News Archive - 2009
SSRA Team results |
19th January 2010 |
The latest scores from Round Four of the Team Prone League are
now available on the Domestic Results page
Smells like team spirit.
. . |
19th January 2010 |
There was victory for Scotland in the NSRA/Eley Inter Regional
Match held at Aldersley (and satellite venues such as Denwood) at the weekend with the pairing
of Kathryn Williamson from Lockerbie and Aberdeen's Fiona Park winning the
women's team event.
The competition, staged at the national indoor shooting centre near
Wolverhampton on 17 January, brought together
air rifle and pistol competitors from all over GB, the Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man.
Edinburgh athletes Andrew Ross and Fraser Cheetham came fifth in the men's pairs
while all four had creditable
results in the individual competitions.
The detailed scores can be found
here.
Watterson
back to winning ways |
20th January 2010 |
Steve Watterson came away from Denwood with his second Air Rifle
Grand Prix win of the season after the Watsonians club's Manxman held off
Alloa's Robin Law in the ISSF final by 683.6 to Law's 676.7. Watterson's
compatriot Gemma Kermode was third with 666.8.
Turn-out is usually good at Denwood because so many shooters are based in the
Granite City. However, this year it was lower because the Scottish squad were in
South Africa for some warm weather training ahead of the CSF championships in
Delhi next month.
"Qualifying was hard work," Watterson admitted. "My hold wasn't quite there and
there were plenty of 9.9s and 10.0s. Due to the low turn-out, there was a bit of
a spread between first, second and third, but Robin shot another strong final.
Gemma (Kermode) was the real star though, hitting a good portion of heavy tens
to finish with an excellent final."
The line-up for the Grand Prix was bolstered by Andy Ross, Fraser Cheetham and
Jamie Hodgson who made the trip up from Edinburgh. Hodgson is new to air weapon
events but with the help of some intensive training and his shiny new
Feinwerkbau P700 the Heriot-Watt microbiology student's performances are on an
upward curve.
"Not bad at all, training is paying off," he commented. "There was a bit of a
balls-up with firing points which shook my nerves a bit but I felt I could have
given more."
Mark Joyce, Fiona Park and Cheetham had a good battle through the final and Park
did very well to move up a place.
Under-25 coach Sinclair Bruce found some time to take part in one detail and
revealed that the discovery that one target changer was missing when the range
was put together meant the competition started with seven lanes and initially
caused problems for the organisers.
"With Cyril [de Jonckheere] and myself tinkering we did manage to get the
competitors through to the end," explained the SSRA's Jim McIntosh.
"There were a number of decent performances, particularly from the female
pairing of Fiona Park & Kathryn Williamson - encouraging for the future," Bruce
said.
In the air pistol final Bruce McIntosh from St Andrews won the event with an
aggregate of 631, fending off Mark Joyce from Forres with 620.6. Bill Hamilton
of Balerno & Currie came third with 600.8.
"It was a return to my old form," said Bruce McIntosh. "I don't think I've shot
a match like that in three years. Only a couple of stray shots, in the middle of
the match, kept me below the 540 mark.
"The Olympic-style final brings on slightly different pressures, with each shot
value being called out, and an awareness that there's an audience watching. I
enjoy shooting in finals, and have shot some pretty good ones in the past, but
it's been a while since I went into a final in the lead, so thoughts of winning
began to intrude towards the end, and I had to work quite hard to retain focus
on my technique. A good day out!"
"The results really speak for themselves," said Jim McIntosh. "There was some
good shooting and efforts by all who took part. Once more the pistol shooters,
by the numbers who turned up, saved the day,as the rifle numbers would not have
made the event worthwhile."
All the
scores are available here and the next
stop on the Grand Prix circuit is Carlisle on Sunday 7 February.
A new date, but still
buns of fun at Watsonian Open |
18th January 2010 |
Watsonian Rifle Club are hosting their annual Open Meeting
shortly. Not
only is this a new time of year to hold this popular competition which draws
competitors from all over Scotland, but the format has
changed to a two-day event on the 6th and 7th February 2010. The open consists
of 60 shots at 25 yards shot in ten-minute timed details. There are 5 classes A-E
with additional prizes for Under 21, Under 18 and Under 15's, there are also
Veterans, Ladies and Team competitions.
The Bun Room will be well stocked to keep your strength up...
Entry forms are available from
beverleyburnside@hotmail.com
SSRA Prone League results |
12th January 2010 |
The first few rounds of scores for 2009/2010 have just come in
and can now be found in Domestic Results
Intershoot team unveiled |
9th January 2010 |
The Scotland team has been announced for the InterShoot annual
international match to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands from 4-6 February.
First staged in 1977, the three-day ISSF-style competition provides an ideal
training environment for air rifle and pistol shooters.
Senior Men: Graham Rudd, James Paterson
Senior Women: Sheena Sharp
Junior Men: Fraser Cheetham
Junior Women: Jen McIntosh, Kay Copland, Kathryn Williamson
Date in Dortmund |
9th January 2010 |
Sinclair Bruce has the coaching reins as Scotland travel to Dortmund for the
25th ISAS (International Season Start for Sport Shooters) match from 16-22
March.
Scotland team:
Senior Men’s Prone: Matt Thomson, Dave Caughey, Andrew Ross, Robin Honhold
Senior Men’s Air: Andrew Ross, Robin Honhold
Senior Women’s Prone: Sheena Sharp, Emma Cole-Hamilton
Senior Women’s 3x20: Sheena Sharp, Emma Cole-Hamilton
Senior Women’s Air: Sheena Sharp, Emma Cole-Hamilton
Junior Men’s Prone: Fraser Cheetham, Ollie Barron
Junior Men’s 3x40: Fraser Cheetham,
Junior Men’s Air: Fraser Cheetham
Junior Women’s Prone: Kay Copland, Jen McIntosh
Junior Women’s 3x20: Kay Copland, Jen McIntosh
Junior Women’s Air: Kay Copland, Jen McIntosh
Your country needs you .
. . |
9th January 2010 |
The heat is on for the
Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 – already. Looking beyond the headline acts
of those shooters who are training hard with this ultimate goal on the horizon,
there
are a great number of types of supporting role to be filled including
judges, recorders, technical officials and event managers without whom the
shooting events will simply not work – and the SSRA is keen to enlist your help
in recruiting and preparing those key people.
You won't get a medal but you could lend your
experience to ensure that the Games go smoothly and the sense of satisfaction in
doing that will be as good as a podium place. It is hugely important that the
shooting events within the Games demonstrates a professionalism and dedication
to getting it right that goes beyond the competitors - how the events are staged
will have a significant bearing on the perception of whether this nation can
stage future international events as well as help promote and nurture the sport
on these shores. According to SSRA Council member Jim McIntosh, the Games
organisers would like Scotland, as the host nation, to provide more than 50 per
cent of all officials. It may be four years until the event but that time will
be required to prepare personnel. Based on the model of the 2002 Games in
Manchester, in excess of 127 officials may be required for the categories of
Juries, Appeal, Full Bore, ISSF, Pistol, Shotgun and Classification. At this
moment McIntosh admits he only knows of two residents in Scotland with current
qualifications which he believes would enable them to participate.
Jim has kicked things off
by getting the ISSF to agree to
provisionally agree to run
an ISSF Judges qualifying course in Scotland – provided sufficient numbers can
be found to attend it. This would be a weekend course with date and location
arranged depending on the level of interest. There is a wide range of categories
of officials needed for Glasgow, so get in touch with Jim at
jim@mack25.freeserve.co.uk for
more information.
Perhaps you already have a
level of experience in ministering over shooting events, or perhaps you would
like to step up to the plate and gain it. Either way, your help and enthusiasm
will be needed. If you would like to make a note of your interest in applying
for a judging course visit
http://www.britishshooting.uk/component
and
open a Judges Licence application form, which can be filled in and submitted
online.
Headline act |
8th January 2010 |
Colin Watson has taken over the task of keeping ssra.co.uk up
to date and he knows he has a hard act to to follow....
"This will be something of a new experience for me as I am more used to running
a busy daily newspaper sports section so I hope visitors to ssra.co.uk will bear
with me.
In addition to news coverage of what will be a busy year for small bore target
shooters, I welcome any suggestions for articles and, as many members already
know, their help in crafting accurate reports and providing insight into the
sport recently has been crucial. I am hopeful we can continue that in the months
ahead with more reports - from Dortmund to Denwood and Delhi.
The more information you can provide the better and it is my intention to
continue the work of promoting this site as a reliable resource for anyone
seeking information on our sport.
Donald McIntosh has now stepped away from running this site after ten years of
sterling work but his continued advice and experience will help me through the
transitional period.
"I have been involved in publishing since 1984 and have worked across a wide
spectrum of the industry, from television, radio and comic scriptwriting,
theatre, book writing to syndication and newspaper production. I hope I can
bring the same level of professional enthusiasm to ssra.co.uk and intend to use
all the technology available to us to promote target shooting and those who take
part in it. You will find me on facebook as well as stirton.com and messages are
welcome."
It is our policy to correct errors and omissions as soon as they are reported
and published material will be updated promptly where necessary.
Colin Watson is a member of Balerno & Currie Rifle Club and Alloa & District as
well as a member of Fife Centrefire full bore club.
Magic roundabout for Kermode |
27th December 2009 |
Gemma Kermode took the honours in Glenrothes when the Isle of Man
shooter held off the challenge of Alloa's Robin Law to win the SSRA Air
Grand Prix.
Kermode, from Laxey, who came fourth at Callander in the last round, scored 667.2 to
Law's 665.7 in A class before emerging victorious in the ISSF-style
final where she survived Law's fightback of 97.7 to win on aggregate
after a 96.2. Kermode is relatively new to airgun events so the win was
a positive step in her preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Mark Joyce from Forres was literally in a class of his own to win the B
classification with 541 and finished third overall in the Grand Prix
after an aggregate of 635.5 following a final string of 94.5.
Fiona Park of Aberdeen University Rifle Club came fourth after the
winner of C class finished with 629.5 following the final, but there was
a tie shoot for the first time with Kathryn Williamson winning over
James Henderson with a nice 10.5 to James' 8.1.
