Virtual Field Gun
5 June 2021 - 23 July 2021
RUN, ROW, RIDE OR LIFT
Train like a Field Gunner and run, row, or ride 7,488 metres (the number of nautical miles from Portsmouth to Port Elizabeth where the challenge originated) every day for 18 days (the number of people in a Field Gun team).
If weightlifting is more your thing, you could deadlift, bench press or squat 1,300kg (the weight of a field gun) every day for 18 days.
Or, get creative and come up with your own challenge based on the numbers 7,488 and 18.
All the money you raise will help us ensure every sailor, marine and their families are valued and supported for life.
THE CHALLENGE
Royal Navy Field Gun has been part of navy life for well over 100 years. It encapsulates the Navy’s spirit of championing physical and mental courage, discipline, leadership and teamwork. The event sees teams of 18 – who have been training for months – race to assemble a field gun and run with it, disassembling and reassembling as the competition requires.
Due to the pandemic, like last year, this year’s competition isn’t able to go ahead as normal. We had hoped the event would raise £15,000 for current and former serving personnel and their families in their time of need.
To ensure vital support is available to our remarkable service men and women, and to keep the spirit of Field Gun alive, we have launched Virtual Field Gun 2021.
ANYONE CAN TAKE PART
Take part on your own or as part of a team.
Why not challenge 18 friends to create a crew and go to the limit and beyond to be the top fundraising crew.
Crew challenge
For the traditional crews why not take on the ‘Virtual Crews Challenge’ or ‘Virtual Junior Leaders Challenge’ set by WO2 PTI Andy ‘Sticky’ Vercoe and be the first over the line.
Get together with a crew of 18 and come as close to the real Field Gun challenge as you can from home.
As you always have an opposite number in Field Gun, find a partner to complete both the weight challenge and the distance. One person must cover 7,488m and the other half of the pair will lift 1,300kg each day for 18 days.
HOW TO TAKE PART
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Decide on your virtual Field Gun Challenge
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Sign up and create your fundraising page
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Ask all your friends and family to sponsor you
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Complete your challenge
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Raise a minimum of £25 each or £450 as a crew and receive your Virtual Field Gun 2021 t-shirt to wear with pride
WHAT IS FIELD GUN?
On 5th June 2021, the UK’s 114th Field Gun competition should have been taking place at HMS Collingwood in Portsmouth.
The origins of Royal Navy Field Gun lay in 1899, in the Second Boer War, and in particular the epic 119-day Siege of Ladysmith. As the British Army was besieged by Boer fighters, the Royal Navy landed guns from HM Ships Terrible and Powerful to help in the relief of the siege. The Naval Brigade manhandled six field guns each weighing nearly half a tonne over rough terrain to assist the British Army.
Each year since 1907, this has been commemorated in the form of annual Field Gun competitions. The historic Royal Navy Field Gun Tournament continues to be held at HMS Collingwood in Portsmouth.
Today, crews of 18 compete representing units of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force. They each race to assemble an antique field gun and run with it, disassembling and reassembling as the competition requires, before dramatically dragging the gun home, maintaining the spirit of the Royal Navy’s contribution to the relief of Ladysmith.
