A team of ten Uniformed Services students from Fareham College attended the inaugural competition for the RAF Recruiting Challenge Cup, at RAF Wittering in Lincolnshire, and returned to Fareham with two trophies in their possession!

The College was invited by the RAF to enter a team in June this year, which was then coached by Uniformed Services Lecturer, Danny Thomas, after they returned from summer leave to prepare for the competition on 4th October 2017.

There were six disciplines to complete, including: 1 ½ mile group/squad run, fitness test, five minute RAF based and selected presentation, parade training, shooting, and an RAF general knowledge test.

The team’s superior fitness ensured that Fareham College won two disciplines by clear margins, completing the 1 ½ mile squad run in 13 minutes 16 seconds, and achieving the highest sit-up and press-up scores in the fitness test. Zena Healey and Steffani Jones, the only two female team members, performed exceptionally above their personal targets, allowing the team to overtake everyone in the squad run and win by a massive 45 seconds.

This gave Fareham College a very strong platform for the remaining events which, whilst not winning overall, ensured their place near the top of the leaderboard. A cool head and a series of unflustered orders from the drill commander, Sam Riches, and a very confident performance by Aaron Bell in the fitness test proved vital to the fantastic overall outcome of second place.

When asked for his view on such a fantastic result, Danny Thomas said “the College are incredibly proud of what these students have achieved. Their performance on the day was truly outstanding. The trophies won are a testament to their outstanding dedication to troop fitness and the sheer amount of effort they put into both their preparation and the competition. Everyone in Uniformed Services at Fareham College is very proud of what they have achieved”.

Congratulations to the team: Sam Riches; Philip Matthews; Steffani Jones; Aaron Bell; Shaun Haskett; Piers Hampton; Jason Miller; Kain Downes; Zena Healey; and Byron Quentin-Davis.