The Fife new town is better known for its plethora of roundabouts so
spare a thought for Steve Watterson who may be wishing he too could turn
full circle and give it another go after a frustrating dip in form meant
the Manx A class winner from Callander had to pull out.
In the pistol event Lawrence Cooper had the shoot of the season for him
in the 60-shot match - with a borrowed pistol - to finish with 610.l,
just behind Mark Joyce on 611.1.
The overall entries were down on last month, what with the Scottish
squad away doing their Christmas shopping in Hanover, and a number of
students deciding that they required to do a bit more work than usual
for the end of the current semester - for work, read Christmas parties?
You decide...
For the hardy souls who did make the journey, their dedication deserves
a mention. Edinburgh pistol shooter Monka Foo braved morning
temperatures of -5 Celsius and a bank of pea-soup fog that straddled the
Forth to get to the range, where that stakhanovite Cyril de Jonckheere
had made sure the club and range was suitably warmed and set up. Balerno
& Currie's Bill Hamilton almost forgot about his 11am air pistol
squadding but soldiered on and got a slot at 1pm instead where he
managed to win D class.
"The others just shot worse than I did," he said which is being a bit
harsh, after all one un-named shooter arrived to discover he had left
his pistol back in the safe at the club.
The
SSRA's Jim McIntosh commented: "The next Grand Prix is at Denwood where four years ago the rifle final had just 0.2 splitting the
top two places. Let's hope the event on 17 January can be similarly
exciting with the squads all being at home and suitably refreshed." |
Alloa & District Rifle Club have announced two new outdoor events for 2010 |
27th December 2009 |
June 20 will see a "Triple
Dewar" competition, with course of fire 60 shots at 50 metres and 60
shots at 100 yards. A further competition, in the "English Match" style,
ie 60 shots at 50 metres, will be staged in August 2010 on a date still
to be confirmed. Entry forms will be sent out to members and anyone
interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAuley
either by e-mail on
william445@btinternet.com or by telephone 01259 723598 to obtain a
form.
It's an exciting time for
the Alloa club, as their indoor range at Kincardine, shared with Sands
Rifle Club, is undergoing the final stages of work for Three-Position
firing points which, when complete, will make it one of the few
complexes in Scotland capable of supporting 3P events. |
Grand Prix title took guts |
18th November 2009 |
Steven Watterson came away with the plaudits in the first Airgun Grand
Prix of the season at Callander and proved to himself he had the stomach
to do it - in more ways than one.
A
dose of food poisoning had left the Isle of Man shooter worried how he
might perform but in the end he emerged not only winner of A class but
went on to win the final as well. A strong challenge by Robin Law saw
the Alloa man score 102.5 but the Watsonians shooter managed to hang on
to the Scotland legend's coat-tails and emerge victorious by 686.5 to
Law's 681.5.
"I
was very pleased with the match," said Watterson. "I've been shooting
well in training, but struggling to reproduce it in matches, so it was very
satisfying to finally do so. I just focussed on my technique and let the
scores take care of themselves. In fact, I surprised myself with how
comfortable I felt as I'd had a dose of food poisoning on
Friday/Saturday."
"Traditionally, the first airgun GP has a
low turnout across the board, but Sunday
turned out to be quite a first class turnout," commented SSRA's Jim
McIntosh. "The number of Air Rifle competitors was the best we have had
for a number of years, not only from Scotland but two from the Isle of
Man."
Gemma
Kermode came over from the Isle of Man and made it to the final. Her
668.9 left her fourth but she plans to take part in several of the GPs
this Winter where she will picking up lots of valuable experience.
Watterson shot 586 to win A class, ahead of Law with 579, Aberdeen's
Emma Cole-Hamilton on 576, Falkirk's Jen McIntosh on 572 and Kermode on
569. Watterson, however, knew what he would be up against when competing
against a man with more than 100 caps for Scotland.
"Robin shot an excellent final, but then he usually does," he said. "I
was trying to go with him shot by shot and match his standard, but I
couldn't buy a good ten, whereas he seemed to have good tens to burn.
All my tens were 10.2s and 10.3s, but that's not enough if you want to
shoot a strong final."
In
the end, of course Watterson did just enough to win through. And the
conditions on the range at Callander had helped, in his opinion.
"I
believe they've upgraded the lighting in the Callander range too and
quadrupled the luminosity. In airgun, you often end up fighting and
losing to get a head position that facilitates a clean sight picture so
the extra luminosity makes a big difference," said Watterson.
In
the pistol event the biggest surprise of the day was Allan Anderson’s
leading score which he held on to claim the points.
While
reputations were being reinforced on Sunday, look out for others coming
up on the rails in future, to use the horse-racing term. Andrew Ross of
Balerno & Currie and Alloa & District won B class with 557 and Newton
Stewart's Kathryn Williamson won C class with 537. An honourable mention
must also go to Heriot-Watt University's Jamie Hodgson in D class who
was competing in one of his first events in Air with the technical
hindrance of a moustache grown for charity...
The next GP is at Glenrothes on Sunday
13 December. The range there has eight firing points . Want to give it a
try? Contact the SSRA at
competitions@ssra.co.uk for more information and entry forms. |
ISSF Qualification for
Bruce |
8th November 2009 |
Congratulations to U25 Squad Coach Sinclair Bruce, who successfully
gained his 'C' Coaches Licence from the ISSF at last week's course in
Kuortane, Finland. |
Isle of Man, Part 3 |
8th November 2009 |
Day 5
Bleary-eyed, we made our
way to the range for the Men’s Individual Prone event at 8.30am. We had
high hopes for this because all of our men are accustomed to the format
of the competition (60 scoring shots in 75mins) and they are all good,
belly-floppers/prone shooters. The men were keen to get started and I
watched James Henderson shoot and kept a record of his shots on a
plotting sheet.
James had sweet-talked
Sarah into letting him borrow her rifle. James’ ammo had shot well
through the barrel when they tested at Eley so he was competing on fair
terms this time. His first 30 shots were nothing special other than the
fact he ate nearly a 3 course meal during his breaks. The last 30 were
incredibly tight and he finished 100, 99, and 100 for a total of 593.
Mike and James P both shot 589 without any real issues. Andrew
Ross had 573 and was disappointed with his ammunition because one shot
in the final string was a 2 very low. Martyn Buttery from the England
team was given a grilling about the poor quality ammo because he works
for the manufacturer. Martyn rightly pointed out that the ammo was
not the highest grade available so you cannot depend on it to the same
extent! That said, it’s common knowledge that even the best grade
of ammo can miss the mark at times due to a low powder level or damage
to the bullet, for example.
The conditions on the
Sinclair range worsened and the scores in the Women’s Individual Prone
were low as a result. Sarah found it tough to find the ten ring and
finished 8th on 576. Sarah had no time to relax before
competing in the 3x20 badge match. This was meant to be a pairs event
but it was changed to an individual competition because of a low entry.
Sarah put her beloved
Bleiker barrel to good use in the 3 Position Badge Match. A solid
performance of 540 meant she was not far off the pace. James Henderson
may be feeling guilty about changing Sarah’s rifle set up (but I doubt
it).
The Men’s 3x40 Pairs got
underway with James P and James H both showing signs of fatigue. The
scores in the prone section were low and the Scottish lads were feeling
a bit down. Both of them considered dropping out of the match to ensure
they were rested for the Men’s Individual Prone final. They moped around
until shortly before the start of the standing when they decided that
they’d really go for it! The standing section went smoothly and kneeling
was the final hurdle to clear before getting a brief break. James
Patterson looked completely drained of energy before starting his
kneeling. He put in a great effort and shot 384 ex 400, the highest
score on the range!
The pain of shooting so
much in such a short time was forgotten by the tall Scotsmen when they
discovered they had shot their way into the bronze medal position!
Patterson scored a very respectable 1131 and Henderson shot 1032 (not
helped by having to change barrel between the day’s matches).
After a short break, the
men were back on to shoot the Prone Individual final. There was a buzz
about the range; phones were set to vibrate instead of being turned off-
those naughty team managers! Crowds gathered to watch the most
anticipated event of the weekend. With prone shooting being so important
within the Commonwealth countries (despite it not being half as much fun
as shooting standing and kneeling...), the final looked like it could be
a tense one. The lowest score to make the final was 587. Our
representatives were Mike Ozmond on 589, James Patterson on 589 and
James Henderson on 593. Matthew Hall from Northern Ireland had also shot
593 so it was unlikely that the Scottish supporters would have any
fingernails left after the final.
After the 5 minute
sighting period, the shot-by-shot final began. Henderson’s first shot
was a 9.6. Matthew Hall shot a 10.1 and took an early lead. Hall edged
away until the 4th shot when Henderson shot a perfect 10.9!
The crowd went wild! Could the big man from the north claw it back to
bring Scotland gold? Well, James Henderson showed the crowd that he is
an exceptional shooter by finishing the final with a string of tens
using a rifle that he had borrowed! He set a great example of how to
focus on performance rather than worrying about scores. Not only had
James shot 593 (an excellent score given the conditions), he had shot
102.8 in the final and successfully fended of the competition to win the
Men’s Prone event!
Mike Ozmond had a good
final of 102.4 and came fourth. James Patterson, understandably, was
very tired by this stage of the weekend and could only produce 100.8 to
come seventh.
The Prize Giving Dinner
was all that was left for the Scots to attend. We headed back to the
hotel and changed into our smartest clothes then made our way to the
Hilton hotel. This was our first chance to meet the Scottish Pistol
Team. The usual faces of Alan Ritchie, Kevin Gray and Don Robertson were
nowhere to be seen. Their weather-beaten faces had been replaced by some
young women and one lucky young man. They looked very smart in their
matching uniforms!
The Pistol team had been
successful and they collected several medals. Our rifle team had the
honour of collecting their medals and then relaxing for the rest of the
evening. James Paterson looked weighed down by his medals but perhaps it
was the wine.
After the evening’s
festivities, we headed back to the hotel for a few hours sleep before
the crack of dawn ferry. Oh joy.
Day 6
Another early morning
alarm and the end of the trip was in sight. We had no issues getting the
guns on to the ferry thanks to everything being well organised by the
Isle of Man Target Shooting Federation.
