RNRM Luge Team

Want to give the fastest sport on ice a try?
Want the chance to travel around Europe to chase adrenaline?
Want two+ weeks out of the office each year?! 🤪

Come try out the sport of Luge on our purpose built training ramp using wheeled sleds. All contact details are on the poster, follow the QR code to sign up!

Yesterday was the Armed Forces Ice Championships 2024 Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz - Celerina. 26 athletes from the Royal Navy, British Army Luge and RAFLuge lined up to compete for the title of Inter Services champion over two runs. The first run order is decided by a random draw with the second run order being the slowest athlete to fastest athlete from the first run. The aggregate times from both runs then decide the overall placings. The team championship is decided by the aggregate time for the fastest 4 members of each team.

Despite a couple of rocky runs from our athletes, the Royal Navy team managed to secure their best ever finishing position! In addition, Team Captain, Wtr Kaliska Clarke, took an impressive 🥈 in the Ladies competition 😊

Full results below:

Men’s Inter Service Luge Championship
🥇 Sgt JP Kibble RAF
🥈 Cpl Henry Parkin RAF
🥉 Flt Lt Scott Steele RAF

Ladies Inter Services Luge Championship
🥇 Maj Lucy Wyatt ARMY
🥈 Wtr Kaliska Clarke RN
🥉 AS1 Ailsa Dermidy RAF

Inter Services Luge Team Championship
🥇RAF
🥈Royal Navy
🥉British Army

Huge congratulations RAF Luge to for their comprehensive victory in both the Men’s and Team completions. Also well done to all the British Army Luge athletes for giving us a close run for our money! It was definitely one of the most exciting Luge competitions in recent years.

Thank you to our coaches; Mike Howard, Mike Berger, Dani Scott and Rupert Staudinger, without whom we wouldn’t be able to train and compete.

Also big thanks to the Olympia Bobrun track team for running such a great location and looking after all of us.

Finally thank you to UK Armed Forces Winter Sports Association and our sponsors for allowing us to continue pursuing our crazy sport year on year 😊 bring on 2025!

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Royal Navy Winter Sports - RNWSA
NAVYfit

Race day impressions - RNRM Luge Championships 2024

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Start 📸 Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz - Celerina

The RNRM Luge Championships took place Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz - Celerina on Tues 20 Feb 2024.
The race took place over two runs with the aggregate time from both runs deciding the winners. Luge is the fastest sport on ice and times are measured down to 1/1000th second which can lead to some exciting racing!

Results were as follows:

Ladies
🥇Lt Cdr Emma Miles 119.785 secs
🥈Wtr Kaliska Clarke 120.335 secs
🥉AB2 Rhiannon Phillips
121.423 secs

Mens
🥇Lt Jordan Moore RN 118.548 secs
🥈Lt William Kemp RN 120.953 secs
🥉CPO Tommy O’Toole 121.210 secs

Navy Overall Championship
🥇 Lt Jordan Moore RN
🥈 Lt Cdr Emma Miles
🥉 Wtr Kaliska Clarke

Fastest start went to Lt Will Kemp with 3.835 secs.

Fastest speed went to Lt Cdr Emma Miles with 115.465 kph.

Well done to all our athletes! We look forward to seeing how they go at the Inter Services Competition later this week. 🛷❄️❤️

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Warm temperatures put a stop to sliding on Monday so instead the team took to the garage to do some sled work ahead of this week’s competitions. The old tape was removed from the sleds and replaced to ensure that there is minimal drag on the sleds come race day.
After sled work, the team headed up to Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz - Celerina with Rupert Staudinger OLY for a track walk. Rupert was able to impart his knowledge from previous competitions at St Moritz, coupled with his experience from an extensive luge career. The Navy sliders hope to take this forward into the Navy Championships on Tuesday.
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Ahead of the Armed Forces Ice Championship week starting tomorrow, the team have been getting in some training away from the track. This morning .staudinger OLY held a sliding tutorial for the Royal Navy team, going through the coaching terminology, fastest lines for the track and different types of steers on the sled. This Olympian insight will be crucial when the team tries to find as much speed as possible and the cleanest lines when racing. Luge is the fastest sport on ice, timed to the 1/1000th of a second with the overall competition decided by aggregate times, so every little helps!
In addition some of the team visited the local spa to relax whilst others conducted some mobility and stretching to ensure their bodies are fully recovered ahead of the next week’s training.
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On Friday three more RNRM sliders moved up to Monti’s Bolt, ready to tackle the famous Horse Shoe corner. Training went well with AB Rhiannon Philips (HMS Cambria) demonstrating to everyone how best to exit Horse Shoe, despite it being her novice year! From Monti’s, the overall speed has increased by around 10kph which caught a couple of people out in the last 4 bends but they managed to save it 😊

After training it was time to head to the Ice Bar in preparation for hosting our British Army Luge and RAFLuge colleagues. Armed with welcome drinks and chocolates, we treated them and coaches, Mike Howard, Mike Berger, Danielle Scott and Rupert Staudinger to the most picturesque sundowners. The coaches kindly provided food in the form of Käsekrainer which went down an absolute treat!

