136 Athletes Take Part in Military Challenge in Luxembourg

On Thursday 4 July 2024, the Luxembourg Army held the eleventh edition of its Military Challenge in the Lultzhausen/Insenborn region.

The circuit of approximately 17 km was made up of seventeen land and water obstacles. The course was completed by teams of four people and the distance between obstacles had to be covered on foot.

In total, 136 athletes registered to take part in the competition. Among the 34 teams were seventeen teams from the Luxembourg Army, as well as teams from the Grand Ducal Police Special Unit, the Customs and Excise Agency, the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS) and teams from foreign units (Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Switzerland).

The qualification was held the day before, on Wednesday 3 July 2024, at the Grand-Duc Jean barracks at Herrenberg in Diekirch. This made it possible to determine the starting ranks for the next day.

The different obstacles were as follows:
- Flying Dutchman: perform a zipline for 110 m at an altitude of 10 m above the lake;
- Spiderman: climb a caving ladder of ±15 m;
- Short-Cut: rappel off a bridge;
- Lac-Cross: cross the lake using a stand-up paddle;
- Little wall: perform a small zipline, a bridge jump and an aquatic obstacle course;
- Pit-Stop: change the wheels of a Hummer;
- Ischgl is calling: cross the lake using a cable car;
- Schock lock: open a padlock using the correct key;
- The tube: pass a darkened tunnel;
- Yes we "can": cross the lake with 20 litre watercans;
- The waiter: place a filled glass of wine on a tray which is screwed onto a 3 m pole;
- Shooting range: shoot two shots from a rifle and two arrows from a bow;
- Aid-Man: transport an injured person on a marked route;
- Hurtlocker: transport an airplane bomb with straps on a marked route;
- Last transition: cross the lake with a zodiac without an engine;
- The hills: cross the Military Challenge ramp in the water, exit the water and jump back in to reach the finish area and climb the "flatrack" ramp at the exit from the water;
- Pre-finish check: for each obstacle mastered, the team in question obtained a letter to keep until the finish. The goal was to be able to present the two magic words at the pre-finish check, namely: Military Challenge! For each missing letter, a team member had to swim to one of the three points in order to find the missing letter; there were three collection points, in each box there were missing letters and the team member had to swim from point to point to find the right letter.

The winners of the challenge were the Alpha 2 team of the Luxembourg Army.

The following external teams had registered for the Military Challenge 2024:

Luxembourg: Special Unit of the Grand Ducal police; Customs and Excise Agency; CGDIS

Germany: Logistics Battalion 163 RSOM; Luftlandeaufklärungskompanie 260 Lebach

Belgium: Battalion of Ardennes Hunters; 12/13LI Battalion 12th line Prince Léopold; 1C/1Gr Carabiniers Prins Boudewijn-Grenadiers; 15th Wing; CCLAND Manoeuvre Department; 1/3 Lancers Battalion; Battalion of Mounted Hunters

France: 40th Signal Regiment

The Netherlands: 107th Aerial Systems Battery

Switzerland: Militär WettkampfGruppe Switzerland