We set sail and most of
the team got some sleep. Sadly, Mike had not managed to get his harpoon
in time for the journey so the Irish Sea’s wildlife was safe once more.
The minibus trip home
passed without event and before long we had all made it home. We parted
company in dribs and drabs with people being dropped at various
locations. To a passerby it must have looked like we were fly-tipping
when you consider we pulled off the motorway to launch a shooter and all
their kit out into a country lane.
It had been a great few
days for Scottish shooting. There is evidence that we have a strong
squad of shooters with the potential to achieve great results on the
international stage.
I would like to thank all
the organisers, the SSRA and all its staff, Jim McIntosh and most
importantly the team of Sarah, Kathryn, Andrew, Mike, James H and James
P. Your enthusiasm and dedication made my job easy and it was a great to
be part of the team. |
Isle of Man Diary, Part
Two |
12th October 2009 |
The crack of dawn is not as pleasant as one
may imagine, as our shooters will testify. After breakfast on the third
day, our air rifle shooters (James P, Andrew & Kathryn) and I were
deposited at the National Sports Centre for a busy day of shooting
whilst the others cruised to the Sinclair Range to complete equipment
control and for Sarah to compete by herself in the Women’s Prone.
Training took place before the first competition detail. This allowed
just enough time for the shooters to make any necessary adjustments to
their kit such as fine tuning their iris for the light conditions. The
problem with having training so close to the match is that there is a
risk that the shooter will either spend too long training and then
become fatigued during their match or they will be become disheartened
by a poor performance and carry the negativity into the match.
Our three shooters were on the first detail competing in the Pairs
events. Kathryn did not have a partner although she was still permitted
to shoot. At only 16 years old, she is relatively inexperienced at
competing shoulder to shoulder and she was pleased to get the chance to
shoot a match before the Individual event. The men put in steady
performances (J. Paterson 570, A.Ross 548) and were reward with 3rd
place!
Meanwhile at the 50m range, Sarah put in a solid shoot of 581 and was
the 5th highest score in the match.
The individual air events took place in the afternoon and they were
run over several details to allow shooters competing on the 50m range to
compete in the air events. Our shooters were on the first detail for the
individual events which meant that we had to wait a few hours to find
out where they had placed. This also meant that the first of the finals
started at 8.30pm!
Despite a very long day on the range, our shooters performed well. I
think their performances were helped by the amount of sleep they managed
to squeeze in throughout the day. The benches in the hall were only wide
enough for James to sleep on so the others had to find elsewhere to grab
40 winks. Kathryn slept in the corridor outside the sports hall before
she was woken by two squash players who were worried that she had
collapsed! I think the squash players have the impression that shooting
is the most boring sport in the world. To be honest, looking around the
sports hall one would have been forgiven for thinking the carbon
monoxide levels were dangerously high as there were unconscious bodies
strewn everywhere.
We managed to get a light meal before the second detail finished. The
scores were published shortly after we returned to the sports centre.
James Paterson was in 2nd on 574, Andrew Ross was 13th
with 544 and did not qualify for the final. In the Women’s event,
Kathryn Williamson put in a steady performance to score 369, only a
single point below her personal best! Kathryn finished 9th,
missing out on the final by 1 point.
James had to work hard in the final to stay in the silver medal
position because Jersey’s David Turner shot an excellent final of 101.1
and moved up several places. James made some progress in catching Steven
Watterson although a pre-final three-point lead allowed the Manx shooter
to stay in 1st.
James was delighted with his day’s shooting and winning two medals.
Silver place in the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships isn’t
bad when you consider that it was the first time he had shot an air
rifle final!
We returned to the hotel elated but worn out from a day that had set
the standard high for the Scotland team. But could we get our mitts on
more medals in the other events?
Day Four: Wakening at 6am again made us long for the end of British
‘Summer’ Time (Summer is a myth in Scotland and apparently in the Isle
of Man). Getting up when it’s dark is not good for team morale!
Our brave team guided me to the range in preparation for the Men’s
Prone Pairs which would start at 8.30am. Preparation time starts 10 mins
before live firing is permitted so the shooters had to be ready by
8.20am. There were no problems for the men and they set about shooting
lots of 10s! Conditions were tricky (aren’t they always?) and some of
the shooters came off the range disheartened. Not our boys, though!
Chirpy as ever, Mike Ozmond and James
‘I-can-tell-you-my-exact-score-as-soon-as-I-finish’ Paterson were
confident that they had done enough for a medal. They were right.
Bronze! James had shot 590 and Mike had shot 583, enough to lift them 3
points clear of the Welsh team and the dreaded 4th place.
Our B team did not fare so well in their match coming 7th. James
Henderson was using a barrel he had borrowed because he was not allowed
to take his own gun to the Isle of Man due to his temporary firearms
permit application being lost by the postal service. The quality of the
barrel seemed reasonable, however, James did not have ammunition
specially selected for use in it. Also, the balance was different
because it was an Ansch�tz and James has been using a Bleiker for over a
year. The lack of selected ammo alone is a major setback when shooting
prone.
The day continued with Men’s and Women’s 3 Position matches. The two
James were competing in the 3x40 and Sarah was competing in the 3x20.
Andrew and Mike busied themselves by dissecting their morning’s prone
matches and establishing areas in need of improvement. Kathryn found the
comfiest sofa in the range and spent most of the day there keeping a
watchful eye on the Irish team even when they weren’t shooting.
Paterson and Henderson qualified for the final in 3rd (1118) and 8th
(1058) respectively. Sarah shot 525 to qualify for the final in
5th. As far as Scottish team was concerned, the Men’s final was a
contest between James Paterson and John Croydon (1119). James shot 95.8,
the highest score in the final, but had little chance of catching Duncan
Farmer who had started the final with a lead of 23 points over him. Mr
Croydon struggled through the final and James was able to bag another
silver medal! Four events and four medals proved Paterson’s
versatility. James Henderson remained in 8th.
Sarah was unable to catch 4th place in the women’s 3x20
final whilst Jenny Corish from Wales shot a good final of 96.2 to win by
nearly 10 points!
By the time the finals were finished, the team was cold and
exhausted. We then had to find a restaurant willing to accept 9 people
without a booking on a Saturday night in a town so small the OS maps do
not need to be scaled down. Looking like the rejects from a Britain’s
Got Talent circus act, we were turned down by everywhere we entered. We
went to the Tex-Mex again and and easily blended in with the locals.
Another successful day on the island... |
Team selected for
Commonwealth Championships |
7th October 2009 |
The
following team has been selected to compete in the smallbore & air rifle
events at the 2010 Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in
Delhi in February:
|
Men |
Women |
Prone: |
Dave Caughey, Neil
Stirton, Mike Ozmond |
Jen McIntosh, Sheena
Sharp, Kay Copland |
Three Positions: |
Graham Rudd, Neil
Stirton, James Paterson |
Kay Copland, Jen
McIntosh, Emma Cole-Hamilton |
Air: |
Graham Rudd, Neil
Stirton, James Paterson |
Jen McIntosh, Sheena
Sharp, Emma Cole-Hamilton |
Coach: |
Donald McIntosh |
|
In each case the first two named athletes will
contest the Pairs match, with all three competing in the
Individual matches. These shooters will be joined by
competitors from Pistol, Shotgun and Fullbore Rifle as well as
other coaches and support staff.
|
Squads Revised |
2nd October 2009 |
With the
completion of the 2008/9 season, the SSRA Squads for the 2009/10 year
have now been selected, and the updated versions can be seen on the
Squads & Athletes page. |
Membership renewal and
winter competition forms available |
2nd October 2009 |
The forms
for individual membership, club affiliation and the club and team indoor
competitions are now available, and should have been received by current
members over the last few days. Members who haven't received them,
lapsed members and anyone else interested in joining the Association
and/or taking part in our range of prone, air rifle and 3P competitions
should contact Ian Henderson on
executive@ssra.co.uk to obtain a copy.
Individual membership of the Association runs from 1st October to 30th
September every year, regardless of when you actually pay. Please
remember that only Individual Members of the Association are eligible to
be selected to represent Scotland in the various international matches
in which we take part. |
2009/10 Calendar Added |
2nd October 2009 |
The SSRA
and selected NSRA, ESC and ISSF events for 2009/10 have now been added
to the Calendar page. Please send an
requests for additional entries to
webmaster@ssra.co.uk. |
Paterson pipped in Isle of Man |
29th September 2009 |
Perth’s
James Paterson hit the best score of 95.8 in the Men’s 50m individual 3P
rifle final at the 2009 Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European
Division) Championships but could not overhaul Duncan Farmer from
England for the gold medal position. James’ overall silver medal
position came from a total of 1213.8 while Farmer survived a final-round
score of 90.9 to win the competition with his aggregate of 1231.9.
Watten’s
James Henderson finished eighth after the final with 1139.2 (81.2).
Competition round-up
Men’s 3P
Pairs: James Paterson and James Henderson notched 2163, good enough for
third place behind the English pairing of Duncan Farmer and Mark
Szymankiewicz who had 2231 and winners John Croydon and Danny Evans
from Wales who were clear by nine points on 2240.
50m Prone
Rifle Pairs: Once again the Scots did rather well, James Paterson
picking out one possible in his six strings along with Alloa &
District’s Mike Ozmond to finish with 1173 and third place.
Matthew Hall and Don Baker from Northern Ireland nicked this event by
just one point with their 1177 from Manx shooters Dave Moore and Harry
Creevy on 1176. The other Scottish duo, James Henderson and Balerno &
Currie’s Andrew Ross, scored 1154.
Women’s
50m individual 3P rifle: Sarah Bates of Edinburgh University Alumni
finished fifth with 608.9 (83.9 in the final) as Jenny Corish of Wales
cleaned up with 659.2 (96.2) from England’s Jacqui Hay who had 649.6
(86.6). |
The rifle slings and arrows of outrageous fortune |
29th September 2009 |
Between paying tribute to
Norman Wisdom and learning to boldly go where a minibus had not gone
before, team manager Graham Rudd found time to compile a captain's log
of the trip to the Isle of Man.....
