Page 50 - QARANC Vol 14 No 10 2015

48 QARANC THE GAZETTE
AMS Ski Championships, Serre
Chevalier, France
31 January to 16th February 2014
256 Field Hospital
After the great success in 2013 the 256 team arrived at the AMS Ski Championships with plenty of courage and high hopes but realistic in our expectations. 2013/14 was a very busy training year for 256, focusing on the planned deployment in Oct 14 on HERRICK 21A which was later cancelled with the draw down in Afghanistan. With the planned Unit predeployment training events and awareness of the need to potentially take further leave for individual pre-deployment training, only those with meticulous planning or generous annual leave were able to attend the full two weeks of the Championships. Ex COLD SOLDIER ran earlier in the year and several members of the Unit attended this one week skiing training exercise in preference.
Capt Marion Creagh again took on the role of team captain. A difficult task at the best of times but even more challenging this year with a Unit ski team of three majors -Majors Denise Capstick, Karen Dear (RAMC) and Mark Judge (RAMC) and the Commanding Officer (Col Liz Coles) accompanied by two retired QA majors -Maj Barbara Bradbury and Maj Diane Robertson-Bell. Somehow Capt Creagh kept her head and was a superb team captain keeping all the senior officers in check.
The Unit members left Kingston detachment by minibus on the Friday evening and after a long, slow journey were met in Serre Chevalier on the Saturday by the veterans and Commanding Officer, who had flown over. The team was accommodated in two self-catering apartments not far from the slopes, so the first afternoon was spent bagging beds, food shopping and menu planning.
The first week consisted of ski lessons and the chance to catch up with old friends and comrades. In previous years the ski meet has been hampered by a lack of snow, but this year it was the opposite; huge dumps of snow making some difficult skiing conditions. We were split into ability groups with some flexibility for moving up and down as skills and confidence grew or diminished depending upon the snow and weather conditions. After mornings on the slopes we practiced our langlaufen (skinny skiing) in the afternoons. We were fortunate to have the benefit of Capt Danny Austin of 4 Medical Regiment who was kindly available to give lessons in both classic and skating to a couple of huge groups, somehow
managing to keep everyone engaged and really enjoying the Nordic - even those who previously had never tried nor got the hang of it.
Following a week of lessons and getting our ski legs back the competitions started with the Ladies’ and seeding race on Sunday 09th February. After this we had an event every day. With only four serving Unit personnel able to compete we had one team of Capt Creagh, Major Dear, Major Judge and the Commanding Officer. Capt Creagh and Major Judge are both accomplished skiers and have good fitness levels. Major Dear, although a snow boarder at heart and a novice skier, gave an excellent performance getting some very good times. Particularly impressive was her decision to skate in her leg of the 4 X 5 Km Nordic. The Commanding Officer did her best!
The Giant Slalom took place on Tuesday 11th February and the 10km Nordic Sprint on the Wednesday. The last alpine event was the Special Slalom on Thursday 13th February. The course was quite technical and several of the faster skiers found themselves disqualified for missing gates.
Friday 14th February saw the Patrol Race. This was a challenging Nordic event with an 18 Km course, a command task and the team carrying a weight of 40kg between all members. The Commanding Officer bowed out of this one allowing Cpl Gary Hamilton, a musician with 306 to participate with 256 as an Hors Concours team. The team had an early start number and was inspected by Major General Rowan prior to setting off. The team made an impressive start with Cpl Hamilton giving the General Salute on his hosepipe as part of the team inspection! They all came in safely, exhausted but with a good score. Prize giving was held in the evening, a spectator sport for 256 this year, before packing up for the journey home.
Although 256 did not win any prizes this year (maybe not too surprising with a combined team age of over 180) all involved enjoyed the event. As always, the AMS Ski Championships was a great opportunity, not only for the sports training and events but also to form and strengthen bonds both within the Unit and with the wider AMS. We hope that in 2015 with a less hectic training schedule we can encourage more Unit members to attend and bring back some of the trophies that we won in 2013.