
board
HMS Raleigh
THE season is on the wane,
but nevertheless the Royal
Navy needs snowboarders
and is actively seeking
DEDICATION, as the late Roy Castle proclaimed, is
potential athletes for the
Team in preparation for the
what you need. 2010 Navy and Inter-Services
It’s the key to success of every great sportsman and woman. Snowboarding Championships.
It’s the key to success in RN sports too. Any winter sports experience
But sometimes, an invitation’s what you need as well. would be fantastic but is not
Grass roots sport in the Senior Service is being bolstered by a very necessarily a prerequisite.
simple – but effective – initiative at HMS Raleigh. In fact, the skills required for
For the past six months, the PTIs at the Torpoint training sports such as skateboarding,
establishment have been inviting coaches and offi cials from a cross- BMX, downhill mountain biking,
section of RN sports to spend time nurturing junior talent. kite/wakeboarding (and many
The result has been a 20 per cent increase in uptake in some sports, more) are excellent foundations
with some of the sailors identifi ed by coaches already representing the on which to become a
Senior Service at the U21 level.
● Get that bloody camera out of my way... The RN’s Gary Waring on the ice during the skeleton bob
Traditionally, trainees passing through Raleigh’s gates fi ll in a form
Inter-Services at Sestriere in Italy
competitive snowboarder within
Picture: Sgt Si Butcher, RAF
the Senior Service.
outlining their sporting interests and abilities… which eventually are Personnel involved with the
sorted and passed on to the relevant sporting bodies. Navy Snowboard Team can
And that’s a lot of forms – 2,800 last year – to be sifted by coaches
Slide rulers
expect up to six subsidised
who then decide whether a sportsman or woman is worth following up.
weeks a year on snow as well
“The other problem with forms is that some people are very humble
other pre-season training
and play down their abilities, while others claim they are better than
opportunities in preparation
they are,” explains POPT Jane West, who oversees the grass roots
for the current competitive
initiative.
disciplines of parallel giant
The senior rating has represented the RN at bobsleigh and rugby
slalom, snowboardcross and
union and has noticed a huge change in the organisation and delivery of
TWO days of exhilarating ice sliding
slopestyle.
held on the man-made refrigerated ice track at Igls in
sport, ably assisted by LPT’s Joe Thornton and Buster Brown, they are
Release of suitable
simply taking it to the next level.
came to an end in dramatic fashion at
Austria followed by the Inter-Services at Königssee
candidates has historically
There simply isn’t time during the nine weeks of basic training to the 2009 Inter-Services bobsleigh and
just across the Austro-German border.
been looked upon very
The RN team were fortunate enough to have sliders
allocate time for coaching sessions in a myriad of sports, Jane explains.
skeleton championships.
favourably by the powers that
who were in their second season and could push the
But for Raleigh’s Phase 2 Recruits – 900 junior rates undergoing
The Italian town of Sestriere was the venue for
be when the time comes.
RAF and Army teams to their limit.
specialist instruction in their chosen branches annually, notably
the two-day event (it also hosted the 2006 ed the 2006
Candidates should expect
After the fi rrst wst week’eek s slidings , the RN event was won
submariners, divers, chefs and stewards, logisticians, seaman specialists,
Winter Olympics).
an initial informal interview to
by 2008 champion Sgt Damian Leaby 2008 champion Sgtt D ver (HMS Ocean)
hydrographers – there is time: anywhere from four to 26 weeks, with
Sixty-nine competitors divided into ed into
ascertain their suitability.
with a combined time of 1m 27.11s and a top speed with a combined timee o
sport programmed into their syllabus.
21 two-man bobsleigh teams and 27 annd 27
Selection for the team will
of 100.65 kph (approx 58 mph).x 5x
At the representative level, Phase 2 Training is often the last chance
skeleton riders fought it out on one of n one of
mean an overriding personal
And then to Bavaria...iaa.
to catch talent: after that they’re scattered around the Fleet, off to sea
the fastest and hardest circuits in the s in the
commitment to excel. It will be
Königssee immediaKönigssee immediaattely stre uck the four RN sliders
for months on end.
world.
fun, it may even change your
as a challenging track as it looped back on itself with ing track a
To date a substantial number of RN sporting associations have
The 1,431-metre Olympic track raack
life, but is not a game. We are in
the fi nal curve known as the Ziel being vw ery tight,
taken up Raleigh’s invitation – fencing, football, equestrianism, boxing,
drops 140m along its coursese,e,
this to get the gold.
giving about a 4G pull on the bodyiving about a 4GG , making it
athletics, both rugby codes etc – to run coaching sessions.
wending through 19 bends which h
If you are interested, send
very diffi cult cult to see the exit straight.to ses Quite a few
“Raleigh has an unbelievable wealth of talent in sport. We’re not most of the riders (when they y
a brief sporting CV with
racers crashed out of the Ziel before the s crassh
looking for the fi nished article, but identifying sportsmen and women didn’t crash) managed to get
military contact details only
fi nish. niish
with potential,” says Jane. down in about a minute.
to CPO Mick Arrowsmith 848
After some great racing all
“The sports that succeed are those where the leaders are highly In the bobsleigh events the
NAS, RNAS Yeovilton (email
week, all three Services were
motivated and knowledgeable, those who devote a lot of their own time Royal Navy picked up the
848WCPO3 Civ 848WPO3@
vveery close and the race was sure
– most RN sports rely on a dedicated band of volunteers and offi cials, prestigious Mo Hammond
yeovil.mod.com).
to be an all-out efforto t to get a
who use their character and personality to develop their chosen sport.” Trophy men’s team award while few tenths off the timesfe .
