Military Patrol Championship Across Mountains And Valleys

From the sports contests of the Hungarian Defence Forces the patrol championship is one of the most prestigious competitions but the teams of the military organizations also compare their performance in field-running, marksmanship, and military triathlon. The ‘season’ started in early spring and since then, only the HDF-level field-running championship has been conducted where the team of the Tata Infantry Brigade triumphed.

– As it has always been a huge prestige among the teams of the corps to win the finals of sports contests, there will probably be a fierce battle between the ’selected contestants’ in the events to follow in this patrol championship – Major Dr. Zoltán Eleki, the chief physical education officer of the Department for Operation and Training, Ministry of Defence, and one of the main organizers of the contest told honvedelem.hu.

As we have learned, military organizations employing their own personnel can nominate their teams to contest HDF-level competitions. And they usually enter one female and one male team, consisting of either professional or contractual troops. During the ’trials’ held by the corps it is decided who can compete in the national finals. 21 military organizations have entered the patrol championship with three organizations nominating male teams only. This year’s championship was also special because the American troops of the OMLT (Operational Mentoring and Liaisoning Team) stationed at the Tata Brigade on training have also entered, even though they completed the course out of competition.

Major Eleki also told us that the Hungarian Defence Forces-level patrol championship is held by a different military organization every year: in 2007, it was hosted by HDF Bakony Combat Training Centre in Várpalota, and last year by HDF 12th Arrabona Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment. Taking turns in organizing the event is necessary in order to avoid that it is always the same team that enjoys the advantage of the ’home field’. According to the chief organizer the difficulty level of last year’s and the present contest is similar, the biggest difference is that in the previous year the course was marked out on the flat terrain of Kisalföld, and this year it is in the rugged Gerecse Mountains. Which has turned out to be seventeen kilometers for men and ten for women, as the crow flies.

Of course the expression ’as the crow flies’ is tricky – said the main organizer – for if the teams want to spare their energy then they have to complete the distance by taking the simplest route instead of the shortest one (with the biggest difference in altitude, naturally). Meaning that men usually walk 22 kilometers and women 17 kilometers to reach the ten and nine control points, respectively. At these points there is refreshing mineral water and apples and chocolate that give energy for the contestants. ’All’ the equipment they have to bring with themselves is an assault rifle, a compass, and a bottle of water.

In the first afternoon of the two-day championship the first live target practice was held, compulsory for each team member. In this special shooting practice the contestants had to fire three straight shots from a laying position to target number 4 (or as it is known by everyone, the circular torso target), positioned 100 meters from the section of fire. Team members could score 30 points at the most, respectively. A three-minute advantage was given for the maximum score, and shooters who did not reach the required score were given a three-minute penalty. Major Eleki told us that fortunately, the latter case did not occur, and the average performance of the teams was 15-20 points in target practice.

On Thusday the patrol championship of the Hungarian Defence Forces continued with the off-road contest. The teams departed from the Szomód garrison shooting range of ‘György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade and returned in approximately three to five hours. In the shooting range they had to complete a hand grenade target task. On the wooded terrain the patrol championship, the route of which lead across mountains and valleys and was hard from the beginning, was made even more difficult as a result of tasks including carrying the wounded, ‘sloth climbing’, coming down and climbing steep hillsides with a rope, creeping corridors, and carrying a heavy object to a given distance.

The results of the two-day contest are the following:

Women:

1st place: HDF 54th Veszprém Air Surveillance Regiment – Veszprém

2nd place: HDF 25th ’György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade – Tata

3rd place: HDF 5th ’István Bocskai’ Infantry Brigade – Debrecen

Men:

1st place: HDF 54th Veszprém Air Surveillance Regiment – Veszprém

2nd place: HDF 25th ’György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade – Tata

3rd place: HDF 5th ’István Bocskai’ Infantry Brigade – Debrecen

Overall result:

1st place: HDF 54th Veszprém Air Surveillance Regiment – Veszprém

2nd place: HDF 25th ’György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade – Tata

3rd place: HDF 5th ’István Bocskai’ Infantry Brigade – Debrecen