Wednesday 23 September
2009
It all got underway at
6.30am when Mike Ozmond arrived at my house to drop off his car before
we took a taxi to collect the minibus we were hiring. We met James
Henderson and SSRA secretary Jim McIntosh at the hire company’s depot
beside Edinburgh airport. Due to some confusion at the DVLA, Jim’s
licence doesn’t permit him to drive a D1 category vehicle (our minibus)
despite the fact he passed his test in 1957! James and Mike agreed to
share the driving so everything was fine.
We set off and met some of
the team on the north side of Edinburgh. We then realised we had to get
across town during Edinburgh’s rush hour. Sarah Bates came up with the
wonderful idea that we should drive in the bus lane until we reached the
city bypass. This saved us at least half an hour! Once on the bypass, we
were able to test the vehicle’s 60mph speed limiter. A wave of
disappointment and anxiety swept over the bus once we finally reached
60. Dipping the clutch on downhill sections couldn’t take us past slow
moving lorries. Sooner than expected, we arrived at Lockerbie to pick up
Kathryn Williamson and then we continued our gentle cruise to the ferry
port at Heysham.
The ferry company were
very helpful and they had no issues with our transportation of firearms
and ammunition. Some of the English team were on the same ferry as us
and it was not long before they started lobbing obscenities in our
direction. Jokes aside, it was good to catch up with some old friends.
The journey seemed to drag
on far too long and everyone was displaying symptoms of boredom. Some
plans were hatched for future ferry trips to be brightened up by
harpooning seals and other wildlife from the ferry’s deck.
The organisers greeted us
on arrival and we headed to the range to deposit our guns in the
armoury. We attempted to take the minibus over the narrow bridge into
the range’s car park. It seemed like a challenge we would have to leave
for another day because of the planning involved (and we were blocking
the organisers from getting to the range).
The Edelweiss Hotel was
shocked by the arrival of some of Scotland’s finest shooters. Panic set
in between the owner and his wife and there was a sense of confusion
when keys were being handed out. We were given a lecture on using the
lift and how to avoid getting stuck in it. The rooms were adequate and,
thankfully, clean. The decor was more than a bit strange but we were
hungry and beyond caring.
We jogged for 20 mins to
the nearest pub 250 metres away and turned the heads of every local
drinker in the place on entering. Kicking the door open and shouting
‘Give us all your money!’ was probably not the right way of announcing
our presence but it got the barman’s attention. In reality, it was a
boring stroll to the closest pub to order some food before heading back
to the hotel. It had been a long day and we were looking forward to
training the following morning.
Thursday 24 September
After having breakfast, we
headed to the Sinclair Range to do some training outdoors. The mission
for the day was to get the minibus over the bridge an into the range car
park. Mike attempted it initially before James Henderson took over, full
of enthusiasm. The bus was lined up precisely under the expert
supervision of the team captain. The wing mirrors were folded in and we
edged the front wheels on to the old wooden bridge. After carefully
creeping the entire vehicle on, James floored it and we sped into the
car park leaving a cloud of dust and diesel soot behind! A round of
applause broke out and James was declared a legend.
The team gathered all
their kit together and set up for the day’s training. I patched several
sets of targets because our Scottish heritage prevented us from buying
new ones. There was a cool breeze on the range and the shooting
conditions were tricky. There were no air rifle training facilities
available as the range being used for the competition is only temporary
and would not be complete until day of the matches. Kathryn had to make
do with dry firing her air rifle on the 50m range. Apart from the target
height being an issue, the biggest setback was the cold. Air rifle
shooters are seldom exposed to temperatures lower than 20�C and they
quickly cease to function unless they are ridiculed, ahem, encouraged by
their team mates.
Training went well and
everyone was happy with their shooting set-up and the range. We returned
to the hotel for a speedy change into our smart clothes before going to
The Sefton Hotel for the welcoming reception.
The Sefton is a grand
hotel on the seafront with an atrium and an entire bar dedicated to Sir
Norman Wisdom. The reception gave the opportunity to meet a lot of the
other teams and catch up on the latest shooting scuttlebutt. The
technical meeting went smoothly and was done within 30 mins.
Tex-Mex was the restaurant
of choice for the evening’s meal and then we had a team meeting to round
it off.
Official results from the
competition will be available at
http://www.isleofmanshooting.com/csfed2009/results.html |
Scots come close in Isle of Man |
27th September 2009 |
Edinburgh's
Andrew Ross and Perth's James Paterson came third in the Men's Pairs Air
Rifle event behind England and Jersey, in the first set of results from the
2009 Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships (Isle of Man, 24-29 September). Manx shooter Steven
Watterson, a familiar figure in Scotland's capital as a member of Watsonians
and Balerno & Currie, won the Men's Individual event with 673.2, ahead of
Patterson on 671.2, Jersey's David Turner on 671.1 while Ross failed to
reach the final.
In the
Women's Air Rifle Individual event, Kathryn Williamson of Dumfries was just
one point from reaching the final a score of 369 ex 400, a mere point off equalling her personal best.
Team
manager Graham Rudd is compiling an exclusive event diary for ssra.co.uk and
full results will be available soon.
|
Double win for North
Island |
27th September 2009 |
The results of our annual
postal indoor match against the North Island, New Zealand have recently
arrived, delivering with them two wins for the Kiwi teams. The
main team of 15 won convincingly, 24 points ahead of the Scots.
This extends the Kiwi lead in the series to 19-17. In the Junior
match things were a little closer, the North Islanders winning by two
points, closing the gap in the series to 6-4 in our favour. The
detailed results for 2009 are available
here, and the full history of
the Scottish teams in the match is available
here.
|
Team for CSF(ED)
Championships |
amended 20th September 2009 |
The following team has been selected for the 2009
CSF(ED) Championships, which will be held on the Isle of Man from 24th
to 29th September:
Men Prone: |
Mike Ozmond,
James Paterson,
James Henderson,
Andrew
Ross |
Men 3x40: |
James Paterson, James
Henderson |
Men Air |
James Paterson, Andrew
Ross |
Women Prone: |
Sarah Bates |
Women 3x20: |
Sarah Bates |
Women Air |
Kathryn Williamson |
Team Manager |
Graham Rudd |
Where more than two shooters are entered, the
first two names will comprise the team in the pairs event.
|
|
Simpson wins at
Tullygarth |
9th September 2009 |
The Forth & Clyde Open shoot was staged at Tullygarth
near Alloa on Sunday 6 September. In a surprisingly large field despite
the Grand Prix event at Gagie being staged at the same time, Richard
Simpson won A class with an aggregate of 1176, Gillian Travers won B
class with 1134 and JT Allan won C/D class with 1130. |
Grand Prix Glory for Mac
at Gagie |
7th September 2009 |
They may have turned up expecting to die with their
wellington boots on at Gagie near Dundee yesterday but Scotland A squad
and GB coach Donald McIntosh showed that his boots were made for winning
as he took Class A in the last Grand Prix of the SSRA season. His
score of 592 + 102.3 was just enough to see off the challenge of Mike Ozmond -
by an incredible 0.5 points. Still, Mike, the man who won the Haig at
Forres, could console himself with the fact he won the overall Grand
Prix series.
"The wind was fairly light most of the time, but could
flare up and we had a bit of movement up and down the range, quite hard
to read at times. I lost quite a few nines vertically at the end of the
GP," said Donald. "I was playing with some new sights (the Centra Spy
rearsight and Crystal foresight) which let me see more flags, but I shot
my best card of the day (200 to start) with my normal H�mmerli
rearsight...
"I really enjoy getting to shoot a couple of the GPs at the end of the
summer, when the international season is over, and it's good to remain
competitive domestically, in prone at least, despite how little my job
allows me to shoot these days."
Mike found that the flood waters which had affected much of north Fife
and Tayside in the previous 72 hours had begun to abate.
"When Cyril [de Jonckheere] started putting on his
water-proof trousers we thought that rain was imminent, but it never
amounted to more than the lightest drizzle," he explained.
The SSRA Grand Prix series is a serious competition,
staged all over Scotland but, as ever in target shooting, there is
always room for some lighter moments. "Someone was inspired to launch a
few paper boats, possibly as an aid to reading the wind, which was
tricky all through the day," Mike went on. "Our biggest concern was that
the sun would break through and dazzle us with its reflection in the
water."
With only 13 shooters in A and B class, they were all
destined to reach the next round as there were 15 places in the Grand
Prix itself. Even Northern Ireland internationalist Cliff Ogle, who
arrived too late to shoot his first card, still made it into the second
round, only shooting 40 shots to count.
After the second round and going into the ten-shot ISSF-standard
final, Matthew Thomson and Mike were tied on 590 and after the final
they still could not be separated, having scored exactly the same as
well. And so, the eleventh shot at the end of the final was used to
separate them, and Mike was finally ahead by 0.1, the smallest possible
margin, pushing Matthew into third overall on the day.
Meanwhile,
Selkirk's Bill Vaughan won Class B with 594 while Balerno & Currie's
Andrew Ross took C class and the overall C&D series title with a 592.
Andrew's performance may mean he is bound for Class B next season
though, as he admitted ruefully, he should have probably been there
already...
"For the first match I found the conditions fairly easy
to read and chose to shoot on a light wind from 9 o’clock. My
first match went well, it could have been much better however, but I
started thinking too much during my last 5 shots and ended up with a
95." said Scotland Under-21 athlete Andrew who competes with Balerno & Currie as well as Alloa
& District. "For a win in the Series I needed to gain three points on
Ian Malone. I didn’t have a great shoot and only managed to come away
with four points. Fortunately for me though, Ian didn’t manage to pick
up any, so in a way I guess I was lucky."
"As per usual the Gagie GP ran without fault,
congratulations to Peter, Pat and Jennifer for all their hard work, the
shoot would not run without them," said Selkirk's Bill Vaughan. "The
first comp went fine for me but the wheels came off in the GP and final,
I fired too many wild shots to maintain my lead in the championship.
Must try harder next year!"
SSRA's Jim McIntosh reflected on a dramatic finale to the Scottish
outdoor season: "There was a chill factor with the wind that caught out
a number of the competitors. Other than that the figures and results
show that once more if we had any doubt, our great leader (Donald) can
still put it on having won the 3P GP at Denwood [on Saturday] then going
on to win on Sunday.
