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The scores for Round 4 of the SSRA Team Prone League and for the early rounds of the SSRA Prone League are now available on the Domestic Results page
All five Scots who parachuted into Bisley at the weekend emerged with passes in the ISSF National Rifle Judges course, hosted by instructors David Goodfellow from British Shooting and David Parish ISSF Technical Delegate for Rifle and Pistol. Congratulations to John Buchanan, Iain Malone, Jim McIntosh, Gavin Walker and Colin Watson.
The full results for both disciplines from the latest Air Grand Prix, at Denwood, are now available here for Pistol and here for Rifle. Mark Joyce from Forres won through in the ISSF-style Pistol final with as score of 541 + 84.8 and Emma Cole-Hamilton from Bon-Accord took the honours in Rifle with 576+99.
Watsonian Rifle Club are hosting their annual Open Meeting on March 12 and 13. The competition 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 15s, there are also Veterans, Ladies and Team competitions. And of course there is a trip to the Bun Room, not to be missed for those not on a diet. Entry forms can be found here, or for more details, contact secretary Beverley Burnside here.
The results for the first three rounds of this competition are now available on the Domestic Results page
The drive for a dedicated Scottish Target Shooting Centre that is fit for purpose for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and beyond moved up a gear with Scottish Government backing for the Morton Clays scenario. Read the Edinburgh Evening News article here
Following the postponement of the NSRA's Rifle Judges Course in the wave of snowy weather in the first week of December, a new date of 22-23 January has been put forward.
Robin Law took the honours in the second SSRA Air Grand Prix of the season. His score of 573+100.8 edged out Steven Watterson who scored 571+98.6. Results from the Air Rifle event can be found here and the Pistol event, won by Mark Joyce from Forres, here.
SSRA members may be asking where on Earth competition stickers for the various postal 2010-11events have got to...ssra.co.uk has been advised that they are in the process of being posted out to entrants. If anyone feels that they have not been sent the correct stickers they should contact executive@ssra.co.uk without delay. Regarding times and the inevitable problems caused by the weather in submitting cards, entrants should check with the individual scorers nominated for each competition.
The NSRA has been forced to postpone this weekend's Rifle Judges Course due to the inclement weather and the disruption to travel links with airports closed, train services decimated and road conditions uncertain. The NSRA's David Goodfellow commented: "Having just consulted with David Parish we have reluctantly agreed to postpone the course until early in the New Year, at a date to be arranged. The most likely alternative dates will be one of the weekends in February. "I apologise for the inconvenience caused by this decision as I know that some will most likely incur expenses in cancelling travel and/or accommodation costs, but I think that we have had to make the decision sooner rather than leave it until the last minute so as to give you a chance to notify clubhouses or hotels, etc. of non-arrival. I would hate to think of any of you getting into difficulties in a stalwart attempt to get to Bisley." Course applicants are urged to post or e-mail their pre-course exercises to Goodfellow over the week-end so that he can mark them in advance of the re-arranged course.
Jon Hammond was awarded Clydesdale Male Athlete of the Games, with a £1000 prize, and this was matched by Jen McIntosh who was named the Clydesdale Bank Female Athlete of the Games. Hammond is Scotland’s most successful individual athlete at a single Games winning two gold medals, a silver and a bronze while McIntosh became the most successful Scottish female at a single Commonwealth Games with two golds and a bronze. Neil Stirton, left, accepted the Male Athlete award on behalf of Jon Hammond. Scottish Sportsperson of the Year 2010 was swimmer Hannah Miley, who won 400m Individual Medley gold in Delhi. Both Stirton and McIntosh will appear on BBC2 Scotland's Sport Monthly programme on Saturday December 4 at 5.55pm. Click here to read the BBC online report and here to watch video of the programme.
The SSRA is constantly on the look-out for ways to support its members and, of course, to welcome new ones. The association has now entered into co-operation with RWS ammunition via RUAG Ammotec UK Ltd which will supply R50 0.22 rounds and air pellets as prizes during the SSRA grands prix season and postal competitions - with substantial amounts on offer to the winners of all classes. Look out for more details on what the SSRA can do for you at your local club soon.
Five Scots are studying hard for an ISSF Rifle Judges licence which could put them on the road to Glasgow 2014 and, before that, the chance to be involved in the London Olympics - and they hope to be the first of many from north of the Border.
Clearly, these five pathfinders must be backed up by many more. It is understood that should sufficient demand be expressed to British Shooting, a second rifle judges course will be held in Spring 2011 and potentially in Scotland. Don't delay, log your interest in a course by going to http://www.britishshooting.org.uk/content/view/243/39/Fill in the application form British Shooting application form on screen. Save it to your computer, and then send it as an attachment to the e-mail address on the form, judges@britishshooting.org.uk
Manxman's Steven Watterson won the opening Air Grand Prix of the 2010-11 season at Callander. The Edinburgh-based shooter, who represented IoM at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, won the A class from Robin Law, while B class was taken by Kathryn Williamson, from Mark Joyce and Jamie Hodgson. The fun started in D class where we had the veteran Cyril De Jonckheere trying to fend off some relative newcomers in the shape of Mike and Andrew Ozmond. Mike took the honours with a 501 having only started shooting Air last week - which just goes to show that it is not as hard as it seems to get up from the prone to standing. We do need a lot more to try it. The Pistol event started in B class with Bruce McIntosh and Mark Joyce pushing each other along, McIntosh taking round one. In the other classes Bill Hamilton won C Class from newcomer Fiona Shedden and her shiny new Morini pistol. Overall this was a good meeting with the level of banter and comradeship at its best as it should be. Results for Air Rifle can be found here and Air Pistol here.
The selections for the 2010-2011 'A', Fast Track, 'B' and Under-21 squads are now available on the Squads & Athletes page
The club's annual Open shoot will be staged on 13-14 November and anyone wishing more details on how to enter should contact club secretary Alasdair Horne here.
The NSRA club instructors course held at Balerno & Currie
over the weekend has been declared a resounding success thanks to the diligent
teaching of coaches Sinclair Bruce and Ian Thomson, Readyaimfire!: Ian Thomson, left, and Sinclair Bruce, far right, with the batch of new club instructors
Meanwhile, target shooters across the country have the chance to cast their vote for the Commonwealth Games heroes at the sportscotland Sports Awards 2010 on Thursday 2 December at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel. Sponsored by the Sunday Mail, the event will celebrate excellence in Scotland's sportsmen, women and teams for their outstanding achievements. To vote for the sporting star you feel has contributed most to their sport this year click here.
“It’s been an incredible Games for shooting," said Hammond. "Once we got a few medals it was good for morale. On the rifle side to pick up so many medals, particularly in the 3P was huge. We’ve always been strong in prone and we knew we’d have medal opportunities so that put us in a good frame of mind and maybe lifted a bit of pressure early on. To get four golds out of four in the prone events is just fantastic." Head coach Donald McIntosh described the medal haul as “beyond my wildest dreams”. As for Watt, she has been a devoted member of Team Scotland since 1970, as a volunteer, physio and team leader. Starting as a physio at the Edinburgh games of that year, Joan has also worked as a physio for athletics and shooting. She is the team leader for shooting in Delhi, and has played a major part in their success. “I’m very proud of the whole team,” she said. “They’ve all worked so hard, and it’s fantastic to see them getting the praise that they really deserve. It is very good for shooting, and I hope that it will influence the future in terms of facilities and funding.” Shirley took time to comment on
Watt's contribution to the sport,
describing her as "one
of the unsung heroes of Scottish sport". "While there has been a great
fuss about Willie Wood's eighth games, And Shirley has one more memorable Games moment to come. In 1994 when she returned from the Games with her gold medals she was greeted at the airport by a very young Jen, shown at right. When the new Commonwealth Ladies champion returns at the weekend history will have come full circle.
Colin Watson would like to thank all those who made coverage of the Games campaign so up to the minute and ahead of other media sources. Special thanks go to Graham Rudd for his diary and those coaches and athletes who helped out with their help, information, early morning texts and "error-checking" to provide the best, fairest, and most accurate coverage of a historic campaign both here and in print, radio and television. SSRA.co.uk: Bringing you the latest news, views and results in Scottish target shooting from Denwood to Dortmund to Delhi.