So dedication’s what you need. And it works. the Army team won the Women’s Already the RN champion,
“Last year the RN won more than one in three sporting contests at
Dartmouth’s
Team bowl. NA N Annie Edwards (pictured
the representative level across the Services, which is not bad considering Green berets Cpl John Jackson soon leftle ) proved to be unbeatable in
we’re the smallest,” Jane points out. and Mne Jamie Devlin won the thhe BaB varia too – even by the male
perfect 10s
individual men’s competition,onn, ■ THE Torpoint establishment is also increasingly being used as a sliders s.
venue for RN sporting events and competitions. while Devlin added to his medal daal The triumph came as a bit Britannia Royal Naval College
Three major contests have been hosted by Raleigh already in 2009: tally with the fastest push, sharing ng of a suro prise to the junior hosted the South-west Area
the Inter-Command cross country race, Plymouth Area netball contest the trophy with the Army’s Capt appt rar ting. She hadn’t been having Rugby 10s – and promptly won
and also the Plymouth Area mountain bike championships (pictured Henry Nwume. a good time aa t Königssee – said event handsomely.
below). In the women’s contest, the RN RNN until race dau y that is. Six teams entered, including
In the run, first to complete the six-mile course in the men’s were placed third with the Arrmmy “On the day, something two from operational warships
category was Band Sgt Tim Watson (HMS Caledonia) on 36m 23s taking the honours. happened,h although when I (Chatham and Cumberland).
while winner of the three-mile women’s event was Culdrose’s Lt Linda
There were rather fewer successes ssses was told I’d won, I was rather
A league table would
Lawrence (21m 39s); more from her below right.
for Navy skeleteletes (made-up-uup in shock,in ” she said.
determine the victors and there
BRNC lifted the netball trophy ahead of HMS Albion, while on the
word – Ed). The aircraft handler from
was some superb rugby during
cycle Drake’s Surg Lt Al Lovell completed eight laps of the (muddy)
Individually, the RN men didn’nn’t HMS Ocean has been sliding H
the course of the afternoon.
Raleigh course in 1h 2m 43s. Raleigh’s own WO ‘Spike’ Way took the
post a podium finish in the skeleton onn for three yf ears – “hair-raising
Second to sixth places were
veterans’ gong (1h 15m 24s), while the fastest female was Drake’s
bob, but collectively they nudged edd at first, but after a while you get
not determined until the fi nal
LNN Bernie Quinn, finishing her three laps in 37m 12s.
the Army into third place. an adrenaline ba uzz and want to
two matches were played which
Picture: Dave Sherfield, HMS Raleigh
AB(D) Ryan Campbell took firrsst go again and again”g – and says
ensured a great atmosphere for
as the fastest novice male driver. her three male companionsh
the competition.
The ladies came behind the RAF AAF had no problems about being h
First place, however, was
(the Army could not muster a team),m), beab ten by the fairer sex.
settled slightly early.
although AB Iliana Veneti took silvlvveer r “They were fantastic – we
BRNC won all fi ve of their
in the individual contest. were the smallest team at the
matches, so were the outright
Meanwhile a bit further north...h.... championships,chc but came
winners scoring 41 points (and
a week’s RN luge championships ipps second oses verall. A really good
conceding a mere three) in the
(think: tea tray, feet first, ice) wwere eere result.rees ”
whole competition.
Impressive feets
RN ATHLETES swept the board at the Inter-Services half
marathon championships held in conjunction with the prestigious
Fleet half marathon.
Having won the event last year, the team – drawn mainly from the
Royal Marines – did even better this year by fi lling four of the fi rst
fi ve places.
The RN fi rst team (Cpls Croasdale, Dashper and Cole and C/Sgt
Watson) not only beat the other Services, but also placed fi rst in
the open competition to trounce some of the top civilian teams in
the south.
To round off a great day for the Navy’s runners, the RN’s second
team of Sgt Goodridge, Surg Lt Irving, LAET Gosling and Mne
Montague took second place in the open competition.
Eight of the squad then went to Portugal for a week’s warm
weather training in preparation for defending their Inter Services
Marathon Title at the Flora London Marathon on Sunday April 26.
While the Navy did not have it all their own way at the Inter-
Services cross-country championships held at Blandford, they still
managed to collect some of the silverware.
Lt Linda Lawrence from RNAS Culdrose caused an upset when
she broke the Army Ladies’ long standing monopoly of podium
fi nishes by winning the bronze medal.
Linda was the fi rst RN lady in living memory to take a top-three
place when she out-sprinted Capt Tamzin Clark, one of the Army’s
all-conquering ladies’ athletics team, to create a small piece of
Naval sporting history.
Cpl Mark Croasdale once again led the all-conquering RN
Veterans team of Lt Cdr Tony Dunn, Cpl Gary Gerrard, CPOPT
Wayne Hodkinson, Sgt Mick Duff and PO Stu Cox to their fi fth
consecutive championship victory.
● Cpl Mark Croasdale just ahead of fellow veteran Cpl Gary Gerrard
at the Inter-Services cross-country event
049-052_NN_Apr.indd 1 19/3/09 14:26:23
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