"With the final second and third place decided on the
tiebreaker , that really does show that we in Scottish ISSF shooting do
have quality in depth." |
English clean up at
Denwood |
2nd September 2009 |
The fourth Three Positions and Prone Grand
Prix events of 2009 saw a number of visitors from the Isle of Man and
England in addition to a relatively health entry from more local
Scottish shooters. With all four of Scotland's top 3x40 shooters
absent, Kenny Parr produced his highest performance of the year for 1152
in very tricky conditions, to which he added an excellent final of 100.1
for a comfortable win over England team mates James Huckle (1145 + 95.5)
and Duncan Farmer (1133 + 92.7). James Henderson is a clear winner
in the 3x40 Series, with 37 points which, cannot be overhauled.
In the Women's 3x20 match, England's Sharon Lee was the winner with 566
+ 92.3, ahead of Sheena Sharp (562 + 92.8) and Kay Copland (558 + 95.6).
The 3x20 series now goes to the final match, with Sarah Bates on 33
points leading Sheena Sharp on 30.
In the Prone events, shot in calmer weather the next day, the Scots
held their own in the early stages, Donald McIntosh winning Class A on
countback from Dave Caughey, both on 596 - a PB for Dave - with Sheena
Sharp third with a season's best of 594. Kenny Parr secured
another win, this one Class B with 594, ahead of Bill Vaughan and Cyril
De Jonckheere on 590. Maria Bexley shot very well in Class C for
588 and a good win ahead of Andrew Ross on 585 and Mary Melvin on 584.
Class D went to Bruce McIntosh, on 582, ahead of Brian Atkinson on
countback, with Peter Gray third on 577.
Sarah Brown won the C+D Grand Prix with 584 from Maria Bexley and
Andrew Ross on 581. Series leader Iain Malone only picked up
two points in seventh place, and faces a stiff challenge from Andrew
Ross going into the final event at Gagie next weekend.
It was an English 1, 2, 3 in the A+B Grand Prix - an excellent 598
from James Huckle combined with a steady 104.2 in the final giving the
young man from Harlow a clear win. Neil Day picked up second with
594 + 102.0, with Richard Wilson shooting the best final for 590 + 105.4
to sneak ahead of Sinclair Bruce for third. The series also comes
down to the last GP at Gagie, with Bill Vaughan one point ahead of Mike
Ozmond, and Cliff Ogle only three more adrift. Sinclair Bruce can
also take the title, but has to win at Gagie with all three of the other
shooters getting very few points. |
Earl Roberts for Stirton |
updated 11th September 2009 |
Neil Stirton won the Earl Roberts British
Championship at Bisley on Saturday, four years after coming second in a
tie-shoot. His total of 783, including an excellent 198 on the
first card at 100yds, was enough for a one point win over fellow Bon
Accord member Jim Cole-Hamilton - the first Scottish 1-2 since John
Oliphant and Robin Law in 1992. Mel Mutch and
Hugh Simpson also qualified for the final, taking 6th and 10th places
respectively. In the 3P
Championships, Jen McIntosh was third in the women's 3x20, and won the
Junior title, with Shirley McIntosh a remarkable 5th shooting in her
first match for a number of years. In the open 3x40 match, Neil
Stirton was placed second equal, losing the silver on countback.
Jim Cole-Hamilton was the lone Scot in the GB team that won the
Roberts Match against the USA, his third consecutive appearance in this
series of matches having been part of the GB teams that lost eight years
ago at Bisley by a single point and at Camp Perry in 2005 on the
tie-break. Jen McIntosh also added a GB appearance to her CV, with
one of five scores of 400 in the Randle Match - Sheena Sharp
participating as Adjutant.
In the Home
Countries matches the Scottish Ladies won on a remarkable tie-break.
With their total score equalling that of the English team, and the same
split between 50m and 100yds, the match came down to the aggregate of
the bottom diagram at 100yds, the victory going to the Scots. The
Main, Junior & 3x20 teams came second to England, with the 3x40
team third behind England and Wales.
In the Club and County team competitions, Aberdeenshire were third in
the County Sextette. Bon Accord won the Astor county club team
championship, and the 3P team championship. They were also second
in the Weekend Agg team event. Sheena Sharp and Mary Melvin came
second in the open Pairs competition.
The following table lists some of the Scottish competitors placed in
the main competitions of the week, apologies for the inevitable
omissions.
Class X |
Class A |
Class B |
Class C |
Class D |
Agg Comp 1
(40 shots at 50m) |
1st - Mel Mutch |
1st equal - Jen McIntosh |
2nd - Andrew Laurie |
|
|
Agg Comp 2
(40 shots at 100yd) |
1st - Richard Simpson |
|
|
1st - Mike Rennie |
|
Agg Comp 3
(40 shots at 100yd) |
2nd - Richard Simpson |
2nd equal - Bill Baird |
|
|
|
Agg Comp 4
(40 shots at 50m) |
1st - Jon Latimer |
2nd equal - Jen McIntosh |
|
|
|
Agg Comp 5
(60 shots at 50m) |
|
|
3rd - Seoc Malone |
|
|
Agg Comp 6
(60 shots at 100yd) |
|
|
1st - Andrew Laurie |
|
|
Grand
Aggregate |
8th - Mel Mutch |
13th equal - Jen McIntosh & Bill Baird |
4th equal - Andrew Laurie |
3rd - Mike Rennie |
5th equal - Liz Adair |
Weekend
Agg Comp 10a (60 shots at 50m) |
1st - James Paterson
3rd equal - Mel Mutch |
|
|
|
|
Weekend
Agg Comp 10b (60 shots at 100yd) |
2nd equal - Mel Mutch |
2nd - Bill Baird |
|
|
|
Weekend
Aggregate |
1st equal - Mel Mutch
3rd equal - Hugh Simpson |
2nd - Bill Baird |
|
|
|
Mel Mutch also won the remarkable Chas R E Bell trophy, and the Life
& Annual Member trophy. On the final Sunday, Donald McIntosh - representing Forth & Clyde -
came second in the County Champions match. Hugh Simpson
(Caithness) and Graham Shedden (Scottish Southern Counties) also
qualified for the final. |
Women's Prone win at
Inter-Region Match |
26th August 2009 |
Jen McIntosh and Sheena Sharp won the Women's
Prone team event at the NSRA/Eley Inter-Region match at Bisley on Friday
14th August. Jen's score of 589 was the top score in the match,
giving them an eight point lead. James Paterson was the top
scoring individual in the Men's 3x40 match with 1122. |
Silver & Bronze for
Scottish Juniors |
26th August 2009 |
162 competitors from GB, South Africa,
Denmark, Germany and the Home Countries competed in this years match.
Scotland fielded four competitors from our training squads in the rifle
events, joined by five pistol shooters from the Scottish Pistol
Association. First off were Fraser Cheetham and Andrew Ross in
the 10m Air Rifle event. They had steady shoots, finishing 14th
and 24th respectively. In the 3x40 match on Wednesday, Fraser
equalled his PB with 1101, good shooting on a tricky range. He
finished fourth, having momentarily been third during the final.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the boiler room of the 10m range, Kathryn
Williamson produced a PB of 365 to finish 14th.
Fraser, Andrew and Andrew Ozmond tried hard in the prone match to
better Scotland's performance of last year, but had to settle for Bronze
having each shot 577. A good team performance, but slightly
disappointing for each individual. In the Air Rifle Grand Prix,
Kathryn worked very hard to reach another PB, this one of 370, finishing
in silver medal place.
Cyril De Jonckheere, Team Manager/Coach |
McIntosh unites Scottish
Titles |
26th July 2009 |
There may have been
more disbelief than delight when she heard the news but Falkirk's
Jen McIntosh did complete a hat-trick
of Scottish senior titles, winning both the Women's Prone and 3x20 Open
Championships on July 26 at Denwood in Aberdeen, one of the training
venues for the 2012 Olympics.
"I think
the prone was a bit of a shock," Jen, 18, admitted. "I thought I'd done
average/well and I was satisfied with it as a shoot but I genuinely
thought they had made a mistake with the score when I saw it."
in
fact a new Scottish Junior record , and
was two points ahead of Northern Ireland's Louise Aiken, with
Sheena Sharp third on 591. Susan Jackson took third place in the
confined Scottish Championship with 589. Jen
then went on to break the Scottish Junior records in the Women's 3x20
Match, and equalled the Senior record of 578 originally set by her
mother Shirley, in 1998 and equalled by Emma Cole-Hamilton in 2006. Jen
added 93.1 in the final for a comfortable win.
"The 3P
record was at the back of my mind because it's my Mum's record and it's
been there for far too long," Jen joked, "but I wasn't
really conscious of how my shoot was going score wise."
Once
again her meticulous preparation and discipline paid off. "I wasn't
even thinking about the score or the winning, I was more focused on the
performance itself," she said.
"The
conditions were pretty straight forward, I thought. Denwood can be a
very tricky range and I was prepared for the worst. Usually when I'm
shooting there I just keep an eye out for change in direction but that
weekend you only had to watch for gusts. A change in direction was only
shifting from one side of the ten to the other."
And,
while she had had no problems with her kit, she did reveal that her
choice of ammunition played a significant part in the performance. " We'd
been batch testing at Eley the week before so I had some brand spanking
new Tenex to use but I was really confident in it and knew it was really
slow (1051) so should be okay in the wind ,"
Jen explained. " I'd
say that it gave me that edge, both physically and mentally ."
Despite that confidence there is no danger of this young Scot, who
represented her country in last year's Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune,
India, getting ahead of herself.
"It
was still a fantastic performance for me - miles above anything I'd done
before."
There
were other stunning performances this event too. Kay Copland made
a superb debut, taking second place
with 564 and a new Scottish Junior Final record of 100.6, with double
2006 Commonwealth champion Sheena Sharp in third place on 565 +
96.1.
Jen is coached in the
Scotland set-up by Sinclair Bruce and he took time out to look back on a
successful season for her.
"The weekend was the culmination of a
lot of hard work put in through the year," explained the Linlithgow
shooter who competes for the Balerno & Currie and Alloa & District
clubs. "Both the Prone match and the 3p match were big Personal Bests
for Jen and indicative of the progression that has been happening in
small ways through the year. Everything came together and the result was
what we saw at the 50m Championships.
