AIR COMM CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS AT HALTON

Cpl Carl Tucker

With the RAF and Inter Services Cross Country Championships taking place in Jan/Feb 23, the Air Comm Cross Country Championships provided an ideal opportunity for the men’s and women’s teams to compete against their NATO allies. The championships were hosted at RAF Halton and comprised teams from Belgium, Poland, US Air Forces in Europe, Netherlands, UK and Germany.

The event was opened by Air Commodore Rich Fogden, Director of RAF Sports (DRS), with the nations marching onto the Maitland Parade Square with music provided by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force. The teams then enjoyed a cultural visit to London to do some inter-nation socializing.

The race was held on Thursday over the traditional RAF Cross Country course consisting of a small lap and two large laps for both Male and Female (female course being slightly different from the males). The male course was approx. 10km and the ladies 7km. The weather was kind in that there was no rain, but it was very cold with soup type fog that restricted spectator viewing of which the course is normally good. The ground was firm considering the amount of rain recently.

The Polish had brought some of their best runners, including some Internationals! Undeterred, the other nations were enthusiastic and eager to get the race under way. Cpl Gemma Holloway battled with the Polish team for the first half of the race and she was first home in the ladies race for the RAF, running a fantastic time. Having prevented the Polish gaining too much ground, she finished 6th overall and was closely followed by Cpl Helena Schofield, in fine form, finishing in 7th. Next home was Cpl Chloe Tyler, with AS1 Laura Kaye the 4th team member to count. AS1 Phillipa Baxter and Cpl Sarah Toms were hot on Laura’s heels, both running well to keep other competitors at bay and meaning the RAF women's team finished in 2nd place overall, behind the Polish Air Force.

A great achievement for a strong ladies team.

The Polish also submitted a strong male team, with their top man being another international runner. The race started off swiftly with a break within the first 400m fragmenting the field from the outset. Flt Lt Jack Hindle trying hard to mingle with leaders but not quite managing to sustain the strong pace. The Polish team took the lead with 3 runners but only by a short distance Sgt Rob Wood ran alongside the top 3 Polish athletes, with AS1 Max Hazell not too far behind with one more Polish separating our next four athletes: Cpl Connor Pacey, AS1 Simon Birch, Cpl Adam Baker. The RAF packed well and made it clear they would secure second team position, as Fg Off Ryan Jones and Flt Lt Alex Gibb all ran away from the rest of the Nations. Sgt Matt Blunden and Cpl Will

Gardner ran as guests, mixing it in with the team.

The men’s team finished a close second to the Polish by only 5 points 38 to 43. The UK team all came in within 1 min of each other and our lead runners only 14 seconds behind the Polish runners.

Overall, it was a great performance from both teams against a class field. A fantastic experience was had by all, with the Polish Air Force pulling out all the stops to win. RAF Halton’s very own Cpl Carl Tucker organized this event and without him, it would not have been the success it was. A big thanks also goes to Sports Board and Sqn Ldr Heather Ratnage-Black for putting this event on.

If you’d like to see the full results, please visit: https:// chiptimingsolutions.com/ results/result.html?race=326