Jon Hammond has won his second gold medal of the Commonwealth Games with victory in the final of the 50m Men's Prone event. Hammond scored 696.9 after the final round to edge out
Australia's Warren Potent who scored 695.4 for the silver medal. The bronze went
to Northern Ireland's Matthew Hall with 694.1 while Hammond's “It was just a great day," said Hammond, pictured centre right with Warren Potent and Matthew Hall. "Yesterday was fantastic, winning the pairs with Neil. Today I just wanted to have a good match and see what happened. I would have been pretty delighted just to have got a medal and come away with a medal in each event. To win it and to beat Warren in the final, who one of the best shooters in the world; is really satisfying.”
And there were more medals today: Angus McLeod and Ian Shaw took the silver medal in the pairs full bore open final.
Two golds in 24 hours for Jen McIntosh who scored a fantastic 597 to win the Women's 50m
Prone this morning, coming three points clear of India's Tejaswini Sawant
and four clear of Wales' Johanne “I don’t really know how to differentiate between the two [golds]," she added. "Yesterday was great because I got to share the moment with Kay in the pairs, which is something that you don’t get to do all that often in shooting. This one is really special though." Not to be outdone, Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond took Pairs gold with a score of 1181, seeing off England's Mike Babb and Richard Wilson who scored 1178 as well as the Australian pairing of Warren Potent and David Clifton who had 1174. “It was a tricky day today with the wind, and all the scores were a bit lower than we were expecting,” said Hammond. “We had to fight through it and I’m glad we came out on top. It’s great to have gone up one step at a time. To collect a full set of medals at my first Commonwealth Games is really special and it’s something I’ll cherish forever.” Once again Scottish shooters are to the fore with widespread media coverage on radio, television, the web and in print. Wednesday will see Hammond and Stirton back in action in the individual event. Results are available here
"It was pretty tough. It wasn't easy out there," said
McIntosh. "The wind was up. It was quite strong. It is an absolutely incredible
feeling to win. Very satisfying. I hoped we were capable of gold but I didn't
quite expect it." Copland said: "It's a total shock to win." Their victory means the title stays in Scottish hands after
Susan Jackson and Sheena Sharp won the the event in Melbourne in 2006. Jen
follows in the footsteps of her mother Shirley who won a gold in the 1994 Games
in Victoria, Canada. . “I’m thrilled to bits with the two of them," said coach Donald McIntosh. "Jen shot really well. It was a really controlled performance and I’m really happy with that. Kay had a bit of a tough time with the wind, which was a bit of a surprise because she’s a very experienced and very tough wind shooter. One thing about these Commonwealth Games pairs is that you don’t know what anyone else is doing, and every point matters. She dug in and finished with three tens, which was what she needed to take gold." And he is busy preparing the pair for Tuesday's Prone individual shoot: “They need to go and get their heads together. Jen is coming off the back of a great score and Kay is coming off the back of what was a relatively poor score for her, so there’s conflicting emotions. Our job is to get them rested, and get their heads in the right place for them to have a crack at it.”
For detailed results click here. Picture courtesy Steve Lindridge/Ideal Images
Jon Hammond netted the smallbore team's first silver medal
today in the Men's 3P rifle. His score of 1164 + 91.3 for a total of 1255.3 in
the final got the better of England shooter James Huckle's 1254.9, while “I didn’t feel I had the best of finals so to come away with the silver medal is great,” said Hammond, who is based in Virginia. "It’s been a fantastic start to competition for me with medals in my first two events. I’ve been working really hard on my 3P scoring for the past two or three years to try and improve. It was a great experience for me to reach a final, and compete against some of these guys.” Referring to the Prone events which begin on Tuesday he added: "The prone is my favoured event, and I’ve qualified for the Olympics events before so I’ll look to carry on from here.” There was also silver for Scotland's clay shooters too thanks to Shona Marshall in Trap.
"We’ve both been shooting really well and we had high hopes for today, but it’s a great feeling to come away with a medal in my first match at a Commonwealth Games," said Hammond. “It came down to the wire," said Stirton. "We tied with England and lost out on inner tens so that’s less than 1mm over 240 shots. It’s very close so we’re slightly disappointed not to take the silver, but we’re both delighted to come away with a medal anyway. It’s another medal for Team Scotland so hopefully it’ll boost morale within the team and make everyone proud at home.” Results: India 2325 points (106 x-bulls), England 2308 (105x), Scotland 2308 (104x), Malaysia 2289 (84x), Australia 2277 (86x), Bangladesh 2277 (86x), St Helena 2277 (83x).
In her second quest for medals this week, Jen McIntosh made it to the final of the Women's Three-Position rifle, only to finish in fifth place with a final ten shots of 96.0. She qualified for the final in fourth place with a score of 571. Her partner in pairs glory on Tuesday, Kay Copland, just narrowly missed out in the qualifying round, her score of 567 leaving her in 11th place. The event was won by Alethea Sedgman of Australia with an overall score of 575+101, with Singapore's Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei second and compatriot Aqilah Sudhir taking the bronze medal. For detailed results click here to download the PDF(select the Reports drop-down menu and click on Results)
Coach Sinclair Bruce advises that this course is now fully booked for 16-17 October
Edinburgh's Graham Rudd came up short in his bid for 10m air
rifle glory, finishing 11th in qualification with a score of 584. "I felt
the performance was good considering the amount of changes I've made recently
(new cheekpiece, sights, tube, shooting glasses and hand position!). It's
beginning to feel really steady at times so with more training I think my scores
will improve greatly," he said.
Kay Copland, left, and Jen McIntosh took the bronze in the Women's 50m 3P Pairs, an event won by Singapore with India second.
After picking up her first Commonwealth Games medal McIntosh said: “I’m obviously delighted to have won a medal, though it’s a bit disappointing to come away with bronze rather than silver or gold." And Copland added: "I'm really happy with the result. I had no idea it was so close, but it's a great feeling to come away with a medal." McIntosh was one of the first shooters to complete all three positions, leaving her with the unenviable task of watching her partner finish. It was a tense half hour with the medal places changing after almost every shot. “It was absolutely terrifying watching Kay shoot that last sequence,” she said. “It’s always the worst part for me”. Despite being alone in action, Kay was aware that there could be a lot riding on her last few points: “It was running through my head that there could be just a few points between gold; silver, bronze and fourth, but I was trying not to think about it too much." Jen’s dad and coach, Donald McIntosh was proud of the pair’s performance, saying: “It was a pretty tough day and the scores are actually pretty low. The girls fought well through the wind and came away with a medal which is great. There was the pressure of the occasion to deal with as well and a level of expectation about medals. There was plenty of adrenaline flowing between the two of them today.” The duo will be back in action on Thursday in the 50m 3P singles event. For detailed scores on this event visit the Sius Ascor site. For details on the event scheduling during the Games, please visit the Commonwealth Games site. And click on the logo for the first part of the exclusive SSRA diary from Delhi.
Aberdeen's Neil Stirton savoured the evening's spectacular opening ceremony and declared: “To step out into the stadium again for Scotland was an incredible feeling. Looking up and seeing the saltires in the crowd brought back some warm memories, and the show was truly spectacular. It’s great knowing that the Games are underway, and I can’t wait to get out to the range to start competing.” Cyclist Ross Edgar led Team Scotland into the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as the XIX Commonwealth Games officially got underway. It was, said Edgar, “a really proud moment, and up there with the best experiences I’ve ever had in sport.
