ASR Gavin Dickson, Scripture Reader at Colchester Garrison, will be participating in this year’s PARAS’10 in Catterick on 30 September to raise funds for SASRA.
Runners choose between the PARAS’10 TAB – completing the course in boots and carrying a 35lb (15.9kg) bergen (military backpack) – or the PARAS’10 RUN which is without boots and bergen. Gavin, who moved to Colchester Garrison earlier this year, will be running the TAB.
PARAS’10 was founded by WO1 JJ Wilson and hosed by The Parachute Regiment in Aldershot from 1982-1993.
It is based on the 10-mile march from the Regiment’s ‘P Company Test Week’, which happens at the end of training. Recruits are assessed and scored across several events, the first of which is a 10-mile march over undulating terrain with each recruit carrying a bergen weighing 35lbs plus water and a weapon. To successfully complete the march, recruits must finish in 1 hour 50 minutes.
After the Paras left Aldershot, this event was stopped until 2008, when it was restarted at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. Its popularity resulted in the race being taken to Colchester, the home of 16 Air Assault Brigade, in 2012. Since then, PARAS’10 has been held at both Catterick and Colchester Garrisons.
Image: Gavin standing near the entrance to Colchester Garrison, home of the 16 Air Assault Bridage Combat Team. ©SASRA
