Page 50 - 1RHA 2024

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Ex SNOWSTORM Sergeant R Jacques
On the 12th January 2024 service personal from OHQ Battery, A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) and E Battery deployed onto Ex SNOWSTORM to represent the Regi-
ment at the annual Royal Artillery Snowboarding competition in Flachau Austria. The Regimental Snowboarding team was made up the following service personal: Sgt Jacques (E) Bdr Merry (OHQ), Bdr Howson (CHTP), LBdr Follett (E), LBdr Greenan (E), Gnr Dawson (E) and Gnr Smith (E). This consisted of one inter- mediate rider, Bdr Howson, and the remaining six were first time novice riders. The Team had two weeks to learn how to snow- board and compete against other members from the wider Royal Regiment. Week one was a very fast paced learning curve for most of the team, spending the first 2 days on a learning slope not even allowed to use the lift to get back to the top. This meant that every 20 seconds of going down the slope was followed by a 2-minute walk back to the top. This was only for the first cou- ple of days until the instructor was happy to move us further up the mountain. With the days running from 0700 until 1530 the team were mentally and physically exhausted after each day but always remained in high spirits with plenty of morale throughout. The team was split into two self-catered rooms a room of three and one of four which were opposite each other so they took it in turns to cook dinner which was not an easy task with the kitchen appliances they had at their disposal; The best dinner night award went to Bdr Howson for his tasty chicken and bacon pasta dish. There were also occasions where the team went out into the local town for a social dinner evening and met and networked with the other members of the Royal Artillery Snowboarding association.
Gnr Dawson
Awards
After many falls and sore bums, the team had successfully fin- ished a very demanding, physical, and positive week and was now ready for the Slalom and Boardercross competitions. All members of the Regiment competed in every competition show- ing off their abilities and skills that they had learnt from the previ- ous week. Sgt Jacques placed first on the podium for the Slalom and second for the Boardercross, he then went on and won the best novice rider of the whole competition.
Gnr Follett
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