F urther to the article from 9 January 2010 on the plans for an ISSF Judges course on these shores, it has now been agreed that a Rifle Judges course will be run at Bisley on the weekend of 4-5 December 2010.Additionally, a course for Pistol Judges has also been set up with a date of 20-21st November confirmed. 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. In excess of 127 officials may be required for the various categories of Juries, Appeal, Full Bore, ISSF, Pistol, Shotgun and Classification. 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. 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 apply for the judging course follow these instructions: Go to http://www.britishshooting.org.uk/content/view/243/39/ Fill in the application form British Shooting application form on screen. Save it to your computer, and then send it as an attachment to the e-mail address on the form, judges@britishshooting.org.uk
Jon Hammond, left, with Neil Stirton
Team Scotland’s
shooting team have arrived safely in Delhi. The athletes were whisked through
the accreditation process quickly and smoothly to find their luggage waiting for
them and transport on hand to transfer them to their accommodation in the
Village and after a short 40 minute, traffic-jam fr Jonathan Hammond commented: “The Village has been a pleasant surprise. We were concerned about it but the Management Team has really taken care of things and everything seems comfortable and welcoming. I think we have everything we need to be able to get down to some training and focus on our events.” Team Scotland Chef de Mission Jon Doig was the first to welcome them to their new home for the next three weeks and said: “We are all delighted to be able to welcome the first of Team Scotland’s athletes to Delhi today. Our General Management Team have been working hard to ensure facilities are in a suitable condition for the athletes, and now that the Team has started to arrive it feels like our hard work is really paying off.”
Jennifer McIntosh says her goodbyes to her younger sister Seonaid at Glasgow Airport Photograph: Craig Williamson/SNS Group
Dave Caughey took yet more honours when he won the Fife & Kinross Outdoor Open, hosted by the Perth range. Results are available here
It has been confirmed that Scotland's shooting teams will
begin their journey to Delhi on Saturday 25 September, putting an end to
concerns that the departure would be delay
Commonwealth Games Scotland is aware of the shooting incident
on a tourist bus in north Delhi on the morning of 19 September and received a
security briefing along with the other home nations.
The Fife & Kinross Outdoor Open, hosted by the Perth range on 25 September, might be your final opportunity to compete outdoors before the indoor season begins. Click here for entry forms.
There were class wins for Dave Caughey in A, Graham Shedden in B, Iain Malone in C (just edging out his son Seoc) and Charles Allan in D. The C&D final was won by Carlisle's Brian Duffy-Cooke. Allan also won the trophy for the C&D class GP series. Full scores are available here Click here for the final standings in the series. All smiles: Winner Dave Caughey accepts some malt whisky to soothe his tired muscles after a long day
There was a depleted entry in this the last 3P Grand Prix of
the year at Denwood, but a very nice prone from James Henderson, only
dropping one point out of 400, really put the icing on the cake after fiancee
Sarah Bates won the McIntosh Cup for the series of 3x20.
It was agreed at the Balerno & Currie club AGM that an NSRA club instructors' course will be held at the range over the the weekend of 16-17 October. Places will be limited so please apply to Sinclair Bruce for more details of the requirements.
The wind was one of the winners in challenging conditions at the Grampian Open and SSRA Grand Prix IV at Denwood. Gusts, rain and plummeting temperatures were the order of the day as quilts and travel blankets were pressed into service. The actual event was won - after a tieshoot won by Dave Caughey against James Henderson to earn the eighth place in the final - by Kay Copland with 590+105.9. Full scores for the event can be found here. The C&D class final, however, was won by Watten's Gregor Bremner with 585 ahead of Steven Gemmell from Perth on 583 and Alloa's Andrew Ozmond with 579.Earlier, there were class wins for Steven Gemmell in class D, Gregor Bremner in class C, Tom Hodgson in class B and John Sinclair in class A. The three-position events, staged the previous day, saw Jen McIntosh win the ladies 3x20 event and Neil Stirton the men's 3x40. Click here for results. With the season's final grand prix at Gagie on Sunday 5 September there is still much to play for in the championships. View the state of play here.
Results from this event, held at Alloa & District's Tullygarth range on 21 August, are now available here.
The MOD's fullbore range at Barry Buddon near Carnoustie has been selected to host all shooting events for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. After a great deal of wrangling during which the Strathclyde Police firearms training facility at Jackton was considered along with a late bid for a custom-built target shooting centre at Morton Clays near Livingston, the decision has been made to adapt Barry Buddon for small bore events as well as shotgun and fullbore. It is understood that the electronic targetry equipment and relevant buildings will be hired from the London 2012 Olympics organisers who are currently working to build a temporary shooting venue at Woolwich. Glasgow City Council, responsible for funding the 2014 Commonwealth Games, have a budget believed to be in the region of £4.25 million for shooting events, and will hope to save on the equipment costs as a result. However, the facility at Barry Buddon is a strictly temporary one and will be dismantled following the Games. Just as the London organisers faced a barrage of criticism following the decision to ignore the "legacy" concept - regarded as an integral part of taking up the staging of any Olympics - so the organisers of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games are likely to face similar disgruntlement from the target rifle community. "We are now being told that should Scotland care to come up with the financial difference between the leasing of the equipment and the purchase price we may get the equipment for 2014," a source close to the project told ssra.co.uk. "So if it comes to pass, Glasgow and Scotland will have to pay the costs twice in order to fulfil the requirements for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in this time of austerity within the UK. With the bill for the London Olympics possibly going to reach £20 billion, and Glasgow £600 million I think we have learned nothing from the errors in the past created for both Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh."
There was plenty of success for Scottish shooters at the
NSRA's Lord Roberts meeting at Bisley. Sarah Bates won the BOBS ( B,C,D final of
the Roberts), also B class Life and Annual members. Kathryn Williamson won Comp
1 and Comp 4 in D class and was 2nd in D class aggregate. She was also highest
scoring lady in D class. "I was surprised myself at how I managed to cope at Bisley, being so new to prone," Williamson said. "I definitely learnt a lot in the two weeks I was down there and I'm now looking forward to putting that into practice in coming weeks. I'm really pleased to have raised my PB from 564 (which I got at the ISSF at Denwood) and to 576 at the Grand Prix and then up to 580 on the Cooper range for a Double English match the next week." Charles Allen described his outing as a tough but ultimately successful week, picking up the Centenary competition, Class B, trophy. "I was ninth overall in the B Class aggregate, gaining promotion back to A for next year. For me personally, the highlight was being selected to shoot for Scotland in the Home International for the first time."
From left: Graham Shedden. Kathryn Williamson, Sarah Bates, Sheena Sharp, Charles Allan and James Henderson.
From left: Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton, Kay Copland, Jon Hammond and Jen McIntosh A strong line-up for Delhi as part of Scotland's
Commonwealth Games team has been announced.
With a great shooting sports reputation at the
Commonwealth Games - Edinburgh's Susan Jackson and Aberdeen's Sheena Sharp
won two golds at the 2006 Melbourne Games - McIntosh and co have
a tremendous opportunity to add to Scotland's medal haul in India in
October.
Full shooting squad:
Drew Christie
(Skeet Individual & Pairs)
From left, Andrew Ozmond, Seoc Malone and Fraser Cheetham
Jen McIntosh did the honours for the GB team with bronze in the Junior Women's
50m Prone in a nail-biting contest in Munich. Level on a score of 594 with an
equal count on inner 10s - 44 X
On Monday, in one of the highest standard final qualifiers ever seen, the Scots trio of Matthew Thomson, Neil Stirton, Jon Hammond fell agonisingly short of reaching the 50m Men's Prone final. Stirton scored 596 as did Thomson and Hammond scored 595, but it was not enough as the all the eight finalists scored 598 or above. Matthew Emmons made it through but there was no room for Warren Potent. In the end the title was won by Sergei Martynov of Belarus whose 104.9 was enough to triumph ahead of France's Valerian Sauveplane by 0.1 points, with Emmons third. The three senior men had made it past the elimination round with Stirton scoring 594, Hammond and Thomson 593 each. Ollie Barron shot 585 in the Junior Men's event to also make it through. He improved that in the Individual round, delivering a highly-impressive 592 but that too was not enough for a medal. For more detailed scores, visit sius ascor or via the ISSF's own site. So close: Stirton, Thomson, Hammond/ Photos courtesy Donald McIntosh and Wolfgang Schreiber
Competitors from the Alloa & District club swept the boards with class wins in A,B,C and D at the new two-day 50m Open Challenge event. Robin Law took A class with 590, Billy Crawford B class with 578, Willie McAulay C class with 578 and Ted Bear D class with 561. For full results, click here.
“Glasgow 2014 is no longer a distant prospect, the venues and infrastructure are rising from the ground here in Glasgow and all across Scotland people are getting involved and feeling the excitement that the Games will bring. As part of this the Scottish Government’s Games legacy plan aims to inspire everyone in Scotland to get involved and take advantage of this unique opportunity to become a healthier nation," said Shona Robison, minister for public health and sport. The project will cost up to £144,000 and includes funding from Commonwealth Games Scotland and an award of £20,000 from sportscotland.
