NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010


47


I would walk 100 miles...


WITH apologies to the Proclaimers, but this is a tale from north of the Border... More than 50 Service


personnel and staff at Faslane have signed up to the base’s new 100-Mile Club, intended to promote running and general fitness at HM Naval Base Clyde. With the offer of a free (very


bright yellow) T-shirt and possible prizes, LPT Regaina Cawley has managed to entice fellow Faslaners out of offices and ships and on to the roads. The aim is for each runner to clock up 100 miles (hence the club’s name...) at their own pace. Club members keep a tally of their mileage and, using that old adage of teachers and school tests, Regaina says that “if runners cheat, then they cheat themselves”.


Since the club was launched in the summer, some of the runners have already reached the milestone.


Joyce, Waterfront Safety Officer, who is still pounding the roads of Argyll and Bute despite long since achieving the club’s goal. “Not being a natural fittie,


was enough to spark my interest in the 100-Mile Club and it was the incentive I needed to get up and start running again. I’ve not looked back since. “I started with small runs and then ramped up to twice around the base, although I must admit that the hill up to the Sportsdrome gets a bit emotional near the top!


target, I kept going. and I now run between 25 and 40 miles each week.


“Once past the 100-mile


“As a result I’ve lost a stone and a half and, for the first time in years, I\m looking forward to my Royal Navy Fitness Test.” More details on the club is


available from LPT Cawley on Faslane 3745.


Indoor fi reworks  Continued from page 48


Hockey Cup. Ten teams entered the contest


at Temeraire; the fi rst day saw two leagues playing one-way matches of 25 minutes. At the end of that day BRNC had scored 17 goals in 100 minutes of hockey – and kept a clean sheet. That guaranteed an appearance in the semi-fi nal against HMS Heron, which proved to be a very tight affair.


A magnificent triple save by keeper Lt Shani Dyer in the last minute ensured Dartmouth held on for a 2-1 win.


fi nal twice before in the past decade, winning it in 2001/02 and losing to HMS Drake last year.


BRNC had reached the cup


In 2010 they faced HMS Collingwood and went a goal up in just 20 seconds thanks to a pushback and a clever up fi eld aerial from OC Rich Jenkin to OC John Hamilton. Capitalising on this early


“The allure of a free T-shirt Among them is WO Daniel


Keith’s bronze age


PROUDLY displaying the rewards for his skill and dedication, Lt Keith Bowers shows off the fi r


engineer officer here


st medals won by a naval fencer at the Commonwealth Games in 60 years.


HMS Dragon’s deputy weapon (posing


beside his ship at Scotstoun on the Clyde) brought home bronze in the individual and team event for Scotland.


I’ve always struggled to find an incentive to do physical training,” he said.


The Commonwealth Fencing Championships have been held separately from the main Commonwealth Games since 1974 and this year were staged over a week in Melbourne. The individual sabre competition saw Keith placed 11th after the seeding pools. He then beat a fellow Scot in the last 16, cruised past Antony Selling of Australia 15/3 to reach the fi nal eight and then England’s Stuart Marshall (currently ninth in the British rankings) 15/11 to move into the semis, where he unfortunately lost to Ratneswaren, another English fencer, 15/7. The team competition saw Scotland reach the semi fi nals where they lost to Australia before managing to win the play off against India to establish themselves as the third-placed team.


Keith has established himself as


a very competent fencer at Service level; in recent years he’s been RN champion at all three weapons (foil, épée and sabre). It is at sabre that he excels,


however, and 2010 has seen him maintain his position consistently in the top 30 in the British rankings to achieve his selection for Scotland for the Commonwealth championships. We’ll let him describe his Australian exploits: “The chance to represent my


country in a major championship such as this has been an awesome experience. “The trip to Melbourne was one


fi lled with nerves and trepidation about what to expect, about how I was going to perform. “If anyone had said I was going to win a bronze medal before I travelled, I would have laughed at them – my expectations were much lower, hoping to fi nish in the top 16.


