NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2011


43


●Super H in the Super G... Lt Holly Dennis (FOST) on her way to taking gold as the fastest woman in the super giant slalom


Pictures: Alex Board/www dphotography.com


Super H in the Super G... Lt Holly Dennis (FOST) on her way to taking gold as the fastest woman in the super giant slalom Pictur


d/www.alexboardphotography.com


Tignes spirit


BEFORE historic events in Meribel there was the small matter of bragging rights to be settled at the RN Alpine Championships, held for the second time


virtually guaranteed good snow, vital for this event. It encompasses the L’Espace Killy ski and board area – more than 380 kilometres of pistes and many off piste areas, writes championships director Lt Cdr Rob Taylor (700W NAS).


at Tignes Val Claret. Tignes is one of the highest resorts in the French Alps and therefore


It is also linked with Val d’Isère and has an impressive tranquille area for those beginners or novice skiers and riders. Along with the excellent on-piste facilities, the Val Claret centre provides a superb base for the event, with everything within walking distance, an easy-to-reach race offi ce and plenty of bars and clubs for the evening entertainment – it doesn’t get any better than that! In short, it is the perfect location. The fortnight started well: thankfully the weather problems which had blighted the UK before Christmas were not a factor and everyone got to the event with minimal diffi culty. The fi rst week was however shortened due to Christmas and New Year falling on a Saturday and the arrival on Sunday was a little hectic. That said, everyone got to their lessons on time the following day and enjoyed a great week of instruction and racing, culminating with the beginners’ race, a boarder cross and skier cross race and fi nally B class and C class races.


The second week got under way and the while the lack of snow affected other resorts across the Alps, Tignes was unaffected with almost all of the runs open throughout the week. In fact the constant sunshine was extremely welcome for those used to a British winter. The week saw a full instructional programme once again but this time combined with a comprehensive race programme. This included boardercross, parallel giant slalom and slopestyle for the boarders and slalom, giant slalom and super G for the skiers, with B class and C class races alongside the beginners’ race once more. The aim of the racing is to develop the skills of alpine and boarder racing while allowing the competitors to demonstrate the courage, grit and determination required of a member of the armed forces. This we have achieved at every level so there is a race for everyone. The second year for the Royal Navy Alpine Championships in Tignes Val Claret brought about some of the closest racing we have ever seen.


The venue provides the perfect preparation for both ski and board teams and this year both the men’s and women’s races produced a nail-biting fi


Strong and Chris Sharrott fi nally taking the prizes. On the snowboards, Lt Mick Hawkes took the men’s title; Lt Mandy Keenan was winner in the ladies’


All in all a successful event, and if there is one message to get across to the rest of the RN and RM communities it is: we need you.


and if there is one of the RN and RM


seen numbers decrease slowly and we need to get more people out to the Alps to exper instruction and racing on offer.


doing everything we y and to reduce the our support in epresent ancial dees


w.. ls Due to operations and the exchange ra


change rate we have and we need to get xperience the fantastic


ve antastic


We on the committee will be doing ev ything we can to provide value for money and to reduce the costs as far as possible. I need your suppor allowing time for AT, time to represent your unit and approving the fi nancial support that is vital to the attendees and their families. If there are anyany questions please get in touch withith any of my committee team, details can be found on the website www rnwsa.co.uk.


how great I think this event is – one that plays host to over 700 personnel from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines – but I think a personal perspective would express what I want to say even better...


“ I could write for pages about


results can be found at www.rnwsa.co.uk/results. html.


s took the men’s title; the ladies’ event. Full nwsa.co.uk/results.


Full On


fect preparation for both ear both the men’s and biting fi nish with Carol taking the pr


t seen.


inevitable après-ski and with the prospect of sharing an apartment with 3 women (C/S Cougars). What was I thinking? The accommodation was already booked by my team leader, as was the Eurostar (more of which later) so the admin was light, for me at least. All that was left was to ensure that we had all our kit in one sock (which, incidentally, was considerably easier given that we were travelling without my dear wife...). Having never travelled by train on the continent, I was a little sceptical


at the prospect. Nothing could be further from the truth, as it was a joy; it has all the benefi ts of fl ying, but without the constant requirement to change location every two hours and the faff of airport life (check in, departures, a million reasons to take your shoes off and be touched intimately by hairy blokes, security at the other end, passport control and baggage reclaim etc). You simply get on at St Pancras, and get off seven hours later miraculously about 30 minutes away from your resort – perfect. We were welcomed at the resort by the championships director which I thought was a very nice touch (turns out he was there to meet the odd admiral or two, but hey, small blessings etc..) The accom was top notch, and the spa on the ground fl oor was hit


hard every day as the skiing was taking its toll on my ageing body. We shared two self-catering apartments among ten of us. The main reason to be there, of course was the skiing. Having been to the champs on a few successive years, in Les Menuires, I was immediately struck by the quality of Tignes as a resort. Yes it’s a bit more expensive, but the advantages are immense. The accommodation is generally much closer together, so bumping into oppos from years gone by happens almost without respite. The skiing was epic. I’ve never seen so few people on so many slopes, and not having to queue to for the majority of the lifts is unheard of. The resort offers skiing and boarding for all levels. I opted for the


