Page 45 - 1RHA 2023

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Nordic Skiing
Lt George Weil RHA A Bty, The Chestnut Troop
The 2022-2023 season saw the Regiment send out a Nordic Ski team for the first time since the Covid 19 pandemic. In November the team of 6 deployed out to Norway on Ex NORDIC GUNNER 22- the Royal Artillery annual training camp for Nordic and Biathlon. This exercise saw the all-novice team go from zero to hero with a demanding training schedule consist- ing of two skiing sessions a day, and ranges in the evenings, all conducted in temperatures that ranged from -10 to -20 degrees. Towards the end of the camp there were a few of race events which the team was able to perform well in. After Christmas leave the team returned to Les Contamines Montjoie in France to com- pete in the Divisional Championships, and then to Ruhpolding where Lt Weil and Cfn West were selected to compete in the Army Championships.
The training camp started with a series of briefs and familiari- sation packages over two days in Longmoor. As well as provid- ing a much-needed chance for team captains to make sure their paperwork for travelling across Europe with Biathlon rifles and ammunition was in order, the two days allowed the less expe- rienced teams to get to grips with assembling their rifles and learning how to wax skis, as well as ensuring they had the correct equipment to train in the freezing temperatures of Norway.
Once this was all done the teams began an emotional 14-hour overnight drive from Longmoor to Kiel via the Channel Tunnel to get the ferry up to Oslo. The Color Line Ferry provided the chance for people to relax and enjoy themselves for a leisurely 18-hour cruise up to Oslo, and everyone made the most of the amenities it had to offer.
From Oslo there was a relatively painless 4 hour drive up to Skei- kampen. After arriving in the accommodation, a very cosy, newly built, log cabin, everyone got settled in in good order and pre- pared to start the rigorous training program that was to take peo- ple from being barely able to stand upright on skis to competing in biathlon races.
The first sessions proved challenging, limited snow and the rela- tive inexperience of the team meant everyone had to work hard to master the basics. That said by the end of the first week the snow was coming thick and fast and everyone was mastering the basics well, even staying upright on their skis for more than 30 seconds and moving in the right direction with varying degrees of control.
By the end of the second week people were comfortably skiing up to 15 km daily, and generally able to get up (and down) the more challenging hills the ski routes around Skeikampen had to offer.
Week three saw the first mini races take place, with a short relay race between the different teams. Although the team did well, beating many more advanced skiers from other regiments, it was not possible to see how well that was as an error with the scoring system meant that the results were lost.
The first biathlon race followed shortly afterwards, with Lt Weil kicking things off as the first racer. The race began with him liv- ing up to officer’s reputation for being navigationally challenged and he managed to get lost within 30 seconds of crossing the
start line. After a quick regain he was back on track and able to finish the race, not before being overtaken by a few of the Artil- lery’s more experienced skiers, however. Cfn West and AS1 Davies had strong performances and were able to come in the top 20 in their categories. This first race was a taste of things to come and showed just how challenging trying to shoot accurately with an elevated heart rate in the freezing cold conditions really was. Over the next week there was also a 10km classic race, and a Biathlon relay with some comically catastrophic handover procedures. The final race of the camp consisted of a mini-patrol race and biath- lon where competitors had to race over 20 km switching between classic and skate skis with a couple of shoots in between.
During the four week training camp there was also a chance to enjoy some of the other activities on offer in the area, which included Alpine skiing on Mount Skeikampen and icy swimming sauna rituals out by the lake down in Lillehammer.
After four weeks of challenging training there was an informal prize giving, Cfn West won first place in the junior 10 km classic race, and Lt Weil won the ‘best male grizz face,’ readers can judge for themselves if they think he was putting it on for the cameras. With the prizegiving done all that was left was for teams to pack up and head back to the UK. Despite the Eurostar’s best efforts everyone was able to get back to camp in reasonably good time and go on some well-earned Christmas leave.
In January the Nordic team travel out to Les Contamines Montjoie to compete in the Divisional Championships over the course of 10 days. Despite rain for the first few days making racing all but impossible a good dump of snow followed shortly afterwards, and the race program was delivered successfully, albeit over a slightly more condensed period. Racing at over 1,000 m above sea level provided another challenge, and although the weather in the French Alps was somewhat less severe than Norway the races were still bitterly cold. During this time the Commanding Officer and Regimental Sergeant Major were also able to come out to visit the Alpine and Nordic teams for a few days. They were eager to try their hand at skate skiing and provided the team with a timely reminder of how they were at skiing in the not-too-distant past.
With the Divisional Championships completed Lt Weil and Cfn West were selected to compete as individuals at the Army Cham-
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