The team are now on a two day rest period ahead of Inter Service week. 🛷❄️❤️

Nearly at the end of the Single Service training week! Today three members of the team moved up the track to Monti’s Bolt, the Ladies Start at Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz - Celerina. This brought with it some additional challenges both with low speed in the upper flat sections and higher speeds at the bottom of the track.

On completion of track time, the whole team heading down to St Mortizersee, the frozen lake, to do some start practice. This consisted of both paddling and loading practice. For all our slider this was their first time using paddles and Mike Berger and Danielle Scott were both on hand to provide guidance on what to to 😊. To finish up, the team all sat down to enjoy lunch together on the lake.

Tomorrow, more of the team head up to Monti’s as our focus starts to shift toward competition week.
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Day 3 in St Moritz. Another beautiful sunny day with all athletes starting from just after Horse Shoe corner. Morale was high coming into the session. Unfortunately a couple of sliders took some knocks today but no injuries (aside from some impressive bruising!).

Tomorrow will see three sliders move up to Montis Bolt, the start point for the Armed Forces Ice Championships next week. This adds in the famous Horse Shoe turn which could prove a little tricky. In preparation for racing, the team are planning some afternoon start training on the frozen St Moritzersee - a large lake in the middle of the town.

After the track, construction continued on the Ice Bar ahead of Friday’s social event before wrapping up the day with some recreational sliding 😊

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Day two saw all our sliders starting their runs from the bottom of the famous Horseshoe turn, entering into Telefon.

The speed has increased by around 8kph but the athletes brains are starting to catch up with the speed and are now processing each turn and track location as they slide, able to make decisions and adjustments as required.
That being said, form is imperative here and less is more in terms of sled inputs!

After being on the ice, the team got together to construct some neck straps and go through the videos of the day, picking up learning points ready for their next day.

Outside of sliding, the Luge Ice Bar is coming along well ahead of a social event this weekend. It has incredible views over the frozen lake at St Moritz and even has a short homemade Luge track! We look forward to seeing our British Army Luge and RAFLuge compatriots there soon 😊
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Good morning from sunny Switzerland 😊
Fantastic sliding from the whole team yesterday sees everyone moving up from Devils D**e to Telefon corner (📸4) today for their start. There were smiles all round after yesterday, let’s hope they hold today with a bit more speed!

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Today was the first visit to the track and safe to say, we would struggle to find a more picturesque track walk! Even in the overcast and snowy conditions it was apparent that we are in a special place.
Coaches and Mike Howard walked the team through the track ahead of the first day on ice tomorrow. Key takeaways to relax, enjoy and let the sled do the work; easy to say but less easy to do! Let’s see how everyone gets on tomorrow…
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‘Tis the Season ❄️
We’re back on the ice! Our novices are out training on the honing their skills learnt over the summer on wheeled sleds and our new training ramp.

The aim? To fall in love with the fastest sport on ice! Follow us here and on the YouTube channel to see how they get on ❤️❄️🛷

Last week 6 novices took to their sleds at our inaugural Grassroots Luge UK training camp. Using the new training ramp and wheeled sleds, the novices learnt about the sport of Luge, sled components and how to control the sled before getting onboard to try their hand at sliding and steering.

“I loved Luge Grassroots, it’s given me a great insight into what Luge actually is, as I wasn’t really sure what it was before or what how it was done. I liked going from the ramp and by the end of the week I was able to start myself off with the handles and steer confidently. Really looking forward to getting on the ice now in Austria!” - Shona, Navy Nurse

We’re looking forward to see how they all get on sliding on ice in December! Spaces are still available so, if you are a serving member or reservist in the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, get in touch via the poster QR code. ❄️🛷❤️

UK Armed Forces Winter Sports Association
Royal Navy Winter Sports - RNWSA
NAVYfit

**SPACES STILL AVAILABLE**

Want to experience what it feels like to slide down an ice track at 80+kph with no brakes? Come along to our grass roots Luge training camp 11-13 Jul 23!

Open to all serving and reservist members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. For more information, contact [email protected] or follow the QR code.

Successful athletes at the grassroots camp will be invited to attend a novice camp on ice in Austria 2-10 Dec 23.
❄️🛷❤️

Want to experience what it feels like to slide down an ice track at 80+kph with no brakes? Come along to our grass roots Luge training camp 11-13 Jul 23!

