Field Gun Run

The Field Gun Run was a tribute to the Royal Navy’s action in the relief of Ladysmith during the Boer War in 1899, when cannons from HMS Powerful and Terrible were hauled to Ladysmith by the ship's Naval Brigade to defend the town against the Boer attack. On returning to Britain, the men of the Naval Brigade paraded the guns through London and demonstrated their actions at the Royal Naval and Military Tournament. The first competition place at the Royal Tournament in 1907. The competition involved teams from Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth, HMNB Devonport and the Fleet Air Arm. Teams from Chatham dockyard and the Royal Marines also occasionally competed. It has been described as "trying to achieve an almost impossible task in a ridiculously short time with too few men on an unsuitable track", and "the toughest mans' team sport in the world". The last official competition took place in August 1999, afer which the Ministry of Defence axed the event due to budgetary constraints. In 2001 the sport was resurrected by ex-field gunners and civilians who wanted to prove a civilian field gun crew had the ability to perform competitive field gun runs using the same drill, the same equipment, and over the same course as their Royal Naval former gunners did for a hundred years.