Bringing together the most promising Royal Marine Cadets from around the country and pitting them against one another, the Gibraltar Cup competition provides young people with the opportunity to demonstrate and embody the values on which the Royal Marines are built. This year’s competition was incredibly close, with Alpha Company’s Plymouth Drake detachment vying for the cup against Bravo Company’s Preston detachment, Lima Coy’s Maldon & District detachment, X-Ray Company’s Lincoln detachment, Yankee Coy’s Queensferry detachment, and Zulu Company’s Chatham Royal Marines Cadets.
These 6 detachments already had to compete against the other Royal Marine Cadet detachments across the UK and Malta, making them all winners in their own right. Unfortunately, however, only one could walk away with the Gibraltar Cup and this year the detachment that stood out from the crowd was X-Ray Company’s Royal Marines Cadet Lincoln Detachment. An undeniably worthy victory made all the sweeter as a result of their Cadet Corporal Pickett also winning the title of this year’s Best Section Commander and Most Inspirational Leader.
Plymouth Drake came in fourth place, ahead of the detachments from Zulu and Yankee Company but behind those from Lima Coy, Bravo, and - of course - X-Ray Company. Though they may not have won the competition, the Royal Marine Cadets from Plymouth Drake have earned every right to celebrate their achievement and will have undoubtedly grown as a team and as individuals from the experience of training for and participating in the Gibraltar Cup.
Detachment Commander Colour Sergeant Bickley, one of the adult instructors who was heavily involved in training the Plymouth Drake cadets and getting them ready for the Gibraltar Cup, had the following to say to his detachment in the aftermath of the competition:
“So after a long weekend and a very intense build up we've completed the Gibraltar Cup in 4th place out of the 6 detachments from across the 150 around the UK. I'm massively proud of you all and this is not just for your efforts over the weekend.
From the moment the news was broken to you all every single person stepped up. You have all shown the core values of the Royal Marines and should be proud of that. I would like to say thank you to all the family and friends that have supported them during this time.
Now let's crack on with 2017.”
Other instructors also shared congratulatory sentiments and words of encouragement for the young South West Royal Marine Cadets; including:
“Awesome effort Plymouth Det. You should be rightly proud of yourselves. The feedback from all the assessment team was highly praise worthy. Well done to you and all the staff that trained you”
“Well done Team Drake. Obviously everyone enters a competition to win. So I'd ask you all to reflect on all the things you did well in the planning and execution of this weekends training. What things could (if possible) be improved on for the future. Regardless of your own thoughts I'm really proud of each of you for the effort you have put in. You are after all the best in the whole of the South West!!!”
Visit the Task Force Distributions blog for our coverage of the Plymouth Drake Detachment's Gibraltar Cup preparations.