"The challenge now is to keep working
hard and to keep pushing those PBs on a bit further, hopefully getting
more international experience along the way as the performances required
to achieve anything abroad are at a much higher level than domestically.
As her coach what the 50m Champs indicates to me is the potential she
has, remember she is still only 18," added Bruce, a competitor at the
2002 Commonwealth Games for Scotland.
Another one
of the people quick to congratulate Jen on her achievement was Dave
Caughey who won the Men's Prone event.
"The
big result of the weekend was definitely Jen’s 595," said the
29-year-old from Gartcosh. "It was great to see Jen take such a huge
chunk out of her prone PB and those that train with her were expecting
it. I know she works hard at it and she deserved a big result. It’s a
shame the women don’t get to shoot a final – I’m sure Jen would have
beaten most, if not all of the men."
Caughey
secured his win in the last competition of the two-day event, which saw
a frequent drizzle with overcast lighting conditions atypical for the
time of year but, fortunately, limited wind.
"The
Men’s prone eliminators were a bit breezy. The wind never got too high,
there were just enough gusts that it might have annoyed some people, but
not enough that you couldn’t shoot between them," he explained. "Even
some good shooters admitted having an 8 or two. The qualifier had
similar weather although a few fast moving clouds made the light go up
and down a lot.
"Normally at the end of
the final, there’s a rough idea who’s won, but everyone had a couple of
9s and the lead was tight going in, so no-one was quite sure until the
scores were in."
Caughey's
595 + 103.0 took him ahead of James
Henderson with 594 + 101.4 and Mike Ozmond on 593 + 102.0. Even the
annoyance of several of the covered firing points taking water did not
prevent some excellent scores.
"I was very happy with my
shooting," Caughey went on. " 594, 595 is the most consistent shoot I’ve
ever had. It was good to shoot good scores with Neil [Stirton] and Jon
[Hammond] there. Although my final score wasn’t that good, it was good
for me."
There
was some good judgment allied to good fortune required to take that
title, though, as he freely admitted.
"The thing I’ll remember
about the day was shooting the last shot to count in the final on 43
seconds, in a gust, aiming into the 8 ring and getting the only 10.9
I’ve ever shot in a final."
Scores
were high also in the Men's 3x40 match - Olympic shooter Hammond a clear
winner with 1164 + 93.8 ahead of Graham Rudd on 1154 + 97.2. There was
more of a tussle for third, James Paterson with 1145 + 98.7 overhauling
Stirton on 1147 + 95.1 in the last 10 shots.
Entries for the prone events were slightly up on last
year with 57 entries in total across the Men's and Women's competitions
up from 52 in 2008. |
Ozmond lifts the Haig &
Clean Sweep for Scottish Teams in Forres |
10th July 2009 |
Mike Ozmond won the Scottish Long Range Prone
Championship, or more simply the Haig, at the NSRA Scottish Meeting in
Forres today. Mike got off to a stunning start, with a 199 for his
first card, and while he wasn't happy with his 193 for the second card,
an excellent 198 finish brought him home on 590, two points ahead of
2007 and 2008 winner Jim Cole-Hamilton, with 2006 winner Bill Copland in
third place. A summary of the final can be found
here. The Home Countries International Matches at the NSRA
Scottish Meeting in Forres produced a clean sweep for the Scottish teams
this morning. This is our second clean sweep at the Scottish in
the last three years, the fourth consecutive win for the Main Team and
the third win in the last four years for the Ladies. The details
of the team scores can be found
here. |
Brief Summary of the week
in Forres |
10th July 2009 |
The table below summarises some of the results of
Scottish shooters at the Scottish Meeting in Forres. I'm aware
that this is not a complete list, and apologies for the many omissions!
Class X |
Class A |
Class B |
Class C |
Class D |
Agg Comp 2
(60 shots at 50m) |
2nd - Jim Cole-Hamilton
3rd - Bill Copland |
1st - John Sinclair
2nd - Kenny MacDonald |
1st - Gregor Bremner
2nd - Andrew Ozmond
3rd - Jim Manson |
1st - Sarah Brown |
1st - Bill Pow
3rd - S Gemmell |
Agg Comp 3
(40 shots at 100yd) |
2nd - Mike Ozmond
3rd - Jim Cole-Hamilton |
2nd - John Sinclair
3rd - Ian Shanks |
2nd - Peter Richard
3rd - Maria Bexley |
1st - A Cooke-Duffy
2nd - Sarah Brown |
1st - A Honhold
3rd - Bill Pow |
Agg Comp 4
(40 shots at 50m) |
1st - Sheena Sharp |
|
1st - Andrew Ozmond
2nd - Seoc Malone
3rd - Vidar Nilsen |
1st - A Cooke-Duffy |
1st - Bill Pow |
Agg Comp 5
(60 shots at 100yd) |
|
1st - R McBain
2nd - Kenny MacDonald |
1st - Karen Nilsen
2nd - Peter Richard
3rd - Jim Manson |
|
1st - Bill Pow
3rd - Jamie Hodgson |
Grand
Aggregate |
|
1st - Kenny MacDonald
2nd - Richard Simpson |
1st - Andrew Ozmond
2nd - Peter Richard
3rd - Karen Nilsen |
1st - Sarah Brown |
1st - Bill Pow |
Unsquadded
Aggregate |
1st - Jim Cole-Hamilton
2nd - Mike Ozmond
3rd - Donald McIntosh |
|
1st - Andrew Ozmond |
|
|
Other results included:
County Sextette |
Scottish 50m Team |
Scottish 100yd Team |
Open 50m Team |
Open 100yd Team |
Forth & Clyde
Cliff Ogle
Richard
Simpson
Donald
McIntosh
Mike
Ozmond
Robin Law
Jen
McIntosh |
Dumfries
Cyril De Jonckheere
Graham Shedden
Tom Hodgson |
Alloa & District
Donald McIntosh
Mike Ozmond
Cliff Ogle |
Bon Accord
Sheena Sharp
Jim Cole-Hamilton
Ian Shanks |
Bon Accord
Sheena Sharp
Jim Cole-Hamilton
Ian Shanks |
Grand Agg Team |
Club Pairs |
Sharps |
Centipede Club |
Centenary |
Bon Accord
Sheena Sharp
Jim Cole-Hamilton
Ian Shanks |
Banff & Macduff
Kay Copland
Bill Copland |
Clachnacuddin
Iain Malone
Seoc Malone |
Bill Copland |
Donald McIntosh |
|
Freuchie win for Paterson |
10th July 2009 |
James Paterson won the Scottish Long Range Matchplay
Championship, more commonly known as the Freuchie, yesterday.
James defeated Bruce McIntosh and Ian Henderson to lift the Wilkinson
Sword trophy, while Andrew McAulay won the Sgian Dhu for the Class C&D
Freuchie. |
Weekend Summary from
Forres |
7th July 2009 |
Class X |
Class A |
Class B |
Class C |
Class D |
Early
Birds |
2nd - Cliff Ogle |
1st - Robin Law
2nd - Jen McIntosh |
1st - Andrew Ozmond
3rd - Mark Joyce |
3rd - N Carle |
1st - Kate Clarke
2nd - Bill Copland snr
3rd - Bruce Dickson |
Squadded
Dewar |
2nd - Jim Cole-Hamilton |
|
1st - Peter Richard
2nd - R Embury |
3rd - Ian Henderson |
1st - A Honhold
2nd - Bill Pow
3rd - P Dunsche |
Weekend
Aggregate |
2nd - Jim Cole-Hamilton
3rd - Cliff Ogle |
2nd - Richard Simpson |
1st - Peter Richard
2nd - Andrew Ozmond
3rd - S Blackwood |
1st - Mike Rennie
2nd - Ian Henderson
3rd - Sarah Brown |
1st - Bill Pow
3rd - A Honhold |
|
Qualifiers for Haig Final |
7th July 2009 |
The following shooters have qualified for Friday's
final of the Scottish Long Range Prone Championships:
Miss J R A
McIntosh
C I H Thomson
W A Copland
C De Jonckheere
Miss K A Copland
L Thomson
W M J Cole-Hamilton
I Malone
R Law
H Simpson |
394
391
390
389
387
387
387
387
387
386 |
M J Ozmond
R R Simpson
J R Brown
T F Hodgson
Ms S M Sharp
G D Bremner
J R Sinclair
A W J Ozmond
I Shanks
M G Rennie |
393
389
388
387
387
387
386
385
384
383 |
|
Scots in GB Dewar Team |
20th June 2009 |
Five SSRA members qualified for the British team in
the Dewar postal international at Appleton. Jim Cole-Hamilton was
the second top scoring shooter, with Mike Ozmond on the same score, and
Kay Copland, Bill Copland and John Latimer also qualifying. |
Four selected for
European Championships |
16th June 2009 |
Four Scottish Rifle shooters have been selected as
part of the Great Britain team for the forthcoming European
Championships, which will be held in Osijek, Croatia, in July. Jon
Hammond and Neil Stirton will compete in the Men's Prone and 3x40
matches, Rory McAlpine in the Junior Men's Prone and Kay Copland in the
Junior Women's Prone. They will also be joined by Scottish Shotgun
shooters Shona Marshall and Sian Bruce in the Women's Trap and Junior
Women's Skeet respectively. Full details of the team are available
on the British Shooting
website. |
Silver for Rudd at
British 50m Championships |
16th June 2009 |
Graham Rudd was the sole Scottish medal winner at the
British 50m Championships last weekend at Bisley, taking silver in the
Men's 3x40 event, with James Paterson 4th and Martin Sinclair 6th.