July 17 and 18 saw the Scottish 50m Championship staged at Denwood in Aberdeen, the overall Prone title won by Sinclair Bruce who held his nerve in the ten-shot final, the first Scottish prone final to be staged entirely using electronic targets, and held off the challenge of Matthew Thomson by a mere 0.1 points. With the selection process for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi
looming, there was more at stake than the small matter of Scottish titles. In a
day of light b Graham Rudd won the Men's Three-Position title with a steady display at Denwood. His final score of 1243.3 was just too strong for James Paterson, with 1209.7, and Andrew Ross, with 1208.4, to catch. The Women's Prone title was won by the Croydon club's Jenny Corish with 597, and impressive performance with four 100 "possibles" in her sixty-shot match, which edged out Lara Ward on 591 and Emma Cole-Hamilton on 589. Provisional results are available here.
Pictured left, Graham Rudd picks up his prize from Equipment Control officer Eddie Thorne while Welsh international Jenny Corish gets hold of a guid Scottish souvenir to go with her trophy. And pride of place goes to Sinclair Bruce, right, who spent much of the day "grazing" before winning the Prone title.
This new addition to the SSRA calendar will be held by Alloa & District Rifle Club at Tullygarth range on Saturday 31 July and Sunday 1 August. The first detail will commence at 9am sharp with the final detail each day at 6.30pm. An entry form can be downloaded here and all are welcome. Just one proviso - please bring target clips!
Plans have been unveiled in the Edinburgh Evening News for a national shooting centre in West Lothian which could play host to events at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.The proposal, put forward by the Scottish Target Shooting Federation, has secured the support of Lothian and Borders Police. SSRA performance manager Sinclair Bruce gives his thoughts on the bid in the article, which also made the front page and the leader.
Andrew Ross won the 3x40 Men's Three-Position event in the third grand prix of the season at Denwood. The Edinburgh man edged out James Henderson and now has a healthy lead in the series. Jen McIntosh won the Women's 3x20, beating Kay Copland by just 0.5 points. Full results can be found here.
There was a second consecutive tenth placing at a World Cup for Jen McIntosh today, her 579 with poor standing but the best kneeling on the range leaving her two points off the final in Belgrade. This performance came hard on the heels of her showing at Fort Benning in Georgia. Full results details can be found here.
The final itself saw Jackson, Seoc Malone and L Thomson make the early running in the 60-shot 100 yard event. Sharp pulled herself back into the contention though with a superb third card and drew level with Jackson to force the tie-shoot. For the full NSRA results package, click here. Sharp has now followed in the footsteps of her brother Bill who won the Haig at the Scottish when it was held in Lauder in 1989. The win marked the climax of a Scottish meeting where the wind played a major part but not, fortunately, the weather, with high temperatures almost every day.
From left, Ian Henderson accepts the Patriotic Shield as part of the winning Forth & Clyde County Sextette team; Seoc Malone picks up one of several trophies won by him and the Clachnacuddin club; Sinclair Bruce on his way to "filling the back seat of his car" with one of at least ten awards; Graham Shedden takes the New Zealand Challenge Shield on behalf of Dumfries. Pictures courtesy Geoff Doe/NSRA The Scots scooped a remarkable number of the awards from what was an event contested by shooters from all over Britain.Other notable successes included the win for the father and son team of Iain and Seoc Malone who, competing under the moniker of the Country Bumpkins, defeated a George Watson's pairing in the final of the Sharpshooters contest, where the object was to knock out a series of clay discs against the clock. That success could perhaps be attributed to the traditional dietary supplement of porridge - made the "proper" way, poured into a drawer! Scotland Under-25 squad coach Sinclair Bruce, who finished fourth in the Earl Haig and ended the meeting with enough silverware to fill his back seat, was rewarded for all his hard work over the year, including his new role as Performance Manager, with the "unofficial" presentation of a specially printed t-shirt (thanks to Karen Nilsen). Details of this fortunately strictly limited edition t-shirt are available from the webmaster.
Scotland completed a clean sweep of victories against England
at Lauder today with wins in the main team event, the Ladies event and the
Juniors match In the main event Scotland won by 184 off to England's 193. The Ladies won by 103 to 118, while the Juniors came out on top by 74 to 101. For full results, click here. Cliff Ogle must take a deal of credit for the wins, as he acted as wind coach and his incisive comments and directions on the ever-changing wind at the range made the shooters' job easier (to the uninitiated the commentary sounds rather like a shipping forecast on Radio 4) . No wonder the man who has "Bones" stitched on the back of his shooting jacket and who has a reputation for, ahem, time keeping, greeted the team with a smile and the quip "Hello, fans".
 Left, the main team, centre, the Ladies team and right, the winning Juniors side
The annual match against the Army has been a tradition for
many years but has been sporadic recently due to the number of Army team members
being posted abroad. We agreed this year to hold it at Lauder on Sunday
afternoon, since most of the Army team were travelling only for the match. We
use it as a training match and try to match both teams' abilities to provide a
close match. This year we matched 2xA , 1xB and 2xD class. Unfortunately one of
the Army team's A class shooters was delayed in Kenya so we had to drop one of
our scores. The overall score was Scotland dropped 156 points against the Army
team 185 points on an English match, shot in a very strong and difficult wind.
Meanwhile, the Scotland team to take on England at 10am on Friday morning has been unveiled Main team: AS Bruce, J Paterson, WA Copland, Miss K Copland, WT Vaughan, TF Hodgson, CG De Jonckheere, JG Shedden, RR Simpson, R Law. Reserve: Ms SM Sharp. Ladies team: Miss K Copland, Ms SM Sharp, Mrs SM Jackson, Mrs MT Melvin, Mrs K King. Reserve: Mrs F Shedden. Juniors team: Miss K Copland, ST Malone, AWJ Ozmond. Reserve: JF Barron.
SSRA chairman Ian Thomson presents Susan Jackson with the Wilkinson Sword trophy
The finalists who have qualified to contest Friday's Earl Haig trophy at Thirlestane Castle near Lauder are: From Squad 1: L Thomson 385, SJM Sandground 380, JF Smith 379, WT Vaughan 378, KL King 378, AS Bruce 376, MJ Ozmond 374, E Brown 374, S Gemmell 372, J Paterson, 372. Squad 2: WMJ Cole-Hamilton 383, R Law 379, SM Jackson 379, KA Copland 377, WA Copland 377, SM Sharp, 377, GR Mortimer 376, CG De Jonckheere (pictured relaxing) 375, ST Malone 375, IS Henderson 374. Finalists to contest the C+D class final are: From Squad 1: L Thomson 385, S Gemmell 372, SJ Blackwood 371, MG Rennie 370, Squad 2: ST Malone 375, IS Henderson 374, WD Allan 371, F Shedden 371.
WHEN things are not going well on the range, it always helps to have someone to talk through the problems with. When American Matt Emmons, one of the world's top competitors, finished eighth in the 2004 Athens Olympics Three-Position final after firing at the wrong target, he was was consoled by Czech shooter Katerina Kurkova. Just a few months later Ms Kurkova became Mrs Emmons so clearly that was one kind of couples therapy that worked out in the end - but how do our own home-grown shooting couples get on in Scotland? To find out more and what Matt Emmons has to say on the subject, plus who said: "I’m the kit geek, I do my own thing", click here.
Scots to the fore: From left, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matt Thomson, Ollie Barron, Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh
Six Scots athletes have been named in the team to represent Great Britain at the 50th ISSF World Championships, which will be held in Munich from 29 July to 9 August. For full details of the team and their events, click here.
The SSRA's AGM will be held at Lauderdale Hotel, 1 Edinburgh Road, Lauder TD2 6TW on Saturday 26 June at 7.30pm, the first night of the NSRA's Scottish meeting. Amongst the items on the agenda will be the two vacancies on the SSRA council. The Development Officer position has been vacant for a couple of years, since Jim Cole-Hamilton resigned. The Performance Manager vacancy is currently filled by Sinclair Bruce, but needs to go to a vote at the AGM. Members can be nominated but must be present at the meeting or have offered their acceptance in writing before the meeting. Job Descriptions for both posts are available on the Contacts page.
