Page 66 - RADC 2020

The Rocket 2
stories are of Pte Luke Dawes and Pte
Olly Butterworth PARA, completing their debut season last year and were quickly accelerated onto the driver training camp in Lake Placid, New York, both of whom now represent GB in 2 and 4 man Bobsleigh. WO2 Zoe Beckett also qualified on the 2018 novice camp and was part of the winning team of the Army championships a month later. Sgt Shannon Murphy QARANC and Pte Becky Humphries RAMC have also just represented the army team at the UKAF Inter-Services Championships in Mar, after only completing their debut season in Dec 19, along with new pilot Pte Olly Warner PARA who impressed everyone with his podium finish at the Army championships, winning Male Army Champion 2020. If
you would like to get involved this season, apply directly through the AWSA website. Alternatively, you may find us on Facebook and Instagram @britisharmybobsleigh. All links and events are published regularly and the team are ready to answer any questions you may have. We hope to see you on the ice this season!
EX RACING ICE II
Army Novice, Junior and Senior Bobsleigh Championships Regiments assemble! The sound of ice
Inter-Services Podium Female Finishers
Polishing runners
walkers crunched the freshly sprayed ice as the sun rose over the frozen mountains in Winterberg, Germany. The pilots get a first glimpse of the 1.5km track (one of the fastest of our circuit), which is easy to see why when one looks down the intimidating slippery slope into what feels like the storm drain from IT, as the clown ushers you into the depths of despair (corner number 9). “They all crash down here”...
30 sliders, from novice to seasoned
pro, turned up to battle it out on the ice in January 20, with 14 sleds in play and 10 regiments represented. The week was fast and furious, with sliders wrestling with the horns of their unruly sleds to master the racing lines of the Winterberg gladiator, reaching speeds of up to 130kph through the lower labyrinth, sometimes upright! The pilots would wake early each morning to walk the track with the coaches, memorising each and every detail of the track and the actions on in each of the unforgiving turns. Meanwhile, the brake-men and women took part in S&C training to prepare themselves for the days training runs. This 14 turn track challenged each and every pilot in different ways. The upper half being reasonably ‘gentle on the soul’... separated by the Kreisel (German for Gyro) at the halfway point, just to spin you around like a NASA
Inter-Services
Action shot
G-Force training capsule, before it spits you out at speed into the right, left combination. If corners were days, number 9 would
be a Monday! The technical turn requires precision from the pilot, who is navigating the track from memory at approximately 100kph at this point, and if one even thinks about daydreaming about better times, the turn would shake you upside down for your CILOR. The sled would accelerate into the labyrinth faster than a drill sergeant can shout LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT! Sleds would cross the finish line at approximately 130kph with the athletes coiled like springs after driving through the G-Force of the high- pressure corners. The adrenaline rush of crossing that line and forcing the brake forks down into the ice is a rush like no other. You made it!
The race was completed over the last 2 laufs (slides) of the week. Both the male and female teams demonstrated exceptional performances on race day. Each brake- man and woman exploding into action with gritted teach and some mild expletives
as they powered the sleds off the top of
the mountain. The pilots held their nerve through the time warp to the finish. It is
the best men and women on the ice that day who will reign victorious. It is worthy of note that 8 of the male teams were novice sliders, with the male Army Champion only having learned to drive 1 month prior, and the female team piloted by Cpl Shannon Murphy, also novices, achieving a podium position with bronze on the day. Captain
Jo Ellett, who won female Army Champion has just seen her first season representing GB in Monobob after being selected in Oct 19. The results of the Army Championships 2020 were as follows:
• Female Army Champions Capt Jo Ellett RE & Cpl Dom Burge QARANC
• Female Runners Up Capt Sarah Smith AGC (ETS) & SSgt Zoe Beckett RADC
64 RADC BULLETIN 2020
SPORT & AT