advanced lessons with French Evo instructors rather than the excellent RN tutors. ‘Cindy’ (yep, our instructor was a charmer…) pushed us hard, but essentially worked on adding the polish to the majority of our group’s already-accomplished skiing (apart from mine, that is, as I was clearly in the wrong group). I think she took pity on me, naturally assuming that I was carrying an injury, as surely I didn’t always fall at every opportunity… “Look, Bins is doing zee Turtle again….” Whilst I was finding in pr do inainan


Whilst I was fi nding inventive new ways of getting down a black run, predom


e new


predominantly on m the


size of a T23 fl ight deck. I’m pleased to say my deck landings are a b


e ofa


are a bit better than his So, having just about n found myself starin (upright markers, not na out h w I was to naviga in the Slalom A race. N 66 out of


f T23 fl ight deck. I bit better than his...


then (u


out ho n th 6 o


impressiv ye


ye r was going to be d I


proud…. o


our p


My personal record for ski champs races is pretty mpressive. I’ve never ea


t like sitting on the My personal recor


ear was going to be different... I actually fell before


er made it past the fourth gate, so this


I actually fell before the commentator managed to get my name out –


y name out – and long before the fi rst gate. My son watched proud….


was h as th


turnout. Support was immense and the racing was, as ever, so much fun to watch. So, the message is very easy to


tu t


tched from the bottom of the slope, so Fortun


tunately, we had some success. One of our party, entered the junior race which was held as a night event, the same night as the beginners’ races. T


These always attract a terrifi c


(Naval Flying Standards Flight): Picture the scene if you will, dear Readers, my eldest son, nearly seventeen, on the slopes with the might of the Royal Navy, possessing absolutely no fear, with the potential for him to be embroiled in the


Enter Lt Cdr ‘Bins’ Brayson n


dear early h the sing


ntial the


compete, improve, learn, meet new people and more importantly get something back for all of your hard work over the remainder of the year. It does not need to cost the earth, and the committee is constantly striving to make the event even better year upon year, ut I reckon they’ll have their work cut out. Tignes is absolutely ideal.


c work som


the com make th but I rec Tignes i


It doe ” p


understand: if you have any interest in winter sports whatsoever, then the RN Ski Champs should be very much on your radar. It is a unique opportunity to


the party. Imagine my surprise when we met up to be shown a video of him doing a backfl ip off a jump on to an airbag the ze


h party. Imagine my surpr vid


video of him doing a back siz


ving just about survived the two days of lessons, I then found myself staring down the slope at about 50 poles (upright marker(upr ou ho


in the Slalom A race. Needn’t have worried, as I was drawn 66 out of, er, 67. Nice. No probs. Follow the tracks, it’ll be jus


just like sitting on the Eurostar,jjust im


what could go wrong?


not natives of Poland) and trying to fi gure vigate my way down if I was drawn fi rst


ntly on my buttocks, uttocks, my son was skiing with the rest of


Sultans of ping (pong)


THIS year’s Eastern Region Table Tennis Competition saw 32 ping- pongers from Portsmouth, the Defence Diving School, Collingwood and Ark Royal congregate at HMS Sultan. LPT Cole, with assistance from HMS Sultan’s very own table tennis champion CPO Hazel, organised proceedings in the recently reinvigor- ated Brunel Gym, with the new climbing wall and boxing ring as an appropriate backdrop for the tournament. A brief was given and the fi rst round got of to a blistering start and


we began to see who had what it took to enable to progress into the latter rounds. It was clear to see from the start that the representatives from the


participating establishments were technically gifted and skilled players. First was the open singles competition which was fi ltered into cup


and plate contest. HMS Ark Royal was represented proudly by LET Browne who demonstrated his superiority, quickly progressing through to the fi nal where he faced stiff competition in the form of HMS Excellent’s WO2 Gibson RM. This was a close-fought battle but again LET Browne showed his class and overcame his opponent. The plate competition was in no way outshone by the cup con- test with the fi nal a fi ercely-contested affair between AB Clinton (Collingwood) and Sultan’s ET(ME) Stuart, which saw the former eventually outclass his opponent. Once the open singles were concluded, the doubles took to the arena


with players from the respective establishments pairing up to see which couple could hold their nerve to become the Eastern Region champi- ons.


Again the contest was split into cup and plate. LET Browne and ET(ME) Allen joined forces to represent HMS Ark Royal, progressing all the way to the fi nal where they triumphed over Sultan’s PO Moore and ETME Langdon Manning. The open double’s plate fi nalists were LPT Charret and AB Clinton, who fought hard to beat Sultan’s PO Smith and AB Kay. Picture: LA(Phot) Darby Allen, HMS Sultan


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