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NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2008
Next month
‘Much blood will flow’ – the Kaiser’s Battle and the Royal Naval Division
● MA ‘Doc’ Martin grimaces as he attempts a dead lift
Oars for good A TEAM of 13 rowers from the Indoor section of the RNRM Amateur Rowing Association entered this year’s British Indoor Rowing Championships (BIRC), at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena.
Go Commando in your lounge – 20 DVDs to win Plus The Ensign and the Cross – with the Orion task force in Malta
The event, in its 17th year, attracted a record entry of 3,203 competitors, aged between ten and 84. Races are ‘rowed’ on identical Concept 2 Rowing Machines and take place over a virtual 2,000m course, with progress shown on a large screen behind the competitors. Several Royal Navy rowers are veterans of the event, but this year the team included a number of novice rowers. Notable performances included those of this year’s RN men’s champion, Shaun Hickson RM (7th in the men’s 35-39 race), CWEM(R) Steve Card, in only his second race, finished 6th, and LLogs Damian Spreckley (HMS Ocean) came 29th in the men’s open race, against several members of the GB Olympic rowing team and many of the nation’s elite rowers. However, the performance of the day was from Lt Cdr Neil McMullan RN. Lt Cdr McMullan, returning to competitive indoor rowing after a break of three years, won the national silver medal in the 3539 age category; his lung-busting time of 6m 4.8s, as well as being a personal best, was the 19th fastest time of the day – beating several GB squad and Oxford/Cambridge boat race crew members. “I’d been training hard for this race over the last few months and I was delighted with both a personal best and the silver medal,” said Neil. “I am now turning my focus to the World Championships in February, where I hope to continue improving my performance.” Just days later in Dresden at the European
championships, the officer shaved four tenths of a second of his Birmingham time to take bronze in the men’s 30-39 age category. WO PaulWinton, in the 50-plus age category, continued his run of solid performances with a 6th place finish, in a time several seconds faster than his BIRC race. It is hoped that the RN will be able to field a crew of up to 12 sailors and marines in the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston, USA, towards the end of this month. Anyone interested in rowing or indoor rowing should contact the RN mens’, ladies’ or indoor captains as applicable via the
website www.navy.rowing.org.uk or Lt Kev Anderson on 9380 28774. The association offers three boathouses, a large number of boats and coaching facilities for both indoor and on-water rowers and is actively seeking novice and returning rowers, wet and dry, for the forthcoming indoor, head and regatta seasons.
● Oar indoors... (l-r) WO1 Paul Winton, Lt Cdr Neil McMullan, Lts Kev Anderson and Gary Beels
Worth the weight RN POWERLIFTERS raised the bar – and expectations – at the Inter-Services Championships. With only six weeks to prepare, the scratch RN team ran experienced sides – containing several GB International lifters – extremely close, finally being narrowly beaten by the Army and National Police 1st teams and finishing an extremely creditable 3rd overall. In all, eight teams from the police, Army, RN and RAF entered the competition at Hercules Gym in Colchester, organised by the Army Power lifting Union (APU) and licensed by the British Drugs Free Powerlifting Association (BDFPA). The team was managed by Lt Cdr Simon Wynn (100kg) and consisted of three lifters LPT Sean Cole (team captain) (67.5kg), Mne Mark Flemming (75kg) and MA Doc Martin (90kg). All four RN representatives lifted well beyond expectation. Lt Cdr Simon Wynn bench pressed a massive 162.5kg (358lb) – the biggest lift in that discipline during the competition. The biggest surprise of the day, for the opposition was Mne Mark Flemming who lifted a massive 597.5kg (1,317) over all three lifts – breaking the BDFPA record in the process and winning the ‘lifter of the tournament’ title. As a result of the standards set by the RN lifters as individuals, they all qualified to compete in the British Nationals in June. For those not acquainted with this sport, powerlifting is distinct from weightlifting, H Continued on page 47
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Published by Navy News, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth and printed by St Ives (Andover) plc.