ARRC NEWS
Gold Standard
Olympian leads charge at military ski contest in Italian Alps
Top skiers from the Allied Rapid
Reaction Corps have been competing
at the Italian army’s winter competition
in the Alps – boosted by the presence
of our double Olympic and world
champion.
Major Heather Stanning (pictured
below), who twice won Olympic and
World titles – for rowing – now serves as
a Royal Artillery staff officer within the
NATO headquarters. She is a member
of the ARRC ski team that attended
the ‘CaSTA 2019’ championships held
at San Candido in South Tyrol.
Speaking to the imjin ahead of
her ‘Sci alpino’ (alpine skiing) event,
Heather said: “I wasn’t a cross country
skier in the past and my background
is rowing. But it’s an endurance race
really, and I’ll give it a good go.”
She was one of three athletes from
the ARRC to enter the night-time race,
where competitors complete two laps
of the mountain course with its 400
metres uphill climb followed by a ‘red
run’ downhill slope, while carrying
weight and lit only by head torch.
Despite a highly credible individual
4th place against some of NATO’s best
athletes, she joked: “I certainly won’t
be entering the Winter Olympics in
this sport.”
CHALLENGE
The remainder of the week-long
competition saw the ARRC’s team
enjoy near-perfect racing conditions in
the stunning, but unforgiving terrain of
the Italian Alps.
explained: “Our aim was to come here
and be competitive.
“We’ve been invited to enter a team
here for the past two decades – and
this year has been a great success
for us.”
To watch the video from San
Candido visit www.arrc.nato.int
They were in competition with their
NATO counterparts, including ‘Allied
Joint Force Command Brunssum’ and
‘NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy’,
for the coveted ‘Trofeo Dell’Amicizia’
(Friendship Trophy).
And by the end of the week, our ARRC
athletes were only narrowly pushed
into second place by the specialists
from Slovenia’s ‘Mountain Warfare
Centre of Excellence’.
Lieutenant Colonel Stefano Saccocci,
an Italian carabinieri police officer
working at HQ ARRC, was pleased
with his team’s achievements. He
I certainly won’t
be entering the
Winter Olympics
in this sport.
@HQARRC
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
the imjin SUMMER 2019
9