Five members of 116 Provost Company, Royal Military Police Reserves tested their endurance by taking part in the PARAS’ 10 Challenge in the lead up to the Remembrance weekend.
Their team, comprising of Captain Thompson, Sergeant Karim, Corporal Camp, Corporal Holyoak and Lance Corporal Bailey, each completed a cross country 10 mile booted tab whilst individually carrying 35lbs. Based on the gruelling 10 mile march from The Parachute Regiment’s P Company test week, the tab must be completed in under 1 hour 50 minutes to match the exact standards.
Entry fees for the PARAS’ 10 event went towards the Support Our Paras charity, which supports The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces. The 116 team also decided to also set up a JustGiving page to raise money for The Army Benevolent Fund, the Army’s national charity, which supports soldiers, veterans and their immediate family in times of need. To date the page has raised an additional £252 towards the charity.
Sergeant Karim said: “We planned to do the PARAS’ 10 event at Colchester earlier in the year but it was unfortunately cancelled by the organisers. We chose to take up the offer of their remotely conducted alternative event, which requires us to log our results via GPS watches and submit them as proof.
“We have two Physical Training Instructors in the team, Cpl Holyoak and LCpl Bailey, who planned a route around Cannock Chase for us to complete together on 4th November.
“Unfortunately I stress-fractured my foot just prior to the event and had to defer my tab by a few days to let it settle enough to still complete the challenge. Four of my team therefore completed it in rather challenging and wet weather conditions on the Chase and I had to catch up a few days later!
“We all enjoyed the challenge and we now have some time over the winter to continue working on our tabbing; hopefully we come back a little faster for next year’s PARAS’ 10 attempt.”
116 Provost Company, part of 1st Regiment Royal Military Police, are an Army Reserve Regiment based in Cannock. Trained initially as soldiers, they undertake further training to provide specialist military police support to the Army, including patrolling, incident control, crime scene management, military and civil law and captured persons handling.
Find out more about starting your own journey with the Royal Military Police Reserves and Reserve Forces.
Published 08/12/23