Open to all serving and reservist members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. For more information, contact [email protected] or follow the QR code.

And that’s a wrap on the 2023 UK Armed Forces Winter Sports Association Inter Service Ice Championships. The team are safely back in the UK and already making plans for next season.

If you are interested in giving Luge a go and are a serving or reserve member of the RN/RM please email [email protected].

Congratulations to all the athletes that competed across the two weeks from RNRM Bobsleigh, Royal Navy Skeleton, British Army Luge and RAFLuge. In particular, a massive well done to our own AB Kaliska Clarke (📸3) for coming Runner Up in the Women’s Luge competition. Full results from the Luge Championships are below.

IS Luge Team Championships
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🥈
🥉

Men’s Luge
🥇Sgt John-Paul Kibble RAF
🥈Cpl Steve Webb Army
🥉Flt Lt Scott Steele RAF

Women’s Luge
🥇Sgt Dani Scott Army
🥈AB Kaliska Clarke RN
🥉AS1(T) Ailsa Dermidy RAF

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Good morning - it’s competition time!

Today is the UK Armed Forces Winter Sports Association Inter Service Luge Championship. Our athletes are racing against their counterparts from British Army Luge and RAFLuge.

As with the RNRM Luge Championships, the race is across two runs with the fastest cumulative time being the winner. The team prize is worked out by adding together cumulative times of the fastest 4 athletes from each Service.

The athletes all took a race draw yesterday to determine their starting position on the ice. Usually it is preferred to go as early as possible in the first run to get best ice. For the second run, the order is based on times from the first with the slowest athlete going first, down to fastest last.

Luge is the fastest of the three ice sliding disciplines with times measured to the thousandth (0.001) of a second so we can expect some exciting racing!

Good luck to all the athletes competing! May the best team win 🏆🛷❄️❤️

RNRM Luge Championship 2023

This morning the RNRM athletes competed in the RNRM Championship. The fastest cumulative time across two runs leads to glory. The competition was run in three categories; RNRM Open, RNRM Novice and Overall Male/Female. Results were as follows

RNRM Luge Open Championship (📸2)
🥇 Lt Jordan Moore RN
🥈 AB Kaliska Clarke
🥉 Lt Tommy Brownlee RN

RNRM Luge Novice Championships (📸3)
🥇 Lt Jordan Moore RN
🥈 AB Kaliska Clarke
🥉 Lt Tommy Brownlee RN

RNRM Luge Overall Male Champion (and Fastest Run)(📸4)
Lt Jordan Moore RN

RNRM Luge Overall Female Champion (📸4&5)
AB Kaliska Clarke

Congratulations to all our athletes!

📸 CPO Tommy O Toole

PS scroll to end to see the less glamorous side of sliding sports! 🥴🤕

Slight change in programme saw today as another training day with competitions starting tomorrow. This morning, all the RNRM athletes moved up to Junior start which brought with it a new challenge - starting on the handles and loading into the sled.
As a gravity sport, the start in Luge is crucial. It is the only opportunity for athletes to input kinetic energy into their runs. Fast starts (and clean runs) lead to fast finishes with the momentum gained at the start multiplying at the finish.
Once competent at using the handles and loading into the sled, athletes will then add hand paddles to increase their momentum. This is achieved by paddling the ice with both hands after releasing the handles. Their hands grip the ice using small spikes attached to the finger tips of their gloves. It is key that they know how to load before adding spikes so they don’t end up with shredded legs as the spikes are very sharp!
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It’s competition week!
Our athletes were back on the ice today to train for the RNRM Championships and Inter Services, both of which take place this week.
Two of the team moved up to Junior start with the remainder sliding from curve 7. The aim is to get everyone to Junior start before Thursday.
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The team took a well earned break this weekend, exploring the local area around , watching the rugby and football and socialising with other athletes from British Army Luge RAFLuge and Royal Navy Skeleton.
The aurora even made an appearance for a late night show on Sunday night 😊

All the RNRM athletes moved up to Curve 7 to start their runs today. The higher start leads to faster speeds further down the track and Curve 13 proved tricky for some! A few hard knocks for a couple of the sliders today but they are looking forward to being back on the ice tomorrow 😃

Thumbs up if you’re having fun!

A successful day sliding for all our athletes with everyone completing all their runs with smiles on faces 😊

The RNRM athletes started from Curve 10 today and will slowly move up the track as their confidence and performance improves until they reach the Inter Services start ahead of racing next week.

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Hello Norway! Great to be back on the ice for 2wks of training and competing Lillehammer for the Armed Forces Ice Championships.

Track walks today ahead of a first day of sliding tomorrow on what is a new track for the majority of the team. Follow us to see how everyone gets on!

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