Page 162 - RAPTC Year of 2019

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RAPTC CROSS COUNTRY
WO2 (QMSI) R Hughes RAPTC
The last twelve months has seen the RAPTC cross country team go from strength to strength. With members of the RAPTC competing in all disciplines from 5km through to ultra-distance events. RAPTC athletes have excelled at the very highest levels of the sport with representation at Army, Inter-Services and international arenas with RAPTCI’s selected to represent their Country. RAPTC coaches are actively involved with coaching in sporting tours with the Army teams to Northern Ireland and South Africa, with many of the Army team runners coached by RAPTCI’s.
WO2 (QMSI) Liam Mills and WO2 (QMSI) Rob Harden have been highly active in the ultra-running scene, winning various races throughout the season. WO2 (QMSI) Liam Mills is also organising a team to participate in the Petite Trotte à Léon (PTL). This consists of 300km and 25000m of ascent over Mont-Blanc. WO2 (QMSI) Rus Hughes also competed at the Irish 50km Championships finishing 9th in a very competitive field.
SSgt (SSI) Mickey Combe, WO2 (QMSI) Issy Menzies, WO1(SMI) Kelley Haniver and Capt (MAA) Joe Foreshew competed in the European Masters Games held in Turin, Italy. SSgt (SSI) Mickey Combe winning gold medals in the 10km and half marathon road race. WO2 (QMSI) Issy Menzies RAPTC winning a gold medal in the half marathon and bronze in the 10km road race. WO1(SMI) Kelley Haniver RAPTC winning gold in the 10km road race and silver in the 5km road race. Capt (MAA) Joe Foreshew finishing well in a highly competitive 10km race.
Sgt (SI) Nerys Jones represented the Army female team at the London marathon finishing with an outstanding time of 3:39.
SSgt (SSI) Aaron Woodman has been the dominating figure in marathon, road running, cross country and ultra-running. His successes include; becoming the Army Marathon Champion and 2nd Inter Services Senior male at London Marathon 2019 in 2:25, 2nd British finisher at Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:24. He was selected to represent the UKAF at Inter-Counties 10km in Brighton finishing 10th overall. SSgt (SSI) Aaron Woodman has been selected to represent Northern Ireland in the 100km Celtic Plate Championship in May 2020. He also began coaching the Army Endurance running team since April 2019.
SSgt (SI) Kim Bowling has been coming through the ranks achieving PBs throughout the season and he hopes to break 2.40 as he has been selected to represent the Army in the Inter Services marathon along with SSgt (SSI) Rob Davies. We have seen SSgt (SSI) Craig Williams making a comeback to running winning the ‘Gym 2 Gym’ event in Cyprus.
RAPTC Female Cross Country Team ready to race.
SSgt (SSI) Mickey Combe and WO2 (QMSI) Daz Farrugia are both selected to represent the Army in the Inter Services Cross Country Championships.
SSgt (SSI) Craig Morton has been developing his Unit cross county and road running by organising the annual 4-day Cyprus Challenge event with great success.
The 28th Army Inter Corps Cross Country Championships took place on Wed 26 Feb 20 in Colchester. First caps were awarded to WO2 (QMSI) Liam Mills, SSgt (SSI) Bevan Maleiba and Sgt (SI) Shaun Slater all running for the first time. As most race days in cross country, the day brought wet, muddy, water logged ground and it was freezing. The course was 9.4km for the males and 8km for the females over a deceivingly tough course. Despite this we had some amazing performances by all members of the team demonstrating the strength of the RAPTC.
In the senior race SSgt (SSI) Aaron Woodman finished 2nd overall with Sgt (SI) Kim Bowling coming 8th. Packing close behind was SSgt (SSI) Rob Davies, with WO2 (QMSI) Liam Mills and SSgt’s (SSI) Young and Williams fighting for positions. Last RAPTC counter SSgt (SSI) Danny Woolridge finishing strong across the line.
WO2 (QMSI) Daz Farrugia finished 1st male master with WO2 (QMSI) Hargreaves running hard behind. With the first 2 counters in it was not long until WO1 (SMI) Beresford and Capt
RAPTC Male Cross Country Team ready to race