SCOTLAND REPORT

RAF Regt Nordic Ski Team – ESTABLISHMENT AND AUTUMN TRAINING

The RAF Regt Nordic Ski Team was established to produce a competitive, credible Nordic Ski Team to represent the Corps at the annual Inter-Service and National Ski Champs. 

The first few days were spent utilising a specific roller-ski track at Glenmore, the most technically demanding of its kind in the UK, it is an excellent track to learn ski control. McDonald found the track the most challenging and had the bruises to show for it, when asked at the end of the first two days what he thought of the track, his response “Nails!”

The Team had a day off skiing to develop the VO2 max of the athletes, conducting interval sessions known in the Biathlon community as ski ganging, running with ski poles; increasing the difficulty as the body is forced to use 4 limbs instead of 2. This was then followed by a gym session in the afternoon. The Team would then head to Huntly Nordic centre, another specifically built roller-ski track to further develop the skills of the athletes using a different course. The training tempo was continually applied as the Team completed a ‘gentle’ classic ski session, ascending the Cairngorm Mountain road, a 600 meter ascent over 3 miles. The climb was extremely challenging but when the Team finally peaked the top of the climb the athletes were overwhelmed by the sense of achievement. Over the next few days the Team continued to develop their ski endurance base and ski handling skills by descending some technical slalom courses on the roller-ski track. Everyone displayed outstanding improvement as the camp progressed, originally just one corner was difficult to master, now they could weave through a series of cones before taking tight technical corners; excellent progress and the benefits will be noticeable when they move onto the snow. On the last training day the Team returned to Huntly, this time to use the Astroturf ski course, a purpose built facility designed to practise the classic ski technique. It is demanding material to train on, but a very useful tool and extremely realistic as the training is conducted on snow skis as opposed to roller-skis. At the end of the camp the Team completed a series of short time-trials to continue to develop its competitive spirit and measure progress of the athletes.

The end of the training camp signalled a trip South to the Team’s first competition held at Castle Combe race circuit. It offered the first opportunity for the Team to measure its progress in a competitive environment, racing against the Army and civilian teams. In the morning the races were individual mass starts, the Team competing in the Novice category and Carrier in the senior. The Novice race consisted of one 3km loop of a flat simple course, the Team collected 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd in the Novice Category (standings Sinclair, Meer and Pointer). The senior squad with Carrier would complete 3 loops of the circuit, Carrier crossing the line with the lead pack came in 5^th overall (incidentally he held his own against current National Development Squad athletes). The afternoon was a mass start relay race with the RAF Regt Nordic Ski Team entering a senior team of 4 and the remainder forming a team with the RAFBU athletes, again the RAF Regt Team gained another podium finish coming third overall. An excellent start to the season and the training is clearly paying off.

The inaugural RAF Regt Nordic Ski Team is showing early progress and promise, all the athletes are enjoying this exceptional opportunity and developing lifelong skills sqn’s will benefit from on their return. In the New Year the Team is looking for a 50% turnover, providing an opportunity for SACs throughout the Corps to experience this amazing sport. On completion of the Inter-Service and National Championships in the New Year the Team is planning a road show at the beginning of March across all field sqn’s in the UK. The selection for 2012 will start in April 2011 and it is anticipated the training will begin in earnest by the summer of next year.

The progress of the Team can be followed on Twitter (RAFRegtBiathlon) and it has the ‘RAF Regt Biathlon and Cross Country Skiing’ page on Facebook. The pages are updated daily for you to monitor the progress of the Team as it trains and races across Europe. Finally, the RAFBU is always looking to recruit and develop novice athletes, it is an excellent starting point for any potential gunner who wants to experience Biathlon but has not had the opportunity to be selected onto the RAF Regt Nordic Ski Team.