THE first phase of the army’s annual ski competitions has drawn to a close with Exercise Spartan Hike and Pipedown drawing to a close.

Many of our local regiments have been competing with some successes. The tempo of operations over the last few years has meant that many of the competitors have very little experience and, for them, it was a learning experience.

Salisbury Plain units have done better on the Nordic disciplines than on Alpine, where, at the time of writing, the only notable Alpine skier was Corporal Rix from Perham Down-based 26 Engineer Regiment, who came third in the Individual Giant Slalom.

The Royal Tank Regiment from Tidworth has had some notable results; in the 10km Biathlon Sprint Trooper Robert Woods was placed 2nd with Lieutenant Will Hall 14th and the team placed 4th overall.

In the 215km Classic race Trooper Woods was 6th with Lieutenant Kyle Halls 15th and the team 5th overall.

In the Military Patrol Race in Les Contamines, France, the 4 RIFLES team led by Captain Stephen Sharpe had a good outing Finishing as the third placed Infantry team, the 4 RIFLES Nordic Ski Team were the best marksmen in the competition.

After nearly two months of training and competition, the team raced the final ‘blue ribbon’ event of Exercise Pipedown, the Military Patrol Race. The team of four conducted a 20-25 km winter patrol on skis carrying 40kg amongst the team, including their service weapons.

The course was arduous, with the Riflemen scaling steep rock faces with ropes and ladders, skiing up and down steep alpine slopes and running in waist deep snow.

After nearly three hours of skiing the patrol came into the finish. Coming in 12th out of a total of 30 teams, they were the third Infantry team across the line.

This really was a great achievement, ending the competition on a high.