Alloa & District held their first "Triple Dewar" competition on Sunday 20 June and organiser and contact club secretary William McAulay declared the event a great success. A sizeable entry saw competitors from as far afield as Dumfries attend what was an ideal event to act as a dress rehearsal for the NSRA's forthcoming Scottish meeting at Lauder. The Class winners were as follows: Class A: 1 C De Jonckheere, 2 R Thomson, 3 T Hodgson. Class B: 1 W Crawford, 2 G Stevenson, 3 N Brown. Class C:1 C Halleran, 2 N Steele, 3 P Dunscue. Class D; K Williamson. Junior: G Stevenson. Team winners: Dumfries. Full score details will be posted here soon. A further competition has now been agreed, in the "English Match" style, ie 60 shots at 50 metres, will be staged on 1 August 2010. Entry forms will be sent out to members and anyone interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAulay either by e-mail mcaulay8580@talktalk.net or by telephone 01259 723598 at 51 Hillcrest Drive, Alloa, FK10 1SD.
Congratulations to Lockerbie's Kathryn Williamson who has been appointed a Commonwealth Youth Legacy Ambassador for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She is one of four in Dumfries and Galloway and the role provides a good opportunity to promote sport in the area. To find out more about the Legacy Ambassadors click here.
A full document detailing all the results from this two-day meeting is now available for download. Simply scroll down to the news report (Sharp shooter comes good in Caithness, 7th June) and click the full results link.
Neil Stirton won the British 50m Men's Prone title at Bisley, his 596 + 102.1 (698.1) enough to hold off the challenge of Jersey's Steven LeCouillard (694.3) while fellow Scot Dave Caughey was just out of the medals with 692.9 in fourth place. The results - with six Scots in the top 25 - highlights once more the strength of target shooting north of the Border. "Prone's feeling good just now and Friday's 596 felt like it
came with relative ease in a fairly consistent wind compared to [Sunday's],"
Stirton said. "The conditions were tricky and flicking round fast, especially on
the front flags, which meant it was a mental challenge to try and keep on top of
it. It's funny how two shoots with identical scores, and even X count can feel
so different. In the men's Three-Position there were three Scotsmen in the top six, with Graham Rudd taking silver with 1142+94.9, Neil Stirton in fifth and Martin Sinclair in sixth. Jennifer McIntosh,
meanwhile, was busy adding to that power base as she became
British Senior Women's 3P Champion with a new
Scottish
Junior & Senior Record as well as the British Junior record
of 578 + 96.9 (674.9). In a very strong field she won by a margin from Michelle
Smith on 666.2. Aberdeen's
Emma Cole-Hamilton
was third with 654.7. For full results from the meeting, click on
the NSRA icon above, or here.
Kay Copland notched a new personal best of 595 ex 600 and a silver medal at the Meeting of the Shooting Hopes in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The Scottish A squad athlete from Aberdeen delivered a superb performance in the 50m Prone event. The full results are available here. Copland followed that up with a new PB of 573 ex 600 in the 3x20 Three Position event. There was also a new personal best for Fraser Cheetham in the Junior Men's Three-Position event with 1141, a new Scottish Junior record, beating Jon Hammond's 1140 in 2000 by one.
Sheena Sharp pulled out all the stops to win the third Grand
Prix of the SSRA series at Caithness. James Henderson took the time out from picking up a raft of
prizes to compile a diary from the Caithness meeting - click
here to read the inside track on the MSP
who asked to have a go and the competitor who should have won a prize for his
noble gesture... Detailed results from the Grand Prix can be found here. A full results package of all the competitions at Caithness can be found here.
The outdoor season is hotting up and Dave Caughey took the
honours at Gagie after a marathon Angus Grand Prix. His ISSF final shoot string
of 103.3 gave him a total of 696.3 and victory ahead of Tom Hodgson (693.2) and
Robin Thomson (692.4) - and on his former club range, Steeple, too.
Jen McIntosh's progress continued apace as she set a
new record at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning in Georgia USA. "I'm pretty happy with my shoot, although obviously a little disappointed to miss out on the final," McIntosh commented. "I wasn't expecting to come anywhere close to the final though, so I was really pleased to make the shoot-off. It was great experience too - which is really what this was about for me - and I've certainly learned from it. As for the match itself, it could have been better. Obviously I'm delighted to have a new PB - and to have finally beaten that record - but the fact that is that it could have easily been better. I lost my head a little bit during my standing and it cost me... a couple of 8s and a string of 9s that could have been 10s if I'd managed to keep concentrating. But I guess that's what every athlete would tell you - it can always be better and there is always room for improvement.
"For
my first World Cup to come 10th... brilliant, not really another word
for it," she went on. "It's been a great experience and great fun, but
looking forward my next competition (the British Championships at
Bisley on 11-13 June) - and the next World Cup in Belgrade. And more
than anything, looking forward to coming home!" Detailed results can be found at http://results.sius.com
He is best known to the country's target shooting community as Scotland's
Under-25 SSRA coach, a representative for his nation at the 2002
Commonwealth Games in Manchester and an ardent member of the Balerno &
Currie club, but Sinclair Bruce has put on a new hat and once more put his
own competitions on the backbu
 rner...Bruce has taken up the caretaker role as Performance manager for the SSRA after Donald McIntosh relinquished the post. "The
post will be voted on at the SSRA AGM at the Scottish, I am currently
standing in," he was at pains to point out. "I will put my name forward at
the Scottish, as will others who are interested and there will be a vote
taken. Fundamentally [the role] is about reporting on performance of
those in the squads and liaison with coaches on the selections for
international matches that occur through the year as well as the training
programme."
"They only overlap because I'm doing both," Bruce said. "There is no
requirement for them to do so." And his coaching skills extend beyond the
locus of Scottish shooters. Northern Ireland internationalist Beverley
Burnside for example has sought his help in honing her talents. "We want to
develop a strong shooting community throughout GB as ultimately that is the
highest level of representation people can achieve through the systems we
have in place. I'm happy (from a coaching point of view) to help anyone who
is committed to improving," he explained.
How on earth do you fit all that in with your day job, family life and even your own shooting? "Prioritise and compromise. My own shooting has definitely taken a back seat over the last wee while."
Quite apart from your official remit, what are your aspirations about the
role and what can be achieved. Is it largely connected to
2012/2014 or the wider aspect of broadening the appeal and quality of people
in the sport in Scotland?
A reminder that Alloa & District stage their new "Triple Dewar" competition on Sunday 20th June at The Rifle Range, Tullygarth Farm, Clackmannan. Course of fire is 60 shots at 50 metres and 60 shots at 100 yards + aggregate. Anyone interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAulay either by e-mail on mcaulay8580@talktalk.net or by telephone 01259 723598 at 51 Hillcrest Drive, Alloa, FK10 1SD.
Ollie Barron came through a qualifying shoot-off in Germany to reach the final of the Junior Men's 50m Prone IWK event in Suhl. A score of 590 put the Aberdeen University student into a three way-tie for qualification and his shoot-off score of 51.3 put him into the final stage by a mere 0.1 points. In the final, Barron got the better of Switzerland's Jan Hollenweger to finish seventh overall with the event going to another Swiss, Jan Lochbihler, who, having qualified with a superb 598, delivered an equally impressive 105 in the final to win by a good margin. Click here for detailed results.
Matt Thomson marked his return to serious international competition with the events in Hannover and Pilzen. A 595 in Germany followed by 594 in the Czech Republic were the rewards for two very solid matches. "I'm reasonably happy with my match in Pilsen," said the 24-year-old from Edinburgh. "I was a bit worried that the ten-hour coach ride wouldn't leave me in good condition to shoot a match well but I was surprised that I felt okay. The conditions for the match were really quite easy so my score should have been at least a few points better however five out of the six shots I dropped I know why I dropped them "It's
something that can be fixed with a bit of work. I felt my shoulder tense and
that pushed my 9s out left. It could have been the cold but it was mostly just
me." Thomson will be joined in Fort Benning in Georgia USA by fellow Scots Jon Hammond, Jen McIntosh and Neil Stirton.