In the Women's 3x20 Jen McIntosh qualified for the final in 3rd place,
ending up 6th after the additional ten shots. Dave Caughey, Mike
Ozmond and Mel Mutch qualified for the final of the Men's Prone, ending
up in 4th, 5th and 7th places respectively. In the
Home Countries matches, the Men's Prone team lost out to Wales - their
first win since in a Prone match since 1909! - by one point, and trailed
England in the 3x40. Both Women's teams fared less well, coming
third behind England and Wales in each of the Prone and 3x20
competitions. |
|
Scottish Teams for
British 50m Championships |
11th June 2009 |
The following teams will represent
Scotland at the British 50m Championships at Bisley this coming
weekend:
Men Prone: |
Sinclair Bruce (Capt), Dave Caughey, Martin MacGill |
Men 3x40: |
James Paterson, Graham
Rudd (Capt), Martin Sinclair |
Women Prone: |
Kay Copland, Jen
McIntosh, Sheena Sharp (Capt) |
Women 3x20: |
Sarah Bates, Jen
McIntosh, Sheena Sharp (Capt) |
Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond are not available
as they are in the USA competing at the US National
Championships in Fort Benning.
|
|
Bronze Medals in Pilsen |
6th June 2009 |
Jen McIntosh set a new Personal Best of 590 in the
Junior Women's Prone at the Shooting Hopes competition in Pilsen this
morning, winning the Bronze medal on the tie-break. The GBR team
of Jen, Kay Copland and Wales' Helen Warnes also took third in the team
event. |
Vaughan takes lead in
Grand Prix Series |
6th June 2009 |
The second Prone Grand Prix of 2009 saw more fine
shooting. Martin MacGill led the way in the Angus Open, winning
Class A with 596, four points ahead of Hugh Simpson and Dave Caughey.
Things were closer in Class B, Patrick Jess on 589 one point ahead of
Cliff Ogle, with Cyril De Jonckheere a further point behind. In
Class C James Ross won with 583 ahead of Andrew Ozmond on 583 and Jon
Malone on 576. Sarah Brown was runaway winner in Class D with 585,
ahead of Simon Batchelor on 579 and Brian Atkinson on 578.
In the Grand Prix events James Ross secured his
second win in the C&D event, ahead of Jon Malone and Bruce McIntosh.
Jon moves into first place in the Series. In the A&B event there
was another fine 596, this time from Mike Ozmond, giving him a four
point lead ahead of Bill Vaughan going into the final. Those two
remained first and second after the final, with Hugh Simpson moving up
to take third place. This moves Bill into first place in the A&B
series, with the next event in Wick next weekend. |
Shooting Hopes |
28th May 2009 |
Kay Copland, Jen McIntosh, Ollie Barron and Rory
McAlpine will be returning to Pilsen for the Shooting Hopes competition
as part of a combined GBR team with juniors form Wales and Northern
Ireland. Kay, Ollie and Rory will shoot in the Prone events, with
Jen taking part in the Prone, 3x20 and Air Rifle matches. Sinclair
Bruce will attend as one of two coaches. The competition runs from
4th to 7th June. |
Danish Masters |
28th May 2009 |
Sheena Sharp, Matt Thomson & Dave Caughey will be
attending the Danish Masters in Aarhus from 4th to 7th June. |
Munich WC Shoot-Off for
Stirton |
20th May 2009 |
Neil Stirton came very close to the final in the
Men's Prone at the World Cup in Munich, ending up as one of ten athletes
in a Shoot-Off for one place in the final on a score of 596. The
Shoot-Off, a new introduction from the beginning of this year, consisted
of five shots, scored decimally. Neil didn't make it through to
the final, ending up in 14th place. |
Scottish Record for
Simpson at Denwood |
11th May 2009 |
The first Prone Grand Prix of 2009 produced an equal
Scottish Record for Hugh Simpson, with a superb score of 599 in the Open
section of the competition, winning Class A by a margin of five points
ahead of Dave Caughey, with Martin MacGill third one further point
behind. Class B was also won by a substantial margin, James Brown
four points clear with 594 ahead of Fraser Cheetham on 590 and John
Sinclair on 589. Things were a little tigher in Class C, Gary Rose
winning with 583, one in front of Andrew Ozmond and Mary Melvin.
Ian Henderson takes the award for bandit of the day, winning Class D ten
points clear of Simon Batchelor, 586 to 576, with Brian Atkinson third
on 574.
Ian went on to win the C+D Grand Prix also, but his
584 was only one point ahead of Andrew Ross on 583, with Simon Batchelor
third on 581.
In the A+C Grand Prix, a resurgent Bill Vaughan
with 593 led Cliff Ogle and Kay Copland on 592 into the final, with four
more shooters on 591 and Mike Ozmond last man in on 589. Bill shot
a very steady 103.8 to extend his lead, with Dave Caughey moving up to
second ahead of Cliff in third. |
Cap Milestones Reached |
updated 12th May 2009 |
With the completion of the Grand Prix of
Liberation last week, two milestones were reached in the list of
Scottish Caps. Firstly, Sheena Sharp reached a total of 70 caps,
moving past Cyril De Jonckheere's tally of 69, with only Robin Law (well) ahead.
Graham Rudd became the eleventh Scot to reach 40 caps. The complete list
of caps is available here.
Thanks to James Paterson who spotted an error and led me to find some
others as well! |
Second Scottish Team Record in
Pilsen |
8th May 2009 |
The Scottish team of Jon Hammond, Graham Rudd and
Neil Stirton broke the Scottish team record for the Men's Three
Positions match today in Pilsen, with scores of 1152, 1147 and 1140
respectively. This adds 12 points to the mark set by Jon, Donald
McIntosh and Martin Sinclair in 2003.
The Grand Prix runs for two more days, with Men's
Air Rifle and Women's Prone tomorrow and Women's 3x20 on Sunday. |
|
Scottish Team Record in
Pilsen |
7th May 2009 |
Neil Stirton qualified for his second international
final of the year, with a score of 597 in Pilsen today. This took
him into the final in 6th place, but he was unable to make any progress
and finished in 7th.
Neil combined with Jon Hammond on 594 and Martin
MacGill on 592 to set a new Scottish Record of 1783 for the Men's Team
of Three, adding three points to the score shot by the Scottish team who
won at this competition two years ago, and two points ahead of the
existing British Record. Today however the team were less
fortunate, ending up just off the podium in 4th, with England's score of
1786 well ahead, denying the Scots a British team record. |
|
Bronze for
Copland in Hannover |
4th May 2009 |
|
Kay Copland has returned from the ISCH competition in
Hannover with a Bronze medal in the Junior Women's Prone event. An
equal Personal Best score of 594, shot with a new rifle she has been
using for a month, tied for second place, one point off the lead,
unfortunately losing out on the Silver on the tie-break. This is
the first Scottish medal at this competition.
Elsewhere there was some positive results: James
Paterson setting a new Personal Best of 1134 in the Men's 3P; fifth
place for the Men's Prone team of Sinclair Bruce, Dave Caughey and
Martin MacGill; 15th place with 593 for Dave Caughey in the Individual
event in only his second International match, along with a solid
performance of 591 from Robin Honhold in his first year as a Senior and
Ollie Barron just one point away from the Junior Men's Prone final.
With some of the team now home, the remainder have
a day of training in Hannover and then make their way to Pilsen in the
Czech Republic for the Grand Prix of Liberation, where they will be
joined by Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond. |
|
Scottish Multi-Discipline
Shooting Championships 2009 |
4th May 2009 |
West Atholl Rifle Club are once again hosting the
Scottish Multi-Discipline Shooting Championships 2009 to be held at
Blair Atholl on 17th May. An entry form is available
here. Please note the principal
organiser this year, to whom entries should be returned, is Tony
Langford. Mike Baillie-Hamilton will also be assisting. As usual they
would be very grateful if you could circulate this entry form amongst
other target shooting clubs of which you are a member. Please also
consider cajoling two others to join you in a concurrent team of three
and enjoy a day doing something a little different to your normal
shooting. There is no need to be proficient in all four disciplines -
most entrants have only one or two stronger cards. Coaching and
equipment is available in all disciplines. |
British Universities
titles for Scots |
updated 7th May 2009 |
Aberdeen University came close to a clean sweep of the team
and individual events at the recent British Universities Championships
held at Appleton in late May. Teams from the University won the
main event for a team of eight, along with the quarter and pairs,
missing out only on the ladies
triad. Kay Copland (Aberdeen) won the Individual Championship,
with Emma Cole-Hamilton (Robert Gordons) and Robin Honhold (St Andrews)
taking second and third respectively. |
British Schools Title for
McIntosh |
4th May 2009 |
Jen McIntosh won the British Schools Smallbore Rifle
Association's short range championship, with a perfect score of 300 in
the final round. |
Short Range Championships
for Cole-Hamilton |
15th April 2009 |
Jim Cole-Hamilton has repeated his feat of winning
both the Scottish and British Short Range Prone Championships in the
same year. Jim won both events in 2002, and has achieved the same
success again in 2009, with a combined total of 799 ex 800 points across
the two finals - 399 successfully defending the "Daily Record" Scottish
event, with 400 required to take the British "News of the World"
version.
Andrew Ozmond won the U18 title Scottish title for
the Sir Harry Lauder trophy. |
|
Hammond, Rudd & Stirton
bound for Munich and Milan |
15th April 2009 |
Jon Hammond, Graham Rudd and Neil Stirton have all
been selected as part of the small GBR teams which will be competing at
the ISSF World Cups in Munich and Milan in the second half of May.
All three men will be taking part in all three events - for more details
see the British Shooting
website. |
ISAS Final for Stirton |
15th April 2009 |
Somewhat belatedly comes news from Dortmund last
month, where Neil Stirton produced the best performance in the Scottish
team, reaching the final of the Men's Prone with a score of 597.
In a tight final, with four Olympic finalist alongside him, Neil took
fifth place.
