Page 69 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

NORDIC
Lieutenant S Snowball
The SCOTS DG Nordic team entered this season very much the underdogs, with six of our seven strong team being complete novices. Additionally, this was not aided by B SQN’s recent return from Oman, where temperatures often exceeded 40°C. Safe to say that the minus 15°C of Norway came as a shock to some! As in any true underdog story, however, the team finished the Norwegian training camp in a highly competitive state with, our Nordic Lifestyle coaches thoroughly impressed with our work ethic and progression.
The team departed our regimental home in late November and, through many hours driving, four international border crossings and two socially dis- tanced party ferries, arrived in Beitostolen, Norway, set to commence the arduous training required to get us up to scratch. Our coaches consisted of former world class competitors and a local “mountain legend”, along with his team of instructors. This and the hard work put in by every member of the team allowed us to pick up the fundamentals of classic and skate - the two tech- niques in which we would be competing - within the first week of being on snow.
“Norse Gods”
The second week looked at introducing some intensity and complexity into our training. This translated into us skiing 10 to 14 km routes through the Norwegian mountains in the mornings and .22 rifle biathlon ranges in the afternoons. The ranges consisted of the team learning to zero through to firing in the prone and standing unsupported positions, often in what felt like 100mph ice cold winds. Throughout the week, the team came a long way in feeling comfortable with the rifles and consistently hitting the targets. LCpl Samuel and Tpr McLaggan proved themselves to be particu-
EAGLE AND CARBINE 67
Norway just does sunsets differently