Page 30 - Mercian Eagle 2014

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Ex PIPEDOWN JAN 11–22 2014
In recent years, owing to the tempo of operations, Adventurous Training has
not always been a luxury afforded to our Battalion. Recently however, the drawdown in Afghanistan has allowed us to re- engage with sports that we have not been able to partake in for the last few years. “Fortunately” for me, Nordic Skiing is one of them!
In early January ’14, 1 MERCIAN deployed a team of virgin skiers to Exercise Pipedown; the Brigade Level competition taking place
in Les Contamines Mont Joie, France.
Owing to a lack of Nordic experience at Battalion level, not one member of the team had put on skis before; let alone raced at
a competitive level. As is the Infantry way however, we did not let this deter us and
we figured that our inexperience would only serve to add comedy value to what would otherwise be a fantastic opportunity.
Once we arrived at the resort, the team attended a welcome brief where we were asked if we required any additional training time or instruction. I assured them that we needed nothing short of a miracle if we were going to complete, let alone win the first event; a 15km cross country race.
From left – Pte Buchanan, Pte Ellerton, LCpl Page, Pte Wheatley and Pte Ward. Wardy obviously didn’t receive the ‘shades down’ memo
The next day, we
were assisted by a
helpful bloke from the
RLC who showed us
how to put our skis
on and move about
on them. Pte Ellerton
proceeded to do his
best impression of
Bambi on Ice despite
warning us previously
that he was “going to smash this skiing stuff up.” The remainder of the team seemed to pick it up relatively quickly over the rest of the day; and by ‘pick it up’, I mean not fall over too much. Training over, we were ready to compete.
The following day, we arrived at the Nordic stadium to be confronted by hundreds of our fellow competitors in luminescent, skin- tight clothing, some of whom I overheard mentioning “the team that had never skied before.” Already we had a reputation; we were an unknown quantity and this was good, we clearly had them worried. If this
was the case, it lasted until the exact moment they saw Ptes Ward and Wheatley struggling to put their skis on and promptly falling over. Stand Firm; fail.
What we lacked in technique, experience, knowledge and grace, we made up for in sheer
grit and fitness. All but one of the team finished the 15km race and our front runner finished only 30 minutes behind the winner. The next day was a rest day during which we discovered new aches that we didn’t think were possible previously.
...it lasted until the exact moment they saw Ptes Ward and Wheatley struggling to put their skis on...
From left – Pte Buchanan, LCpl Page, Capt. Brierley, Pte Ward, Pte Ellerton (Team manager) and Pte Wheatley. This podium shot in no way reflects the actual results of any of the races
Capt. Brierley, Pte Ellerton and LCpl Page enjoy a well deserved beer after a gruelling 15km race
After a day of recovery and some remedial skiing training, we headed out to compete
in the next event; a 4 x 5km relay. The night previous had seen a heavy snowfall dump fresh powder on the course, which made moving along the tracks much harder. Again, a valiant effort was put in by all but we were pipped to 2nd to last place by our main competition; a Rifles team who had more experience than us.
With our two events complete, we
spent the remainder of the week improving our skiing and assisting the organisers
with running the events. Throughout, we developed an excellent reputation with both the organisers and our fellow competitors as the plucky underdogs who approached everything with a can-do attitude and enthusiasm.
As we enter a period of relative down- time, it gives Infantry units the chance to play catch-up with the Corps who are able to attend these types of events year in, year out. If we are to become competitive with them, then we need to take the plunge;
just as our six man team did and be willing to learn. As Lao-tzu once said; “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a lad from Runcorn falling down a small hill in France.”
THE MERCIAN EAGLE