Nepal - Pokhara - British Gurkha recruits warm-up before fitness test

Wearing numbered bibs, four Nepali boys warm-up before an army exercise trial known as the British Fitness Test (BFT) at the British Gurkha Regiment's army camp at Pokhara, Nepal. These boys are among those trying for a highly-valued place in the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

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Filename: gurkha_recruitment01-16-01-1997.jpg
Copyright: © Richard Baker. No copying, screen grabbing, transmission or publication without permission.
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Contained in galleries: Numbered, Gurkha Selection

Wearing numbered bibs, four Nepali boys warm-up before an army exercise trial known as the British Fitness Test (BFT) at the British Gurkha Regiment's army camp at Pokhara, Nepal. These boys are among those trying for a highly-valued place in the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.