Sailors at HMS Sultan have been working hard to raise money for The Royal Navy and Royal Marine’s Charity, in a rugby themed event held in preparation for this Saturday’s Army vs Royal Navy Rugby Union Clash at Twickenham.
Over the course of 3 days, personnel have pushed a 35KG Prowler sled 1274 times along the length of one of the Establishment’s astro turf pitches, in order to cover a distance equivalent to the 72 miles between HMS Sultan and Twickenham.
The fundraiser was kicked off by members of Sultan’s own Executive Department who showed how it was done, while running under the watchful eye of the Physical Training Instructors.
The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity is the principal charity of the Royal Navy and exists to support sailors, marines and their families, for life.
The Charity’s Road to Twickenham campaign has seen service personnel from all over the world complete some form of exercised, to take them the equivalent distance between their location and Twickenham.
Leading Physical Trainer Peter ‘Ozzy’ Oswald who organised all those taking part in the challenge, he said: “Right throughout each day we’ve had people taking part in the activity and it’s really brought us all together.”
“The RNRMC have done a lot to improve the standards of our sporting facilities here at Sultan.
“They’ve recently contributed towards helping us with getting a new trim trail which will really benefit everyone involved within physical training.
“It’s great to be able to show our support and say thank you.”
Lieutenant Tom Blackburn who has represented the RN rugby team in several clashes against the Army was invited to complete the task by pushing the Prowler for the final leg.
He said: “I have played in the Army Vs Navy 3 times. Unfortunately I got injured just before Christmas so I won’t be involved this time but hopefully I will be again next year.”
“Playing at Twickenham is an amazing experience. To represent your service in front of 80,000 people is an incredible opportunity.
“It’s always a battle out there but I think we showed in 2010 that if you fight hard to the end and hold out it’s possible to get the result that we want.”
“The RNRMC is a fantastic Charity that supports all Naval servicemen and anything we can do to raise money for a charity like that is great.
“It’s a tremendous effort for the base to complete that sort of distance, we use the Prowler lots within rugby training and it’s not as easy as it looks!”
