An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 27 BY SGT WAYNE FITZGERALD PHOTOS BY SGT MICK BURKE O n the 10th April the Battle of the Platoons 2019 took place in the Defence Forces Physical Educa- tion School (DFPES), DFTC. The event was run by the students of the Defence Forces Physical Training Instructors (PTI) course being conducted in the DFPES and in aid of Saint Gabriel's Ward, Temple Street Hospital and the Gavin Glynn Foundation. Saint Gabriel's Ward specialises in neurosur- gery and craniofacial surgery and the care for patients with both general surgical and medical conditions. The Gavin Glynn Foundation was created to help other children and their families battling cancer and who need to travel over- seas for treatment. Battle of the Platoons is a ten-person team competition with six events of physical fitness. The team can only move onto the next event once they have fully completed by all the personnel on the team. There would be three teams competing against each other from different barracks. Event 1 - Power Event: with 300 Pull Ups, 600 Push Ups and 600 Air Squats required to complete. Event 2 - Bike Event: All ten personnel had to complete 5km on five spin bikes allotted to each team. Once the first five members completed their 5km they changed over to allow the other five team members complete their 5km. Teams completed 50km in total before they could move onto the next event. Event 3 - Rowing Event: The full team had to complete a kilometre on the rowing machine, so each team completed 10km in total before they moved onto event 4. Event 4 - Pool Run: The teams had to complete a 40m run in the pool in shorts and t-shirts. On completion it was down to the assault course. Event 5 - Running Track: The complete team had to do 4 laps of the running track in DPM uniform, sport shoes and helmets together as a team before they could move onto the next event. Event 6 - Obstacle Course: The final event saw all ten team members compete all ten obstacles on the course. Once all ten team members had completed the course they made their way to the finish line. The results of the Battle of the Platoons: 1st place ARW CTC Team (1hr 28mins), in 2nd place 3 Inf Bn (1hr 34mins), the Air Corps (1hr 41mins) came in 3rd place and the 1 ACS took 4th place. WELL DONE TO ALL THOSE WHO TOOK PART AND TO SGT TOMMY SHEAHAN, THE INSTRUCTORS AND PTI STUDENTS IN THE DFPES ON THEIR GREAT CHARITABLE WORK. €3,800 was raised for Saint Gabriel's Ward, Temple Street Hospital and the Gavin Glynn Foundation. The money was raised from fundraising in the Whitewater Shopping Centre, Newbridge and from the Battle of the Platoons. Sgt Tommy Sheahan donated €1,300 to Haemophilia Children's Research which he raised while serving in Lebanon in 2018. Pictured is Sgt Tommy Sheahan and his wife Hazel and brother Garry and family, two of the boys have haemophilia. Comdt Murtagh Brennan, OC DFPES presents the Dan O'Connell Perpetual Trophy to Sgt Tommy Sheahan on behalf of the ARW CTC team. The Dan O'Connell Perpetual Trophy, plaques, best soldier and winning teams' trophies are all kindly sponsored by Dan's wife Carmel Hayden. Cpl Mikey Kelly received the 'Best Student' award on the PTI Course.

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