Elsewhere, there were personal bests for Jen
McIntosh in the Junior Women's 3x20 and Fraser Cheetham in the Junior
Men's Air. |
Scottish Teams for
Hannover and Pilsen |
8th April 2009 |
The following team will represent
Scotland at the second International Shooting Competition in
Hannover, from 30th April to 3rd May:
Senior Men Prone: |
Sinclair Bruce, Dave
Caughey, James Henderson, Robin Honhold, Martin MacGill,
James Paterson, Graham Rudd |
Senior Men 3x40: |
James Paterson, Graham
Rudd |
Senior Men Air: |
James Paterson, Graham
Rudd |
Senior Women Prone: |
Sheena Sharp |
Senior Women 3x20: |
Sheena Sharp |
Senior Women Air: |
Sheena Sharp |
Junior Men Prone: |
Ollie Barron, Fraser
Cheetham |
Junior Men Air: |
Fraser Cheetham |
Junior Women Prone: |
Kay Copland |
Coach: |
Donald McIntosh |
The following team will represent
Scotland at the Grand Prix of Liberation in Pilsen, from 5th to 10th
May:
Senior Men Prone: |
Dave Caughey, Jon
Hammond, James Henderson, Martin MacGill, James
Paterson, Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton |
Senior Men 3x40: |
Jon Hammond, James
Paterson, Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton |
Senior Men Air: |
Jon Hammond, James
Paterson, Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton |
Senior Women Prone: |
Sheena Sharp |
Senior Women 3x20: |
Sheena Sharp |
Senior Women Air: |
Sheena Sharp |
Coach: |
Donald McIntosh |
These rifle shooters will also be joined by pistol shooters from
SPA at both matches.
|
|
Hammond and Stirton head
for Beijing |
8th April 2009 |
Jon Hammond returns to Beijing later this month, in
the company of Neil Stirton, as the two British shooters competing in
the second ISSF World Cup of 2009. Both men will shoot in the
Men's Prone and Men's Three Positions events. |
Team for North Island,
New Zealand Match |
23rd March 2009 |
The following teams represented Scotland in the
annual postal international match against North Island, New Zealand:
Main Team:
David Cummings
Richard Simpson
Jim Cole-Hamilton
Bill Vaughan
Hugh Simpson |
Cyril De Jonckheere
John Sinclair
Eddie Jones
Mike Ozmond
Ronnie Sellar |
Ken Silver
Tom Hodgson
Andy Hay
Gary Rose
Peter Richard |
Reserve: Ian Henderson |
|
Junior Team:
Ollie Barron
Andrew Ross
Callum Rose Nikki
Sammels
Andrew Ozmond |
Reserve: Seac Malone |
|
|
Scottish Titles for Parr,
Rudd, McIntosh & Cheetham |
16th March 2009 |
The Scottish Air Rifle Championships were held over
the last two days at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan.
The Open title in the Senior Men's event went to Ken Parr, with a steady
590 in the qualification round giving him a three point lead going into
the final. Graham Rudd took second place, winning the confined
Scottish title in the process, with Robin Law second in the Confined and
third in the Open. Fraser Cheetham won the Junior Men's title
ahead of Andrew Ross.
In the Women's event Jen McIntosh was unchallenged,
winning both the Junior and Senior titles with a qualification round of
390, seven points ahead of her Mum, Shirley McIntosh. Emma
Cole-Hamilton took third place in the Senior event with Kathryn
Williamson second in the Junior.
Full results will be posted once they become
available. |
British Universities
title for Aberdeen |
16th March 2009 |
Aberdeen University won the British University &
College Sport indoor team title on Saturday, one of a number of sports
combined into a large BUCS finals event in Sheffield. The team of
Ollie Barron, Gordon Cox, Nikki Sammels, Andrew Laurie, Kay Copland and
Harry Ball defeated Southampton in the final, helped by a perfect 200
from Ollie Barron.
James Paterson, representing Southampton
University, won the Individual Short Range title with a steady 395 three
points clear. |
Coach Hammond leads WVU
to Victory |
16th March 2009 |
Scotland's Jon Hammond led his West Virginia
University team to the NCAA National Championships in the USA. Jon
has been coach at West Virginia now for three years, and had set a
target of winning these championships in five years after the
reinstatement of the Rifle programme at WVU. For more details,
visit the
WVU Mountaineers homepage. |
Speedway win for Simpson |
13th March 2009 |
Cyril De Jonckheere reports from the Speedway final,
held last Sunday at Balerno & Currie:
We had a good day with up to 4 possible winners up
to the last two details. Mike Ozmond had a good lead but allowed
it to slip in the last two squads, which meant that Richard Simpson,
Hugh Simpson and John Sinclair could catch him. Richard was
scuppered by Eddie Jones getting 198 in the last round and John faded as
he was worried about the weather getting home with rumours the A9 was
closed! Hugh duly won his match so we had a tie shoot to determine
the winner and Hugh's experience won the day 99 to 98. |
Air Grand Prix Series
wins for Law and Joyce |
13th March 2009 |
Last Sunday’s Air GP at Glenrothes brought to
a close the GP series for 2008/09. The air rifle series winner was Robin
Law, who has won every year since the inception of the competition,
congratulations are surely due here. The Air Pistol winner was as
usual down to the wire and the winner was Mark Joyce. I offer my
congratulations to all who have participated, and ask you all to try
again in the 2009/10 series. Jim McIntosh. |
Callander Centenary Shoot
- Top Prize �100 |
13th March 2009 |
Callander Target Sports Club
is celebrating it's Centenary this year with a special Prize Shoot.
In order to be fair to all classes A, B, C & D, we have allocated the
same prize money to each:
1st �100
2nd �50
3rd �25
Following the return of your
entry form - which can be downloaded
here - the relevant
number of stickers will be issued for shooting on any day
up-to-and-including Sunday 29th March 2009. The cards will then be
returned to an independent marker (Ian Gray from the Perthshire
Association) for marking. We would like to wish you and your
shooters - good luck and good shooting.
John W Russell
Perthshire Match Secretary
Callander Target Sports Club |
Scots head for Dortmund |
3rd March 2009 |
The Scottish team will return to Dortmund this month,
attending the annual ISAS match held on the excellent indoor facilities
operated by the Westphalian Shooting Federation. The following
team is attending:
Senior Women's Prone, 3x20 & Air |
Sheena Sharp |
Junior Women's Prone, 3x20 & Air |
Jennifer
McIntosh |
Senior Men's Prone |
Sinclair Bruce, Dave Caughey,
Robin Honhold, Martin MacGill, Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton |
Junior Men's Prone |
Fraser Cheetham, Rory McAlpine |
Senior Men's 3x40 & Air |
Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton |
Junior Men's Air |
Fraser Cheetham |
Coach |
Donald McIntosh |
|
British Championship
Medals for Rudd & McIntosh |
23rd February 2009 |
There were medals in the Senior Men's Air Rifle and
Junior Women's Air Rifle events yesterday at the British Air Rifle
Championships at Bisley. Graham Rudd took the Bronze in the Men's
event, his fourth podium finish in this event in the last six years.
Jen took the Silver in the Junior Women's event, which she had won last
year, after a very close final that saw the lead change hands three
times. Jen also won Class A in the Aggregate competitions, her
third successive Aggregate win. The Scottish team of
Graham, Jen and debutant Neil Stirton were second in the Home Countries
International Match, and unfortunately we were unable to field a Ladies
team. |
Shooting Team Manager -
Commonwealth Games 2010 |
23rd February 2009 |
|
Scottish Target Shooting, in conjunction
with Commonwealth Games Scotland, are seeking applications for the
position of Sport Team Leader for Shooting at the 2010 Commonwealth
Games.
Additionally, Scottish Target Shooting require
that the appointed Team Leader also fulfil the role of overall Team
Manager for the multi-disciplinary Shooting team that will represent
Scotland at the next Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships,
which will be held in Delhi in February of 2010.
Click
here for more
information. |
|
|
21st
January 2009 |
Two of the young Scots who won medals in October’s
Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India kept up their medal haul as part of Team
GB in last weekend’s Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF).
Lasswade’s Rory McAlpine, bronze medallist in India, won the gold in the
Men's 50m prone rifle event this time around in Sydney.
Falkirk's Jennifer McIntosh, silver medallist in India and daughter of former
Commonwealth Games medallist Shirley McIntosh, took the bronze in the Women's 3
Position Rifle, just behind Sheree Cox, the English girl she finished second to
in in Pune.
Their medals contributed to an outstanding Team GB haul of 68 - 26 gold, 16
silver and 26 bronze medals.
“I trained incredibly hard for this, I managed to stay relaxed and I’m
relieved more than anything that all the work has paid off,” said Rory, after
stepping of the plane at Edinburgh Airport today.
McAlpine, who turned 18 last week, showed steely nerves when two of his
targets jammed in the final. As a consequence he finished his match 45 minutes
after the field but still he produced an impressive 591 points from a possible
600. He was followed into second by Northern Ireland’s Mathew Hall.
“On my first target, the rubber on the target stopped which meant the scoring
wasn’t accurate so I had to move to another one,” said McAlpine. “The same thing
started happening to that one as well so I had to move to another one to finish.
It took a lot longer but the main thing I had to do was keep focussed and keep
going.
“I’ve only ever had 591 points in one previous competition and I’m very happy
with the score.”
Finishing third in the Women’s 3 Positions was especially pleasing for
McIntosh, following on from her fifth place in the air rifle event.
“It feels pretty good and it was a good confidence boost after my air rifle
which didn’t go as well as I’d hoped,” she said.
“It gives you that extra push you need now and again to remind you “yes you
can do this,” and it makes you want it more. Now I feel I really want to go back
to the range and train harder than I did before.
“Yes I got bronze but I want gold. It helps a lot with that drive to train
and do better.”
“It was a great experience to be part of a British team that did really well
and all the shooters came away with a medal.”
Supporting both athletes in their endeavours is the Scottish Area Institute
of Sport network - its expert teams work together to deliver essential support
services locally in sports medicine, sports science and strength and
conditioning.
“I’m getting physiotherapy support as well as Strength & Conditioning
training and I shoot a lot better as a result of going to the gym on a regular
basis,” said McIntosh, a member of the Central Scotland Institute of Sport.
McAlpine, supported by the East of Scotland Institute of Sport, said,
“Shooting is mostly in your head so it’s good to have the psychology support.
I’ve had a meeting to discuss Strength & Conditioning training, which I’ll start
pretty soon.”
The AYOF provided the perfect opportunity for McAlpine and McIntosh to
prepare for a major Games and test themselves against the best in the world. The
experience was highly beneficial to both shooters.
“London 2012 would be incredible but there are a lot of good male prone
shooters in Britain, so 2016 could be a more realistic ambition,” said McAlpine.
“It was an amazing experience, to be part of such a successful team and be
around athletes from so many different sports, get a taste of an Olympic
experience.” |
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International Matches
Winter 2009 |
6th January 2009 |
Graham Rudd will represent Scotland at the 10m Grand
Prix in Pilsen between 15th and 17th January, and again at Intershoot in
The Hague between 5th and 8th February, where he will be joined by James
Paterson. |
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