Graham Shedden took the honours in the final of the season opener at Denwood. The Dumfries man held off Dave Caughey by one point to win with 593 and a total after the final stage of 693.8 to Caughey's 693.2. The "old dogs" were to the fore in the C+D final, with Charles Allan of Bon Accord edging out Ian Henderson thanks to a possible in the final ten shots. Click here for the results. On Saturday the 3P event was staged and, despite depleted numbers due to international commitments and volcanic ash, a full 3x20 and a 3x40 match was staged plus an Olympic-style final as well. Fraser Cheetham ran out the winner in the 3x40 and Kay Copland, still recovering from the effects of concussion sustained in the gym, took the honours in the 3x20. The rather cold weather was replaced on the Sunday with the wind a lot kinder and the the sun did make a number of appearances but in both days the biggest item missing were the lack of aircraft movements until late on Sunday when a number appeared to want to land up the road. "The attendance of a good number of brave persons appeared and the later details filled up very well," said the SSRA's Jim McIntosh, displaying the association's new range of personalised branded wear (I've got mine - web editor). Mother Nature had the last laugh, though. " A beautiful thrush decided that a meal was called for and started grubbing around on the range for some 20 minutes," he explained. "This, like all the feathered friends we meet during the summer, defied everything to disturb it."
Congratulations go to Edinburgh's Sarah Bates who emerged top of the pile in the SSRA Winter Three-Position League ahead of James Henderson. Click here for the final scores and placings.
Perthshire Small Bore Rifle Association is holding its annual Open shoot on Sunday 23 May and organiser Ian Gray is keen to point out that, due to possible redevelopment of the range at Rae Place, it could be the last 50m and 100 yard shoot on the range. An ideal opportunity therefore to enter the event and test your mettle in between the trains rumbling past.... Enter on the day or contact Ian Gray at igray.psbra@blueyonder.co.uk for entry forms.
The following team will represent Scotland at the third
International Shooting Competition in Hannover from 27 April to 2 May 2010: Junior Men 3x40: Fraser Cheetham. Junior Men Air:
Fraser Cheetham. Junior Men Prone: Fraser Cheetham, Ollie Barron.
Junior Women 3x20: Jen McIntosh. Junior Women Air: Jen McIntosh. Coach: Donald McIntosh. visit http://www.nssv-hannover.de/images/stories/pdf/isch/2010/e1.40.11.pdf for results
Coach: Donald McIntosh
Jam
For detailed results click here. The Scotland-based shooters at BUCS: Nick McKendrick, Robin Honhold, Thomas Matthew Gale, Ian Turnbull, Ollie Barron. Abeer Rehan, Kay Copland, Andrew Laurie and Andrew Ozmond.
After some nip and tuck results, there were class wins for JR Sinclair, Ian Henderson and Neil McMillan in the final stages of the SSRA Medal while Stewart Dewar won the CanDicap. Congratulations to all who took part and detailed results on all the competitions are now available here.
Watsonians have won the NSRA's Team of Eight competition for the Mackworth Praed trophy, beating Chobham and District in the final by 1567 to 1559. Final scores were: James Brown 0 1; Ian Thomson 1 2; Susan Jackson 2 1; Bev Burnside 3 2; Rhona Dove 3 1; Nick Baker 2 3; Ronnie Sellar 1 3; Angus Jackson 2 6: Total 33
Latest results, for the penultimate round of the series, are available here
Amongst the medal winners, James Paterson picked up a silver in the first event, the Men's Three-Position with a total of 1210.8 and Cole-Hamilton bagged a bronze in the Women's 3P with 649.0 to follow up her win in Friday's Women's Championship Air Rifle event. James Brown won the X Class 60-shot event with 591 while he also netted silver in the 40-shot Comp 4 with 396. Sarah Brown won the C class prone and Matthew Thomson finished third in the 60-shot prone event on the final day. The majority of the results are available here
From left: James Alexander Henderson, Sheena Sharp, Sarah Brown, Sarah Bates, James Paterson, James Brown and Charles Allan
Bon Accord retained their Division 1 title, with an
improved performance. Although they dropped a point this time, their average
went up almost a point to 394.4 (not the best seen in this league - that was by
Watsonians with 396.1 in 2007). Bon were rarely threatened and finished five
points ahead of second-placed Callander A, who despite putting in one
399, lost twice to Bon Accord and also to Bearsden A. The award for best overall
average goes to Donald McIntosh with 99.0.
The podium places have been decided for this season's Prone League. Congratulations go to Eddie Jones, Ian Henderson and Nick Brown as class winners while full results are available here.
The Outdoor range at Alloa will open its season from Sunday 11 April at 12.30pm. Members of Alloa & District who are in teams for the coming season are reminded that the first round of league cards have a Last Date For Shooting (LDFS) 26th April 2010
Entrance forms for the All Ranges event and Summer Grand Prix competitions are on their way out to the membership. The first is the All Ranges on 18th April at Denwood in Aberdeen where the course of fire will be an ideal way to test your mettle in several disciplines in quick succession: 40 shots at each distance - 25 yards, 50m and 100 yards. The competition features an Individual event in 4 classes, also Pairs (with handicap), Club team of 3 and Inter Regional Matches at Short Range and Long Range. If you do not receive these forms or would like more information, contact executive@ssra.co.uk.
Watsonians Rifle Club have reached the final of the NSRA's Team of Eight competition for the Mackworth Praed trophy with a superb performance in the semi-final against Weston. The Edinburgh club's score of 793ex 800, provisionally a British record, saw off opponents Weston who scored 763ex800. Watsonians will now play Chobham and District in the final postal match, have already shot their cards and can now only wait on their opponents' result.....
Jen McIntosh has been named Clydesdale Bank Athlete of the Month.
Lockerbie Academy's Kathryn Williamson has fought her way into the Scotland set-up at the age of 16 - with the aid of borrowed boots and trousers. And now she has been rewarded with the Junior Sports Personality prize for 2009 from Annandale and Eskdale Sports Trust.That success has not come without sacrifice, though. To read more about the trials and tribulations of joining the Scotland squad, click here.
Balerno & Currie's range played host to the annual international match against North Island, New Zealand at the weekend .With the match conducted on a postal basis and the scores remaining strictly under wraps for now, the outcome of the match will be known later in the year when the New Zealanders, the defending champions, shoot their cards in the 40-shot competition. The match rounded off a busy series of events for the Balerno & Currie club, whose range had earlier hosted the finals of the SSRA Speedway and the Lothian Individual Championship, won by club champion Alasdair Horne.
