Page 56 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017

54 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
Lieutenant Cave bossing the Slalom as he goes down the course as second seed
Exercise ALPINE LANCER 17/18
Iwas once told by an Austrian ski coach that ski racing was like wetting yourself. Everyone can see what you’re doing, but you’re the only one who is really experiencing it. I find this a particularly pertinent to remember when watching a novice skier who has only been on snow for a few weeks throwing themselves from the top of a Downhill race course at speeds that would get you points on your driving license on a British motorway.
As you hopefully will have seen plastered over social media it has been a truly successful season for the Lancers’ alpine ski team. The team deployed out to Verbier (yes – deployed. It is after all an exercise) at the beginning of December for six weeks of training prior to the Royal Armoured Corps and Army Air Corps combined championships. The training began with the gladiatorial contest that is the infamous ‘ski off’ to determine what ability group each soldier should be in. Rather than taking a leaf out of Captain Jibb’s book of ski tips and completing the run on our faces, the team all skied admirably and were set for the coming weeks of training.
The first few weeks on snow were focused on technique train- ing and developing the dynamic style of skiing required to race. Bluebird skies and groomed pistes gave way to the beginning of what was to be difficult pole-training conditions and three weeks of record levels of snowfall. The ensuring weeks were devoted to technique training in deep snow and lower limb con- ditioning due to race courses being unable to be set because of the weather. The first race of the championship fell on New Year’s Eve and seeded all the competitors for the coming races, the remainder of the week would then include four more races. First, the Giant Slalom where we saw Lieutenants Cave (finish-
ing 5th), Callinan (13th) and Paterson (14th), with Lance Corpo- ral Hitchcock 12th. Onto the slalom, shorter skis, tighter turns and a lot more to think about with a lot less time. The change in discipline saw Lieutenant Cave taking second position and the silver medal with Lieutenant Paterson coming in 7th, Lance Corporal Rowley in 27th and Hitchcock in 34th. In the team events Lancer A finished 3rd in the Slalom, 2nd in the ‘GS’ and 2nd overall. The B team came 4th in the Slalom, 1st in the GS and 1st overall. The team left Verbier with a clutch of silverware and a strong foundation to move onto the Divisional and latterly Army championships.
The Divisional championships in Les Contamines saw both a step-up in skiers’ ability (across the board) and difficulty of race courses set. To make things just a little bit more difficult the weather closed in again and it snowed nearly everyday through- out the week. Set in the shadow of Mont Blanc the week saw rac- ers battling with tough conditions and fierce competition, but the team put out a stellar performance: coming 3rd in the Team Slalom and 3rd alpine team in the ‘Super G’ overall. There were some good individual performances too with Lieutenant Cave finishing 3rd in the Slalom, Lieutenant Callinan 15th in the ‘GS’ and, Lance Corporals Hitchcock and Rowley routinely placing in the top 30 in all events. Combined with our Nordic brothers- in-arms the Lancers took 2nd combined ski team and won the overall Royal Armoured Corps trophy, as well as the infantry and Royal Armoured Corps trophy. Perhaps most importantly, the a full team qualified to compete for the Regiment at the Army championships in Serre Chevalier.