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→Competition
==Competition==
==Competition==
''See video with commentary [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVrXQqHL44&feature=related here]''
''See video with commentary [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVrXQqHL44&feature=related here]''
The Royal Naval Museum Library information sheet details the requirements of the competition:
"The gun run is divided into three sections. The first section is called the ''run out''. The guns are pulled from the start line and manhandled over a five-foot "home wall". Wooden spars weighing 170lb are erected and wires rigged across a 28-foot "chasm". The first men are hauled across, then a pair each carrying a 120lb wheel for the gun carriage. The gun carriage and gun barrels (900lb) follow. The remainder of the gun carriages' wheels and limbers are pulled through a hole in the second wall, called the "enemy wall". Each gun crew then "engages" the enemy by firing three rounds. The stopwatch stops as the third round is fired.
The second section is the ''run back''. All the men and the field gun have to be carried over the enemy wall, and back across the chasm. The combined weight of the gun barrel and gun carriage is 1250lb, and it has to be taken over the wall in one piece. As soon as the last man of each gun crew (nicknamed the ''flying angel'') is across the chasm, the rig is collapsed, and three rounds are fired to simulate a rearguard action. The stopwatch is paused again on the third shot.
The third section is called the ''run home''. At the sounding of a bugle the final phase is to take all their equipment through the narrow gaps in the home wall. the gun is then reassembled and the gun crews race to the finishing line.
The average time for the run out is one minute twenty-five seconds; for the run back one minute and for the run home twenty-one seconds. All three stages are carefully timed and these are added later to the crew’s actual running time to give the official time for each crew. Each crew competes seven times against each of the other crews. Only two crews run during each performance. A four minute run was first recorded in 1948, and three minute run in 1962. Nowadays runs in less than three are fairly commonplace. The fastest time ever was set by the Fleet Air Arm in the final competition.
===Equipment weights===
*Barrel 900 lbs
*Limber Boxes 74 lbs. each
*Limber Frame 215 lbs.
*Carriage 312 lbs.
*Wheels 120 lbs.
*Sheerlegs 170 lbs
*10 ft Spar 70 lbs
*28 ft Spar 100 lbs.<ref>''The Field Gun Course'' [http://www.faafieldgun.org/ Fleet Air Arm Field Gun association]. Accessed 7 January 2008.</ref>
==References==
==References==
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{{reflist|1}}