The final day of the competition saw the Scots take part in the
10m Air Rifle Men's and Women's events. There were good performances from Andrew
Ross and Emma Cole-Hamilton today, showing improved levels of control and
application. Sheena Sharp was still suffering from her cold but breathing
better which resulted in some good stuff too only for a string of 9s in the
middle section to spoil things. Click here. for the full results
Matthew Thomson shot a superb 595 only to miss out on the final of the Men's Prone by a mere two points. In the end the title went to Sweden's Tobjorn Swensson who added to his 599 in qualifying with 103.0. Silver went to Russia's Dmitry Ponomarev who scored a remarkable 104.9 and bronze to Rajmond Debevec from Slovenia after a final 103.4. All three SSRA
shooters
were on the same detail - Thomson, Dave Caughey and Andrew Ross. Thomson (99 99
100 99 98 100) shot well pretty much all through apart from around one of his
breaks which should have perhaps been earlier and his score left him in 15th
place. Caughey struggled getting the right position and when it was there shot
well towards the end of the shoot (592: 97 99 98 98 100 100), while Ross
(584: 96 98 98 97 98 97) shot well in bursts. Click here. for the full results
Sheena Sharp, feeling a lot better after picking up a cold, finished strongly towards the end of the Women's Prone today. Scores of 97 97 99 99 97 and 99 gave her 588 and 19th place in a field topped by former Olympic medallist Olga Dovgun from Kazakhstan with a stunning 598. Emma Cole-Hamilton put up a good display too, her 98 97 97 99 96 97 for 584 giving her 30th place Click here. for the full results
Neil Stirton and Graham Rudd finished 24th and 25th in the Men's Three Position 50m rifle event at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney today, a competition won by the United States' Matthew Emmons. Click here for detailed results
There were no medals today but Andrew Ross delivered a creditable performance in his inaugural 50m 3P Men's Rifle competition. "His Prone was a little disappointing with a minor
equipment problem in the middle of it but the Standing was good. The Kneeling
was, well kneeling, really good in spells and frustrating at other times," coach
Sinclair Bruce explained. Overall a result of 1100 was a good first attempt at
this discipline especially as it was the Balerno & Currie man's first trip into
mainland Europe with the Scotland set-up. Andrew Ross: Prone: 97 99 93 96 = 385. Standing: 90 89 93 83 = 355 Kneeling: 88 91 93 88 = 360. Total: 1100 Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh were both good in spells in the
Junior Women's Air Rifle but those spells weren't long enough so both were
left feeling disappointed.Kay Copland: 384 (97 96 94 97) Jen McIntosh:383 (97 97
92 97)
Jen McIntosh and Kay Copland delivered a Scottish two-three in the Junior Women's Prone this morning, McIntosh with a 595 and Copland with a 593 behind winner Lisa Tuchter of the host nation who scored a brilliant 598. As part of a mixed second day in Dortmund, the Junior men will have been disappointed with their scores - Oliver Barron was 15th and Fraser Cheetham 17th in the Junior Men's Prone - as was Emma Cole-Hamilton with her performance in the Kneeling discipline of the Women's Three-Position event which left her with 562 while Sheena Sharp suffered a nose bleed during her standing. She has picked up a nasty cold and we can only hope she will be better for the prone and air rifle events at the weekend. Pictured right: Jen McIntosh, Lisa Tuchter and Kay Copland Want to know more detailed scores? Click here.
Jen McIntosh, fresh from her Air Rifle success in Tulliallan, unearthed a new personal best with first place in the 3x20 Women's small bore rifle event as Scotland's juniors went into battle in the Three-Position ISAS event in Dortmund.
Want to know more detailed scores? Click here.
Neil Stirton may have got the better of Warren Potent in the Australian Cup but the World No 1 got his revenge in the World Cup in Sydney. Shooting on his own range, he matched the world record of 600 out of 600. To find out more about how he, as well as Stirton and Graham Rudd, got on, click on the ISSF icon at the top of this page.
The team to contest the annual postal match against North Island, New Zealand
has been announced by SSRA coach Sinclair Bruce. The match will be staged at Balerno & Currie's range on Sunday 28 March
The SSRA Air Rifle Championships were held at Tulliallan Police College near Kincardine at the weekend and the main winners were:
Competition 1: A Class: Sian Corish 588, Jen McIntosh 583, Robin Law 579. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 571, Andrew Ross 567, Mike Lewis 564 C Class: Fiona Park 559, Kathryn Williamson 556, Jamie Hodgson 530. D Class: Callum Seale 498, Sarah Brown 475, Gordon Buchan 459. Competition 2: A Class: Sian Corish 586, Robin Law 582, Jen McIntosh 581. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 574, Mark Joyce 563, Andrew Ross 560. C Class: Kathryn Williamson, 555, Jamie Hodgson 544, Fiona Park 543. D Class: Callum Seale 531, Gordon Buchan 458, Cyril De Jonckheere 458.Competition 3: A Class, Sian Corish 1174, Jen McIntosh 1164, Robin Law 1161. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 1145, Andrew Ross 1127, Mike Lewis 1124. C Class: Kathryn Williamson 1111, Fiona Park 1102, Jamie Hodgson 1074. D Class: Callum Seale 1029, Sarah Brown 923, Gordon Buchan 921. Here come the girls: Sian Corish, Jen McIntosh, Emma Cole-Hamilton and Kay Copland in action at Tulliallan. Pictures courtesy of Bruce McIntosh.
"In spite of everything there were a goodly number of personal bests coming in and the relaxed atmosphere was helping," commented the SSRA's Jim McIntosh. "Bruce [McIntosh] arrived back from his shopping expedition with the sandwiches for lunch bringing with him those chocolate creme eggs. The eggs were used to great effect as a prize for PBs with some persons managing at least two... must try and repeat this amongst the squads somehow, then it was onto Sunday, once more the scores were good and the pressure was beginning to show. "The qualifying events ran well, the results indicated that things were going to be interesting in the finals. This did prove to be the case with Robin Law's unique level of experience carrying him to another win. The big fun was in the Ladies final though, with Jen and Sian trading places with every round and we all thought that Jen had blown it on her 9th shot, but she proved us all wrong again with her 10th shot taking the championship with 0.8 of a difference." Detailed results are available here for the competitions and here for the finals.
Some of the winners receive their prizes from SSRA treasurer Willie Allan. From left: Jen McIntosh, Robin Law and Sian Corish . The additional, if unofficial, prizes of a creme egg for achieving a personal best were awarded by Bruce McIntosh to, among many others, Kathryn Williamson, right.
Does what it says on the tin. Results for Round 8 to be found on Domestic Results page
Aberdeen won the British University Indoor Championship (British University Colleges and Sport) staged in Sheffield at the weekend. The team of Kay Copland, Oliver Barron, Harry Ball, Andrew Laurie, Thomas Gale and Abeer Rehan saw off Cardiff in the final with a score of 1174 to the Welsh team's 1136. James Paterson won the Individual event in the colours of Southampton University with 398 including three strings of 100 on the trot, one point clear of Aberdeen's Ball with 397. And Copland finished second in the Ladies equivalent with 390.
The world's top shooters had to bow to Aberdeen's Neil Stirton in Sydney today as he won the Aus Cup prone final in impressive style. Tying with Australia's Warren Potent in the qualifying round with 595, Stirton then shot a great final of 103.9 points to pip the World No 1 by 0.4 points with American Matthew Emmons shooting 594 and 103.0 in the final for third place. The result left the Aberdeen man with a great sense of satisfaction.
"Good day today ... felt like a 597 but was
595 and tied with Warren," he said. "The old Sius Ascor kit [computer scoring
hardware] wasn’t set for Xs [inner bulls-eyes] but rather count-back so my name
was at the top but then it turned out that Warren switched with me. So, funnily
Warren was teasing me about firing point 1 in the finals hall being a real bitch
because you couldn’t see any flags to the left due to the retractable door for
the air finals. It was rather amusing when I told him that he actually had 43Xs
to my 42 and we had to switch our kit around!" Not content to rest on their laurels after their exertions in Delhi, Stirton and Edinburgh's Graham Rudd had headed for Australia. Stirton is preparing for the ISSF World Cup event in the middle of this month but Rudd had taken the opportunity to sample the atmosphere. In Friday's 3P event Rudd came third when, fighting very difficult wind conditions, he scored 1145, only to be overhauled by a Czech shooter who had 1144 in the final. Emmons won with 1176 and Stirton was fourth. "It was a tough shoot," said Rudd. "I worked really hard for the whole match and was knackered by the end. Emmons is unreal - he shot 391 standing in a howling gale! I couldn't get sighted in for the final. For some reason my sights were out in the 6 ring and I couldn't get zeroed in the five minutes sighting time. I think my sight raisers are not clamping properly each time I screw them on. My first two shots were 10s, somehow. I then made a wee mistake and pulled the trigger in the wrong wind whilst swaying. 5 point something..."
A small
mistake Emmons could surely identify with after his infamous error in Beijing
cost him an Olympic medal. Thanks go to the Scots in question - proving once again that they can write as well as they shoot. Pictured above: The line-up in the final today and at right the podium pals of Warren Potent, Neil Stirton and Matthew Emmons
Bon Accord came away with the honours in the NSRA's Scottish Cup final. The Aberdonian club's score of 1179 edged out Edinburgh's Watsonians 1174, making it the fourth year running that Bon Accord have won the Scottish Short Range Team Championships. For full scores click here. The news comes hard on the heels of Bon Accord's victory in the News of the World trophy, beating Chobham & District by 1177 to 1174. For more detailed scores, click here.