“As a men’s sabre team our


focus had been on preparing for the team event and gaining a reasonable seeding from the individuals to give us a good chance of winning a team medal. “The team we built was a very


close and supportive unit focused on helping each other to deliver their best performance. “On the day of the individual


event I had just about managed to master my nerves and got off to a good start, winning four out of six matches in the seeding round which placed me 11th in the knockout stages. “It was at this stage I found out I had to fence a teammate to proceed to the next round. “We had been working with each other a lot in training and he had been getting the better of me on most occasions so I was very nervous. In the end I won out but hated having to knock out a teammate. “The next


round was fairly


straight forward, but I couldn’t have asked for a better draw as my opponent had knocked out the sixth seed in the previous round. “I was jubilant at having made the top eight and by this point there was a lot of adrenaline fl owing.


“I then had to fence a clubmate


from Sheffi eld, Stuart Marshall, who had got the better of me in our previous four encounters. “I was so overjoyed when the


fi ght fi nished and I had won and I knew I had secured myself a medal.


The support from the whole Scottish team through this fi ght was sensational. “I don’t


think I’ve ever had


so much vociferous cheering all for me! I then fenced a GB Junior International fencer who unfortunately was just a step too far for me. “My result coupled with the


others’ gave the Scottish men’s sabre team a seeding of second behind England and ahead of Australia.


“The team event was scheduled for three days after the individual and the next two days had to be focussed on resting and regrouping so as to be able to deliver another strong performance on the piste. “For me it was very hard to get


my mind back in the game and focussed as I was still riding the high of my fi rst medal. “In the end we had a very good match where we


cruised


through Guernsey and then met a very strong team in the form of Australia in the semi-fi nals.


“We had the lead early on then they established their authority in the fourth bout, winning 45-35. “We then had India in the third- place play off; they had proven in their semi-fi nal against England that they were a strong team. “We had to work very hard as a team to overcome the disappointment of not making the fi nal and to ensure that we gave everything to the match against India. “In


the end we won 45-40


in what was a very hard-fought match. It was our team spirit that I think enabled us to achieve what we did.


“Winning a second bronze was


the crowning glory for me; I would never have believed that I would be coming back from Melbourne with one medal, let alone two.” For the record, the last Naval fencer to win a medal at this level was Royal Marine Bob Anderson in the épée in 1950 – when the event was part of the main British Empire Games. Michael Amberg won medals in sabre in 1954 and 1958 but this was after he had left the RN and Barbara Williams,


fencing


for Scotland, was part of their silver medal team in 1970 prior to joining the Navy.


WAFUs enjoy life in drag A TEAM of


RNAS Yeovilton took third place at the Silverline Power Tools Drag Racing championship. Yes, you read that correctly. Take one household power tool, adapt it a bit (or a lot) and create a racer, strap yourself in, then race against other similarly sharp, high- speed devices.


advantage the team went 2-0 up within ten minutes. Collingwood came back with a penalty stroke but BRNC had the upper hand throughout ending up as 4-2 victors.


10s time in the sun


RAF Akrotiri is looking for RN teams to enter its well- known international rugby 10s tournament next year. The competition – won in the past by the RM and RN U23s – will be staged in Cyprus from May 30-June 3 2011. Entry is by invitation with


men’s, women’s and veterans’ teams welcome. Details from Flt Lt Trevor


Down on trev.down@cyp.mod. uk or Sqn Ldr Steve Williams on theoldgoat@ntlworld.com.


pursuit... This year the championships descended on RNAS Yeovilton and the FAA Museum and proceedings were


Channel 5’s Gadget Show, whose presenter Jason Bradbury joined the Heron team in building their drag racer. “Inspiration came from the extreme sport of downhill luge racing where single person sleds are raced downhill, feet fi rst and steered using bodyweight, often achieving speeds of over 140kmh,”


filmed by


Craig, engineering training offi cer overseeing the Yeovilton racer.. The finished design only has to race down a 100-metre track, but it nevertheless took the Heron team three months to create the racer.


