Page 74 - RADC 2020

AMS Ex Proton Serpent 2020
Capt S Fear
The annual AMS Skiing Championship
is a key overseas exercise in the RADC calendar, showcasing excellent sporting and social opportunities. It is held in the busy and vibrant resort of Serre Chevalier in the French Alps, which booms during the winter months as the military descends upon it for a series of championships, testing both the Alpine and Nordic disciplines of skiing. To briefly define Alpine Skiing, think travelling downhill via
a series of pre-determine gates or markers with relative speed. Contrast this with the flatter, slower courses, and thinner skis
of Nordic, which utilises gravity less and arguably your heart and lungs more!
The resort is excellent for Nordic skiing with its long and relatively flat valley floor, creating interesting and varied courses that wind through the woods and alongside picturesque rivers. Whilst up higher on the mountainside, the slopes are crafted into racecourses by the very professional outfit that is Ecole du Ski Francais (ESF), or the French Ski School for those, like me, lacking the local dialect. After a hard day of training through the race gates or attempting to glide around the Nordic courses, the Apres Ski bars are a great place to meet friends, old and new, to compare ‘war’ wounds and stories from the days snowy antics.
Although the event is labelled as a Championship, it is important to mention that the 2 week exercise genuinely does accommodate and particularly encourage complete ‘newbies’ to the sport. The Alpine and Nordic tuition is tailored to your previous experience and skiers are built up over the first week before being asked which races they would like to enter in order to represent their team. This helps to accumulate points which go towards team and individual trophies. RADC members now compete
Maj L McKirdy
either for a large DPHC team or their Med Regt. DPHC managed to secure some silverware in the alpine disciplines for the non-field units combined winners, which resulted in a pummeling of snowballs for those on the podium.
This year’s highlights included: the fancy dress race where the theme of Noah’s Ark was fully embraced by everyone on the team; the Nordic patrol race where both males and females from the RADC left it
all on the course; and the unbeknownst cooking skills of Capt Craig Parry, who along with his sous chefs did a great job of feeding the team and keeping morale high when the bumps and bruises started to show!
Special RADC mentions go to LCpl Laura Keicher, who showed great grit and determination whilst competing in the Patrol Race as a total Nordic novice and the sole RADC female representative in the DPHC team
If you’re already hooked and wondering how to get involved, it all begins back in the UK where interest is roused regionally within DPHC or through your Med Regt. So ask around and keep an eye out for the warning order. There is a great mix of ranks and professions in the regional DPHC teams. In 2020 the RADC definitely punched above our weight in terms of attendance, from which is, unfortunately, a minimising Corps.
If you need further convincing to support the Corps next year, hear what Cpl Kingsbury has to say about her time out in Serre Chevalier.
Cpl Kingsbury
“I was fortunate enough to attend the AMS Ski Champs Ex Proton Serpent in Jan 2020 at Serre Chevalier. As a complete novice to skiing, I wasn’t quite sure if I would hate the experience or completely love it. However, it
was always something I had wanted to try, and what better opportunity would I have had than to do this with likeminded people for a fraction of the price, thanks to the
Army sports lottery, and even better a break away from clinics. I absolutely loved my experience over the two weeks I was there. I participated in both Alpine and Nordic skiing, but alpine was my favourite. I found this to be the more exhilarating of the two and it had the prettiest views.
For the first week, the days consisted of both Alpine and Nordic lessons for those
of us who were novice skiers. The Alpine lessons were taken by French instructors hired from the resort who were absolutely fantastic! They had us doing beginner’s pizza and chips, or in more technical terms learning to snowplough and parallel ski.
This was really hard work (especially for the knees) but great fun. I was most inspired
by all these mini-humans dashing about
the slopes in their adorable onesies like absolute pro’s, and here I was clinging on
to the button lift for dear life praying I don’t fall off and cause a commotion. Needless to say, I only did this about three times when attempting to gracefully exit the chair lift, but not to worry I’m sure only a couple hundred of people were there to witness my skillful act.... ‘Go skiing they said, it will be fun they said’.
Luckily, after an arduous day on the
72 RADC BULLETIN 2020
Cpl N Kingsbury
Maj V Bassi
SPORT & AT