In what is fast becoming a Royal Navy tradition; Sailors and Marines pit themselves again their warship in a race through the Suez Canal.

The race could not be run concurrently due to the employment of force protection measures during the Suez transit. Instead the onboard Concept2 rowing machines were strapped to the outside flight deck a couple of days later and the ships company each took part in the maximum effort 2k piece in what must have looked like a mini-Concept2 indoor rowing championship. However, here the contenders also had to cope with the machines moving as the ships rolled due to the 3-4m swell of the Red Sea.

The spirit of friendly competition was alive as the crew members, male and female, rallied for places within the top 81 places to be included in the official entry time for their ship. It escaped no one that while the Suez transit time was the challenge neither ship, HMS Albion or HMS Sutherland, wanted to post an overall time slower than the other. The race was on.

Royal Marines, Lieutenant Chris Viggars, 24, embarked on HMS Sutherland posted the best overall time of 6min 22.03sec. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Chris is not a rower, having only dabbled once or twice during his first year at Sheffield University, and he has zero indoor Concept2 rowing experience. Chris, from Market Drayton, has been in the Royal Marines for just under 2 years,