They leaned heavily on the sheet metal work expertise of PO Kate Newcombe, machining skills of PO Steve Bomers and engine know-how of CPO Dave Lindsay. Outdoor tool specialist Stihl sponsored the team with a top of


explains Lt Helen


● AET Ryan McGregor, CPO Dave Lindsay, PO Steve Bomers, the Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury, Lt Helen Craig, AET Chris Lodge and PO Kate Newcombe


the range 9hp MS880 chainsaw and further helped make some top-secret modifi cations to get the maximum performance from the saw.


team’s brave test driver during the build before handing the steering over to Jason for the race.


AET Chris Lodge acted as the


The TV presenter was beaten by a fraction of a second by the leading two teams from Toolstation. “Our fastest time was just over 8.3s using Jason Bradbury as the driver but we are confi dent that during our own testing the design can cut this by at least one second.


are confi dent that we will return to the competition next year.” The 2010 gathering saw a prize fund of £3,000 up for grabs. Engineers interested in building a racer for the 2011 event should contact powertooldragracing@ silverlinetools.com


Picture: James Dadzitis, Western Gazette “We had a great weekend and we


A perfectly normal sporting engineers from


Allo, allo it’s vélo, vélo


TWENTY-TWO members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Cycling Association (RNRMCA) attended the 29th Duo Normand International Cycling Time Trial Race in Normandy. The event once again proved to be a fi tting conclusion to a successful season for the RNRMCA and saw 20 athletes compete in teams of two against the clock in the race contested over 54km (33 miles). This race is staged in and around the town of Marigny on the Cherbourg Peninsula and boasts Olympic gold medallists Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins among previous winners. It was an early start on race


day, which saw the town decked in its best fl ags and a truly fantastic atmosphere. Eight hundred entrants, in teams of two, started at one-minute intervals throughout the day. Unlike UK time trials, each pair in the Duo Normand is allowed a support vehicle following them around the course. This, coupled with a ramp start, kilometre markers and the large crowd, added to the sense of occasion.


true grit and determination giving nothing but 100 per cent during their rides. Club favourites Garry Drew and Lee Sanderson proved to be the pick of the RN club crop, recording a time of 1h 21m 10s for their ride. The evening allowed the riders the opportunity to relax and enjoy a dinner in their hotel. The sense of achievement and post race “banter” was plain to see. In the absence of the RNRMCA President, Cdr Mark Beverstock, who had to cancel his participation in the event at short notice due to Service commitments, general secretary Cdr David Wallace praised the conduct of club members and their performances in the international sporting arena. The time trial season is now almost over and the many club members who have raced since February are enjoying a well- earned rest of about a month before training starts for 2011.


Refs confer


MORE than 30 Royal Navy rugby union referees gathered at Yeovilton in preparation for the 2010-11 season. A series of informative lectures and interactive training sessions had been put together by the society training offi cer, Gaz Fairbairn. Following a rousing address from Cdr Stew Kilby. chairman of the RNRURS, Matt Kiernan gave an illuminating lecture on how the human brain makes decisions and how to cope with stress and exhaustion during a game; an insight into the workings of the human mind is always fascinating. South West RFU referee


development manager Steve Harland covered some re- emphasis of laws that are being stressed this season before lunch was taken by the delegates. The society was lucky enough


All RNRMCA riders showed


to have a long session with David Dunn, Bournemouth RFC’s coach.


There was a lot of banter and good humour, but valuable information was gleaned about how a top rugby club prepares to deal with referees and their foibles. It provided a compelling insight into the preparations a club makes and hopefully David also took away some useful tips. A lecture about communication from Phil Thornton followed, before Paul Burton offered an insight into the trials and tribulations of a Premiership assistant referee. The day concluded with a Q&A session with the training offi cer, before the delegates departed, armed with a plethora of fresh knowledge to take to their forthcoming games. Anyone interested in becoming a Royal Navy rugby referee should contact Gaz at rugbytime@hotmail.com.


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