Inter-Service Bobsleigh Championship

For the majority of them the answer is simple; the Inter-Service Bobsleigh Championship.

The majority of the GB Bobsleigh Team came from the Armed Services and it has been customary for the bobsleigh season to culminate in a competition between the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force. To that end, personnel from each Service congregated in La Plagne, France, for the final event of the season.

La Plagne is situated in the Savoie region of South East France, close to the borders with Italy and Switzerland, and was the bobsleigh venue for the 1992 Olympic Winter Games hosted by Albertville.

The Inter-Service Bobsleigh Championship is a unique event in that it is essentially a Team competition; the only one of its type that we are aware of anywhere in the world. Each service is allowed to have 4 men?s 2-man teams and 2 women?s 2-man teams. The competition is held over 2 days, taking 2 runs on each day; similar to the Olympics. The times of the best 3 men?s teams from each Service are added together to determine the winners. Similarly, the best women?s team from each Service over the 4 runs determines the winners of their race.

Some familiar names from the Olympic Winter Games go to make up the Service Teams. These include:

Royal Navy:

• Marine Lee Johnston ? he will be Royal Navy No 1 Driver, a position he is familiar with having been the GB 1 Driver at the Winter Games.



• Marine Martin Wright ? he has moved into the front seat (he was a 4-man crewman at the Olympic Games) and will be the Royal Navy No 2 Driver



• Captain Karl Johnston ? he will almost certainly be brakeman for his brother Lee

Army:

• Sergeant Sean Olsson from the Parachute Regiment - he will be the Army?s No 1 Driver. Sean has been away from bobsleighing competitively for a number of years but you will remember the name from his Bronze Medal winning performance as the 4-man driver for the GB Team in Nagano at the Olympic Winter Games in 1998.



• Sergeant Dean Ward from the Parachute Regiment ? he will be brakeman for the Army?s No 2 sled. Dean was also part of the Bronze Medal crew in the 4-man at Nagano and he was part of the GB support team in Turin as the athletics coach.



• Corporal Jackie Davies from the Royal Signals ? she has moved from the back seat at Turin (brakewoman to Nichola Minichiello) to become the Army?s No 1 driver for the women?s team

Royal Air Force:

• Senior Aircraftman Dan Humphries ? he will be brakeman in the RAF No 1 sled. Having been brakeman for the GB 1 sled in Turin, he is now competing against his driver at the Games, Lee Johnston.



• Corporal Michelle Coy ? she will be the RAF?s No 1 Driver in the women?s team. Michelle was the GB 1 Driver for the women?s team in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake, USA.

And it doesn?t finish there.

• Warrant Officer 2 Peter Gunn from the Army Air Corps ? he is part of the organising committee and Race Jury for the forthcoming Inter-Service Championship. Peter was part of the GB support team for bobsleigh in Turin as assistant coach.



• Colonel Stephen Rowland-Jones ? as Chairman of Combined Services Bobsleighing is responsible for organising the event. Stephen, who is a Director of the Bobsleigh National Governing Body was also part of the support team in Turin.



• Major Helen Carter from the Royal Logistic Corps ? is Secretary of Army Bobsleighing. Helen is also a Director of the National Governing Body and also attended the Olympic Games in Turin.



• Training started on Monday, during which drivers and brakemen have the opportunity to take up to 3 training runs per day. During this time they will get use to the track ? it is quite different from Turin ? and also get used to each other in that most of the drivers here are using different brakemen from those they had during the earlier part of the season and the Winter Olympic Games. In the case of Marine Martin Wright and Corporal Jackie Davies, they have the added challenge of honing their skills as bobsleigh drivers having spent the whole season as brakemen in the back.



• Competition starts on Friday and I?ll give you another update before then.

So, getting back to the original question ? ?What happens Next?? ? the answer is simple; More Bobsleighing, but this time for their Service teams.

Stephen Rowland-Jones, Wednesday 8 March 2006