Page 103 - AGC_Journal 2018(FINAL)_Neat

A AGC JOURNAL 2018GC JOURNAL 2018

North Devon Coastal British National Wingsuit

Path Challenge 2018 Championships 2018

By Sergeant Adele Thompson By Major Stephen Marsh
The annual event for the anniversary of 54 Commando Squadron Royal With two seasons of Wingsuit training at Netheravon Parachute Centre
Engineers consists of a gruelling 13 mile loaded march along the North in Wiltshire under my belt to develop the fl ying skills required, I entered
Devon coastal path. the British National Wingsuit Performance Championships at Hibaldstow
airfi eld in North Lincolnshire in July 2018.

Preparation
Some of the detachment had taken part in the event National Championships
the previous year, which meant we had the experience
to prepare for the tough challenge. It was also great What is the British Wingsuit Performance Championships
preparation for the upcoming Triple Crown Challenge you may ask?
which we were already training for.
The three-day National Championship brings together
The Team Wingsuit jumpers from across the United Kingdom to see
who can fl y the fastest, fall the slowest or fl y the furthest.
The detachment team included Sergeant Anjit Gurung, The current speed world champion from Cyprus even
Sergeant Rob Van Rensburg, Corporal Darren Burmis, All made a guest appearance to show the competitors how it
Private Darshan Ghale and myself. The event is open participants is done.
to all members of 24 Commando Royal Engineers to before the
compete for a podium place. race. The Competition
The Start The competition involved two jumps in each of the three Stephen Marsh
disciplines with judges measuring fl ying performance during the Wingsuit
It started on a dry sunny morning on Wednesday 25 between a height window of 3,000 down to 2,000 metres. Championships 2018
April 2018. Once we were transported to the starting Competitors jump from the aircraft at 3,600 metres (with
point at Woolacombe, the obligatory photographs parachute), 4,500 metres out from the drop zone and Centre had just been broken). An embarrassing telephone
were taken. Final preparation of kit and our daysacks aim at an allotted aiming point on the ground. We wear
then we were off . The event is an individual best eff ort a Global Positioning System on our helmet which tracks call to the competition organisers followed as I tried to
race so the pressure is mostly self-induced. The fi rst our every movement and the data from these is given to explain where I was. The 16 kilometres journey back was
sheepishly silent. I duly received a fi rm ‘de-brief’ and was
part of the race is warming up, along the up and down the judges after each jump to calculate the competitors’
terrain of the coastal path. The views of the coast are performance. rightly issued a ‘yellow card’. This was the worst possible
start and the results board showed me in last place. A
spectacular, but the terrain is tough on foot. You must
pace yourself carefully as you follow the same route The Disciplines renewed mental focus over the next few jumps saw a
back. steady climb up the position rankings until it all rested on
The fi rst discipline is your average ‘Speed’ through the the last jump, the distance round. Achieving a personal
Halfway height window and involves a steep angle of attack (45 best, travelling 1,970 metres within the window snatched
degrees) whilst still covering distance across the ground. the Bronze medal at the National Championships. This
Normally, at the half way point there is an opportunity It is the distance covered divided by the time spent in the was followed in August with a silver medal at the Army
to catch your breath and refuel, but this time it was window that calculates the self-generated fl ying speed. I Parachuting Championships.
not the case. There was heavy hail and strong winds managed a speed of 214 kilometres an hour.
so there was no long stops at the top of the big hill. I
grabbed a snack and a drink out of my bag so I could The second round comprises of the longest ‘Time’ you can
get going and away from the downpour. It took a few spend in the window. Basically, this involves making the
miles to see the sun and after an hour or so I soon dried wingsuit as big as you can whilst maintaining forward
off . speed to gain lift. I managed 39.7 seconds.
Last Few Miles Finally, the ‘Distance’ round involves maintaining the best
possible glide ratio (approximately 18 degrees) to see how
far you can travel across the ground in a straight line.
The last few miles are always a mental struggle.
Everything hurts and the steps along the route feel like My Performances
walls to climb. A fi nal big hill to push and you’re on
the road to the fi nish line. Getting over the fi nish line On my fi rst jump and in the speed category, I aimed at the
is such a great feeling and everyone is there to clap The
you in. A quick change into civilians then the top three beginning wrong road junction and barn which was 160 degrees off Stephen Marsh
course and resulted in a landing in South Lincolnshire,
results are announced. A curry dinner and an open bar of the 7.4 kilometres as the crow fl ies from the Drop Zone (a fl ying over
Wiltshire
was waiting for us back at camp. A brilliant way to race. 25-year record for an off landing at Hibaldstow Parachute
fi nish the day.

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