Page 131 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

RAPTC Rowing is a new sport that is moving forward at a very fast pace with the intent to develop a
team capable of competing on the water. Neither indoor or on the water rowing has been attempted in the history of the RAPTC, and is being driven by WO1 (SMI) Stu Jackson on the back of the hugely successful Regional Command Indoor Rowing League (RCIRL).
RAPTCI’s from various Regions have been extremely competitive within the RCIRL making life very easy for the RAPTC Rowing Secretary, SSgt (SSI) Scott Pollock to select a team to represent the RAPTC at the European Indoor Rowing Championships 2016 held in Gyor, Hungary.
The eight “Rowing Apostles” arrived at HQ Regional Command HQ on 13 Jan 16 for a team meeting and to get acquainted. We also received a Power Breathe assessment and an impressive kit issue before a trip to Nandos for a team meal.
During the early hours of 14 Jan 16 we embarked on a long and emotional road trip to Hungary. To describe it as an epic drive would be a MASSIVE understatement. However after numerous pit stops, copious shots of espressos, large quantities of service station “healthy” snacks and countless rounds of “name that song” we nally arrived at the 12th Regt Hungarian Defence Force (HDF) Barracks in Gyor no less than 23 hours later!
Despite the journey being one to forget, the HDF troops deployed to meet and greet us pulled out all the stops, squaring
RAPTC Team Rowing Mid Race
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crew to lose their nerve and start earlier. The Richmond Crew set off 2 mins ahead of us. Through tremendous work and effort we caught them before the 1st lock – Wotton Rivers from which point we demoralised them and ran away from them with our boat on our shoulder in true Army fashion. Just outside Newbury whilst negotiating a dif cult fence the boat was dropped on to Major Burts’ head – this was a worrying few hours with very visible blood pumping from his head. With Major Burt still carrying on all other
distractions were minuscule and as the day pushed into night the remainder of the race merged into 1.
We nished in 18h 34m, which after 70+ miles is all that mattered. We were the 1st Veteran K2 the 5th fastest boat and the fastest RAPTC/APTC crew in 18 years (since (then) SSgt Jon Irving APTC and Cpl Irving RE) who were 23mins faster than us. The DW is a race!
RAPTC ROWING TEAM – EUROPEAN INDOOR ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP 16 JAN 2016
SSgt (SSI) K Bell RAPTC
SSgt Pollock Medal winner
Sgt Coleman Racing
Sgt Steels Euro Champs
us away with an in depth security brief, fresh rations and surprisingly good accommodation. Morale was once again sky high!
Following a good night’s sleep and a plethora of healthy grub, we were ready to commence physical battle against the best indoor rowers that Europe had to offer at the Audi Sports Arena, Gyor. The set-up inside the venue was rst class, full credit to the event organisers. More importantly for the rst time since leaving the UK there was free Wi-Fi on offer, which not only gave everyone a boost but also helped distract us from the dreaded pre-race nerves.
The rst to compete in the 2000m individual races were Sgt’s Brett Steels, Simon Coleman and Adam Grif th in the
Heavyweight Open category. Both Simon and Griff managed PB’s with Brett equaling his time from the British Indoor Rowing Championships in Dec 15. Next up were SSgt’s Scott Pollock and Kev Bell and Sgt Phil Welch in the Heavyweight Masters 30+ category, along with WO1 (SMI) Stu Jackson in the Lightweight Masters 30+ category. Again everyone performed brilliantly with the majority delivering PB’s, however most impressively SSgt Pollock nished in 3rd place putting him on the podium at a major European event!
Next up was the team event, consisting of 4 rowers racing a total distance of 2000m between them. For those that have never completed a “full-gas” near 500m sprint effort then you are seriously missing out on a very special experience!!!!! The last 100m is beyond painful, in fact I would