Page 49 - 1RHA 2024

Nordic Ski Team 1st Race – France
oughly enjoyable and testing month in Norway, the team got to enjoy some well-earned leave before heading back out to France to compete in the New Year.
The new year saw a rested and recovered team roll out to France ready to compete in the divisional championships. After a few hair-raising encounters with black ice on the road through France the team arrived in Ser Chevalier on Jan 8 chomping at the bit to get racing. The first two races, (4x 5km classic relay and 10km classic) were a shock to the system for everyone, with people still acclimatising to racing at 1500m above sea level, and brushing out the cobwebs after Christmas leave. In spite of this the team put in a solid performance, coming 12th and 11th out of 31 teams.
Due to an issue with ricochets rendering the Biathlon range unus- able to the immense relief of some of the weaker shots on the exercise, what should have been two biathlon (sprint and relay) races ended up being pure skate races. After a strong perfor- mance on the 10km skate race, jumping up to a strong 7th place- things were looking good for the team to qualify for Army’s. Then disaster struck on the 7.5 km relay, when Gnr Hill fell going down- hill and broke his collar bone. After a hectic few hours getting him to A&E his season was brought to an abrupt end and he was flown back to the UK for treatment.
In spite of being knocked down in the rankings due to this misfor- tune on the relay race, the team was awarded the Spartan Hike wild card and qualified for Army Championships. This was an excellent achievement for a relatively inexperienced team, and is testament to the hard work everyone put in throughout the season.
Northern Lights
At this point all that was left was for the team to get through the patrol race without any hitches, and then pack up and head to Ruhpolding ready for Army’s. With heavy snow fall that turned into rain half way round the patrol race proved to be challeng- ing- not least because half way round Gnr Brown managed to snap one of his skis. Lt Weil took the hit and had to complete the second half of the race with his broken ski. In spite of this slight difficulty the team successfully completed the patrol race and was ready to head to Germany for the Army and inter service Nordic Ski Championships.
The Army championships were defined by the unfavourable snow conditions. Having been accustomed to the temperature not going above -10 degrees in Norway we now had to contend with it seldom getting below +10 degrees. These conditions made skiing very challenging, even for the more experienced skiers, however no challenge was going to overcome us at this point and 1RHA still entered and competed in every race, includ- ing the patrol race, winning the prize for the best RA patrol race team, a first for the Regiment in the award’s history. Separately Capt Murrison switched across to Captain the RA Ladies team, successfully retaining their title as the Army Women’s inter corps champions, and Lt Weil was selected for the Army Nordic perfor- mance squad.
Overall a very successful and enjoyable Nordic season for the Regiment, with plenty of success for next year’s team to build on and a trophy to hold onto.
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Nominal roll
Capt Sophie Murrison Lt George Weil
LBdr Kyle Parker
Gnr Chris Hill
Gnr Billy Brown Gnr Callum Waters Cfn Hayden Martin
Patrol Race Prize
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