Page 38 - 1RHA 2022

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Alpine Skiing Capt R Gregory RHA
SSgt Curran and LBdr Yates
Alpine Skiing is the oldest of all the Army’s Winter
Sports. The Army Ski Association was formed at
the behest of Field Marshal Montgomery in 1947
to provide a break from routine training and operations
in the immediate post-war years, whilst developing mili-
tary and technical skills on snow and ice. The sport offered competitors the opportunity to challenge themselves in an envi- ronment that many would not previously have experienced.
After a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21 that allowed little to no foreign travel, when France re-opened her borders in late summer 2021, the call went out that the Army Alpine season was back on. Within 1 RHA, the alpine team enjoyed unprecedented interest with young, motivated individu- als coming forward, allowing us to deploy both a male and female team. It gave us the opportunity for experienced team members to bring on a number of novices, hopefully ensuring the 1 RHA team will continue to be the dominant force within the Gunner alpine scheme.
The eight individuals selected to represent the Regiment came from all Batteries and from across the rank structure; we deployed to Les Deux-Alpes in the Rhone Alpes, France on the 30th Nov. After a 15 hour journey through the night, we took over the accommodation and then it was straight down to business. A 3 week arduous training program followed, expertly delivered by Lionel and his Ecole de Ski Francais team. Les Deux Alpes offers the perfect early season training camp due to the glacier which guarantees year round skiing. The down side is that it can offer brutal conditions with 2021 being one of the worst years; poor visibility, 80mph winds and -35C temperatures made training dif- ficult but certainly increased everyone’s resilience and ensured that you knew that you’d been ‘trained’ at the end of each day.
The improvement within the team was marked. Gnr Barrett, one of our novices, went from not being able to ski at all, and in hide- ous conditions not understanding why everyone said an Alpine race season was so good, to completing a technical Giant Slalom
LBdr Yates attacks the course
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course and being extremely competitive within the Novice cate- gory. The Male team produced an extremely strong performance at the seeding race that placed all 4 racers within the top 6; SSgt Curran narrowly beat LBdr Birkett to place 2nd and
there was only 0.01 seconds between LBdr Yates and Capt Gregory for 5th and 6th. If there was a team category at
this point then 1 RHA would have won by 8 seconds; we felt
that was a positive sign. In the women’s seeding Lt Woolger placed 3rd ably supported by Capt Peck and Gnr Coull who both in the top 15. The likelihood of the teams winning silverware and the Gunner Championships looked strong.
Unfortunately as the team entered the final week of training the rumbling was that France was about to have a full lock down that would last over Christmas and through the New Year. With this level of uncertainty the sensible decision was made to bring all teams and equipment home. After hastily conducting the requirements to cross the border the 1 RHA Alpine team returned to Larkhill to wait for further instruction as to what would happen after leave.
While the Gunner Champs (Ex ALPINE TIGER) and the Div Champs (Ex SPARTAN HIKE) sadly had to be cancelled, plan- ning was continuing in the side lines and, with a good deal of liaison and last minute work, Ex LIONS CHALLENGE (the Army Championships) did take place in Serre Chevalier. SSgt Curran was selected as the Captain of the Royal Artillery team, a huge honour and just recognition for the hard work and time he has put in over the years to support the Royal Artillery Alpine scheme. Capt Gregory and Lt Woolger were able to join SSgt Curran on the RA team. LBdrs Birkett and Yates were also asked to be in