Page 50 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

Adventure training and sport
There was no rugby played this season due to many units being unable to partic- ipate, and those few that could were unable to arrange fixtures due to competing commitments, such is the pace of life in the Army currently. 1 RIFLES will resume playing in the Army Rugby Union Premiership league in the 2019/20 season.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
Cpl Leon Hinds and LCpl Ricky Bellingham repre- sented the British Army at the IBJJF European Championships in Portugal in Jan 19. To give you a feel for the event, it is the second largest Jiu-Jitsu competition in the world, attracting over 4000 competitors from novice white belt to elite black belts. The level of competition is so high that Olympians from wrestling and judo use this as an opportunity to test themselves ‘out of competition’ – and many are not good enough to compete at black belt level or even win the lower grade divisions.
Cpl Hinds fought as a super heavyweight purple belt in a highly competitive Masters division and was simply outstanding winning a Silver Medal in his weight class and a Gold Medal in the open weight class. Over the course of the day he fought 7 times and was only beaten, by the narrowest of margins, by a former Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) fighter. Cpl Hinds has developed so much over the last 12 months and is a physically frightening sight to
Ex FROSTED BLADE 34
Having taken the 2017/18 season out of Alpine Skiing due to Ex ASKARI STORM 1/18, the Battalion team were keen to get back on the snow at the end of 2018. The Infantry Championships were held in Val d’Isere, France for the 34th consecutive year. The activity continued to consist of the four race disciplines; two speed events and two technical events. The speed events always put Riflemen of all ranks in testing situations, but it was the Battalion’s year for technical skiing winning the team Giant Slalom and taking silver in the Slalom.
The Alps had an amazing season with conditions being exceptional for the race week in the New Year. This clearly went straight to the head of Cpl Lewis who, as an experienced member of the Alpine Ski Team, managed to complete only one race due to crashing. In the Novice category it was Rfn Goodfellow who starred, emerging as the overall Novice Combined Champion and receiving the most sought-after award as the most
improved skier. 1 RIFLES delivered a strong set of results throughout this season’s Infantry Champi- onships and look forward to building on the results next year.
Capt Alec Creed
IO and OiC Alpine Skiing
watch, becoming a much more technically capable fighter.
LCpl Bellingham competed as a middleweight blue belt in a stacked field, winning his first 2 fights in absolutely compelling fashion against 2 outstanding athletes. He lost in the dying seconds of the quarter finals to the eventual gold medallist and just missed out on a bronze medal. LCpl Bellingham is an exceptional athlete with some real potential for the future, and is now a candidate for the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme.
From a squad of 15 fighters the Army Team secured 1x Gold, 1x Silver and 2x Bronze medals which would not have been possible without Cpl Hinds and LCpl Bellingham. Both gentlemen are real team players and have also been selected to represent the British Army at the IBJJF World Masters 21-24 Aug 19 in Las Vegas.
Lt Col S A Kelly RRF OiC Army BJJ
The Rawsthorne Cup 2018
1 RIFLES entered in the team event, the Rawsthorne Cup, at the Infantry Squash Championships in Feb 19. After some gruelling matches the 1 RIFLES team finished second out of ten teams. The 1 RIFLES team consisted of Capts Josh Lee, Josh Leccia, Simon Reed, Alex Gillies and SSgt Eric Yuen. 1 RIFLES was placed in Pool A and after a thrilling first day achieved the optimum result coming second with wins over 5 RIFLES (a convincing 5-0) and against ITC Catterick (4-0). The following morning, trotting around with stiff muscles, aches and pains the team played the winner in Pool B – 1 PWRR. After several matches, 1 RIFLES managed to pull through and beat 1 PWRR 3-2, thanks to the hard-fought victories from Captains Lee, Reed and Gillies. The opponents in the final were the favourites – 2 RGR, who we had played in Pool A previously and lost to. Despite our best efforts and an improved result the team lost again to this very skilled and experienced team, but overall it was still a great result to finish second overall.
SSgt Eric Yuen, AGC (SPS) FSA and OiC Racket Sports
Cpl Hinds and Cpl Bellingham with their winnings
The surprisingly successful squash team
Cpl Lewis taking a tight line on the Giant Slalom
48 FIRST BATTALION
THE RIFLES