Page 126 - WishStream Year of 2023

The ETS at Exercise TELEMARK TITAN: A Tale of Lunging and Plunging
2Lt Trainor
Four intrepid ETS Officers embarked for Pral- ognan-la-vanoise, France, to be the first ETS team for several years to represent the branch,
‘free the heel’ and ‘carry the torch’ in the British Army Telemark Championships.
After some combined driver manoeuvres in the MT combi van and a couple of stops in Chatham (impressive camp) and Dijon, the team were keen as mustard to hit the sparsely snow covered Alpine slopes. The January Alpine snow scare was real as the team arrived, as the lower valley appeared more spring-like than winter wonderland... But the quick arrival of several snow dumps and the fresh- ness of the valley’s glacier, meant the scare quickly abated within a couple of days.
The Army Telemark Championships is an interest- ing event, with the name really being a misnomer, as both Navy and civilians join Army participants on the exercise. The two-week stint involved a week’s training in the Telemark discipline, followed by a few days racing on different courses, targeted at developing beginners’ racing competencies and testing those more deft at heel free skiing. Some serious thigh burning was endured by the team during the training week; it was now time for the races...
The four members of the ETS team, consisting of individuals from across ETS N, ETS S and Harro- gate, all entered the development category, ready to lunge and plunge down the slopes!
The team put in some strong per-
formances in the competitions,
despite one member ’s inability
to skate on skis and the ‘speed demon’s’ inability to stay upright when he saw a racing flag. Spe- cial mention to Lt Pete Bailey (Harrogate), who was nipping at the heels of the podium in several
events. Then an even more special mention to 2Lt Charlotte Stanton (18 AEC, Colchester), who made sure a gold came home for at least one member of the team, as she completed 3 laps of the mountain course to con- quer her competition during the noto-
riously difficult mountain race.
A big thank you to all that supported the trip, especially the Sandhurst Trust. Ex TELEMARK TITAN was an extremely well run event and the team have ambitions to compete again next year if possible. Finally, Lt Adam ‘van
man’ Gavin deserves an honourable mention for guiding the team through the treacherous moun- tain passes and leading the event as team captain.
Some serious thigh burning was endured by the team during the training week; it was now time for the races...
124 SANDHURST