Bisley Junior International 2012
 The team for the
week was Seoc Malone , Kathryn Williamson, Adam Dove and William Stewart. The
entry was over 160 shooters from GB, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of
Man, Germany, South Africa, South African Schools, Denmark, Scouts and Cadets.
The standard in all disciplines varied considerably from Juniors who compete
around Europe to almost beginners (at least they looked that way). We competed
in Air Rifle, 3P and Prone but there are other disciplines of Air Pistol and
Sporter Rifle / Pistol. Jess Liddon was shooting pistol for Scotland but I
didn’t have much contact with her since she had her own coach.
Monday was a
training day for our team. Seoc and Kathryn are familiar with the ranges but it
was first time for Adam, pictured left, and William so it was a good time to check set-up and
look at the variations in wind and light conditions which are normal in the
Cooper Range. Everyone was happy with their training and looking forward to the
matches.
Tuesday started with
Seoc competing in the 10M Air Rifle Event. Lack of recent competitions showed in
the stability of Seoc’s position and he scored 553 – 19X which put him into 15th
place out of 26 competitors. The scores for the final were 564 to 580.
On Tuesday
afternoon the Men’s and Women’s Prone Grand Prix were shot at the same time so
it was difficult to watch all 4 shooters in any detail. The match was at the
same time as training the previous day and conditions were similar with light
but variable wind. In the Women’s event Kathryn had a very steady shoot and
scored 580-26X which put her in 3rd place. Second place was 581 and
first place was 583 so it was a close match in which Kathryn shot the highest
number of X Bulls. In the Men’s GP Adam scored 590-35X in his first shoot on the
Cooper range but he was pushed into second place by a competitor with the same
score the same number of X Bulls but a better last 10 shots – pretty tough. Seoc
also had a very steady shoot, finishing in 4th place with 584-29X,
just one place off a medal. William finished in 11th place with 574
in his first shoot on the Cooper Range.
On Wednesday we had
an early start with preparation time for the Women’s Air Rifle being 7.50am.
Kathryn was there early to make sure her preparation was done thoroughly. Like
Seoc she felt a bit rusty due to lack of match practice and it showed in her
“hold”. The second half of the shoot showed a good improvement and she scored
380 -17X going into the final in 5th place out of 19 competitors. The
qualifying scores for the final were 375 to 390. Kathryn didn’t hit any good 10s
in the final and dropped to 7th place. Lack of match practice was a
major factor.
The Men’s 3P
overlapped with the Women’s Air Rifle, starting at 9am. Seoc made a couple of
adjustments based on the previous day's prone shoot and shot a very steady 393
which put him into 2nd place. A poor first 10 shots in standing dropped him down
the leader board but a steady kneeling score pulled him back to 4th
place. Seoc’s score was 1106 going into the final with the top score being an
impressive 1150 and the lowest qualifier scoring 1071 so a very big spread of
results. A final score of 91.3 held Seoc in 4th place.
An early start again
on Thursday with Adam shooting in the first relay of the Men’s Prone Event at
7.50am.A very steady shoot of 581-29X put Adam into 2nd place in the
relay 1 point behind the leader.Seoc and William shot in the second relay with
Seoc leading the qualifiers on 587-29X. William also qualified easily scoring
560-20X after a very poor first 20 shots , so he recovered well. The lowest
score to qualify was 547.These scores counted towards the Team Event and were
good enough for 3rdplace, 1 point behind 2nd and 11 points
behind the winners. The Team scored the highest number of X Bulls in the Event.
The Women’s Prone
Event was the next match and had 30 competitors. Kathryn had another steady
shoot and a 581-26X was good enough to get 3rd place behind a 583 and
a 586. The lowest score in the match was 520-8X , yes 8X.
And so to Men’s
Prone Qualification in the afternoon. Scores of 586 put Adam into 1st
place and Seoc into 3rd place for the final. Adam moved into 1st
place based on the same number of X Bulls as the other competitor ( 29 ) but won
on count back of the last 10 shots , obviously learning from his previous
experience. I thought both Seoc and Adam had experience of 10 shot finals since
we had practised them at Squad training but Adam had missed those sessions so
this was his first final. Adam was leading after the first 5 shots but dropped
an 8 so it was between Seoc and the GB shooter for the top places. Seoc was
leading after the 9th shot but a 10.6 to a 10.2meant he lost 1st
place by 0.1, a very close final. Two medals was an excellent result.
Overall the Team had
a successful week winning 5 Individual medals and 1 Team medal – not bad for a
Team of 4. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the week, which was very friendly with
lots of interaction between the Teams. The standard varied considerably but at
the top end was very good. The attitude and focus of the Team was excellent and
it was a pleasure to be with them. I would like to return next year with a
bigger and more successful Team.
Ian Thomson
  
From left, Kathryn Williamson, Adam Dove, Seoc Malone and William Stuart take
the podium at Bisley
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