Page 84 - QDG Volume 9 No. 5

82 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
They keep ducking ma’am
Nordic Skiing 24/25 Season
The QDG Nordic Team returned to Biet-
ostolen, Norway for the annual RAC
Training Camp. The team for the 24/25
season consisted of: Lt’s Maddison and
Logan, LCpl’s Healey and Henry, Tpr’s
Lewis, Thapa, Wright, Jacobs and Smith.
Lt Logan and Tpr Lewis headed out
a week earlier than the main body of
the team to take part in the Elite Skier
week, which took a particular focus on
technique and video analysis along with
preparing them for the BASI XC Military
Instructors Course. The qualification is a
professional pathway for instructors to
enhance performance within the Corps.
Separately, the main body experienced
a battle with Dutch Customs that nearly
saw them miss the overnight ferry from
Kiel to Gothenburg but thankfully with
Lt Felix Maddison’s Cavalry charm and
persuasion they were able to make it
onto the Kiel Ferry with all of about 1min
and 30 secs to spare.
This year the team had a strong return
to the Nordic Season, being all the
more educated from last year in waxing,
range drills, ski technique, training and
recovery. This year also saw the intro-
duction of the QDG Nordic Instagram
Page (QR Code below for those who
wish to follow), allowing the team to
keep their avid fans up to date with all
of their progress. The RAC Champion-
ships were held in Norway this season,
offering a more demanding race course
and climatic conditions compared to the
previous Serre Chevalier. Throughout
the race week, the QDG donned their
new lycra Welsh Cavalry race suits and
made a name for themselves, winning
the following:
•
Overall Team 3rd Place
•
Overall Top Female Athlete
•
1st Place 7.5km Biathlon Team Relay
•
Individual Gold Medal 10km Classic
•
Individual Silver medal Biathlon
•
Individual Bronze medal 10km
Classic
•
Individual Bronze medal 10km
Biathlon
With the RAC Championships
complete, the team returned home to the
UK for 10 days over the Christmas Period.
In the New Year, the team departed for
Serre Chevallier, for 5 days of Corps
Training at a higher altitude in prepara-
tion for the next stages of racing; The
Army Qualifying Championships. Results
from Ex PIPEDOWN as follows:
•
1st Junior Individual 10km Classic
•
Top Overall Junior Athlete
•
4th Place 4x7.5km Biathlon Team
Relay
•
5th Place 4x5km XC Team Relay
•
6th Place 10km Classic Team
•
Overall Team 5th Place (ensuring
qualification to Ex RUCKSACK)
Uphill uphill uphill
With the team’s fantastic efforts at
QC’s, they confidently qualified for a
place at Ex RUCKSACK – The Inter-Ser-
vices and National Championships 2025,
held in Ruhpolding, a Biathlon World
Cup Location in Germany. Ruhpolding
brought along a whole new set of chal-
lenges with a more demanding course
and fierce competition. Not only this, but
mental and physical challenges as race
fatigue began to set in, as the team were
now 7 weeks into the season.
Ex RUCKSACK race programme
consists of 8 races in multiple different
disciplines over a 16-day period. This is
the first time throughout the season unit
teams are expected to be mostly inde-
pendent without instructors and coaches
to assist them. RAC were lucky however
to have two of their head coaches from
the RAC Training Camp in Norway come
out to Ex RUCKSACK, Marc Walker and
Spence Hogg. Both went above and
The haul just from RAC champs