On 5th February Scottish shooters began the long journey down to Bisley for
the British Airgun Championships. In a weekend of rain, rain, and a bit of
sun (no snow unlike the rest of the country) there was a noticeable lack of
the main squad shooters due to the CSFC games in Delhi. However the shooters
that could attend warmed up and mostly had a good shoot with Robin Law
qualifying for the men’s final in seventh, gaining two places to finish
fifth in the British Mens championship. Andrew Ross placed 13th overall,
with Jamie Hodgson 24th, shooting at his first major air championships.
Fiona Park, another first-timer, finished eighth in the Ladies Championship
and fifth in the British Universities championship. Fraser Cheetham
qualified eighth for the junior Mens final, and maintained that position.
Sadly the Home Countries team made up of Robin, Fraser and Andrew lost out
in the team event, their 1683 third behind England’s 1721 and Wales’
1685. Want to know more? visit the NSRA website pages here
Tom Hodgson was today celebrating victory in the SSRA's
"Speedway" final as the Balerno & Currie
range staged the second of two finals ove All this came after Stewart Dewar of Alloa & District won the C&D class final, his final card of 99 delivering four wins out of four. Winning the Boston Bowl caps a remarkable start in the sport for Dewar, who has only taken up target shooting in the last year. Second was Alloa's Willie Crawford and third was Lanark's Norrie Steele. Detailed reports can be found here.
Stewart Dewar, left, is congratulated by the SSRA's Executive Officer Ian Henderson who does the honours with Tom Hodgson, right
Balerno & Currie's Alasdair Horne has won the LSSA "World Cup" style event on his home range - the fifth time in eight years. For a full report, visit http://www.lssa.org.uk
Results and updated averages are now available on the Domestic Results page
The latest details of this league are available on the Domestic Results page
Robin Law won the final Air GP of the season in Glenrothes today. His final score of 102.6 was bested by Steve Watterson's 103.1, but that was not enough to overhaul the man from Alloa who won Class A with 575 (aggregate 677.6), ahead of Watterson's 573 (aggregate 676.1). The six rifle shooters were sent on their way in the final with the comment: "May the best woman win" from Cyril de Jonckheere. Third place went to Balerno & Currie's Andrew Ross with 653.4, just ahead of Lockerbie's Kathryn Williamson with 653.2.This takes Law to 36 points in the overall Grand Prix table and the title, with Watterson on 24. In the Pistol event, Bill Hamilton won the final, and there were class wins for Bill Pow in B, Hamilton in Class C and Class D was won by Jim McIntosh. Full results for the event are available here Robin Law, left, and Steve Watterson. Report and stats compiled by Colin Watson, Jim McIntosh, Cyril de Jonckheere with additional help from Sarah Brown
And finally: "We don't care how good you are, you still have to help dismantle the range....."
Despite a brave charge from 8th to 4th in the Men's 50m Prone by Neil Stirton there were no more medals for Scotland as Warren Potent reasserted himself to win.
In the Men’s Prone Individual Dave Caughey shot an
excellent 594 to enter the final in fifth place, just two points off the
lead. Dave has had to wait a for a long time in Delhi to finally
compete, and unfortunately succumbed to some stomach problems over the last
24 hours, so his performance was remarkable given how well he felt.
Neil Stirton’s route to the final was a little harder – 592 in the
qualification round put him into a three way shoot-off for the last two
places in the final, but he qualified comfortably. In the final
ten shots, while the lead changed hands between Gagan Narang of India, the
Australians of Thomas Versace and Potent, Stirton made a charge from the
eighth slot, producing a world class final of 104.6 to move to fourth place,
a frustrating 0.6 off the bronze. Dave held his own for the first half
of the final, but made a tactical error when a round misfired, which left
him out of contention (and the coach very embarrassed that Dave didn’t know
what his options were at that point). Scotland finished the event with seven
medals: Gold - Jen McIntosh/Sheena Sharp, Women's Prone Pairs. Gold - Jen
McIntosh/Kay Copland, Women's 3P Pairs.Silver - Kay Copland, Women's Prone
Individual. Silver - Sian Bruce, Women's Skeet Individual. Bronze - Graham
Rudd/Neil Stirton, Men's 3P Pairs. Bronze - Shona Marshall/Linda Pearson,
Women's Trap Pair. Bronze - Shona Marshall, Women's Trap Individual The team set new Championship records in two team events, and four new Scottish records in the pairs as well, and it's worth noting the age of many of the medal winners – Sian Bruce is 16, Jen McIntosh is 18 and Kay Copland is 19 - and their results in a senior championship were excellent.(For full results from this event, click here or go to the International Results page. Reporting by Donald McIntosh. Pictures, from left: Neil Stirton's charge in the final; the line-up commence battle; Warren Potent tops the list
The first results from this league are now available here
Reporting by Donald McIntosh
Kay takes her place on the podium
Jen McIntosh and Sheena Sharp landed gold in the Women's 50m Prone Pairs event and took bronze in the badge match.
From left: Sian Bruce, Iain McGregor, Sheena Sharp, Donald McIntosh and Jen McIntosh celebrate a great day in Delhi as those winning scores go up in lights Coach Donald McIntosh reflects on a superb day's competition . . . Another gold today in Delhi, this one for Jen McIntosh (Grampian
Institute of Sport) and Sheena Sharp (Scottish Institute of Sport) in the
Women's Prone Pairs. Jen was third highest score individually, with a very
steady 592, and took the bronze medal in the concurrent 'badge' match despite a
number of 'comfort' breaks required during the competition. Kay Copland (GIS)
also performed well, with 590 and sixth place in the badge match - a good return
to form after a difficult 2009 getting used to a new rifle. Want to know more? Visit http://results.sius.com/
The small bore team has had to deal with bouts of minor illnesses, but there was a third bronze for Scotland today, this one for Shona Marshall in the Women’s Trap - a great result for the two times World Championship medal winner and her second of the competition.
There were more Scottish medals today in Delhi: Bronze for Neil Stirton and Graham Rudd in the Men's 3P Pairs, and Bronze also for Shona Marshall and Linda Pearson in the Women's Trap Pairs.
Graham Rudd, left, and Neil Stirton insist on being the essence of cool in Delhi and, pictured right with Shona Marshall and Linda Pearson, show their true colours....
The first of these results are now available on the Domestic Results page
Jen McIntosh came fourth in the Women’s 3P event. A qualification round of 568, with good standing, took her into the final in fifth place. She moved up to third and stayed there through the middle of the final, only to be overhauled by England’s Sharon Lee in the last two shots. Emma Cole-Hamilton will be disappointed with her 560, and Kay Copland had to pull out of the event as she was feeling under the weather.
Competing in the Women's Three-Position Pairs this morning, they set a new Championships record with 1136 - Jen 573, Kay 563 - the latter equalling her personal best. This result beat the old Scottish record for the pairs (set by Susan Jackson and Emma Cole-Hamilton in 2006) by 10 points. Jen top scored on the range as well and so won the badge match (individual with no final). In the Men's event there was also a solid shoot from Graham Rudd with 588 paired with 577 from Neil Stirton for 1165 - also a new Scottish record, overtaking the mark of Robin Law and David Rattray set at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998. Want to know more? Click here or, for results data, visit http://results.sius.com/ In Saturday's Men’s Air Rifle event, Graham Rudd missed out on the final after a shoot-off for eighth place and a score of 586.
Reporting by Sinclair Bruce with his texting fingers, and Donald McIntosh from India. Picture: Jen, left, and Kay with their medals
11.43pm, 27th Feb: The site editor feels he should round off this diary with an excerpt from the battle of the McIntoshes. The official result was, of course, a draw. . . The face-off on Facebook started when Donald posted a series of photographs from Delhi headed "with a little help from Jen". Seconds away....
Jen McIntosh
Um... okay, yes I took plenty pictures. Dude, only about three of them
are in this album.
Donald McIntosh that's
why it says a 'little' help rather than 'a lot' of help!
"I should have got a few hours practice yesterday, but had a
mishap which meant I only got 50 minutes. The helpful customs Undeterred, the Larbert shooter pressed on. "I had to
break into my peli case yesterday before I could shoot," he explained. "The
Indians helped me, but I had good locks, so we blunted two hacksaws, broke a
hammer and cracked a table before we just broke one of the loops off the case.
The team may have been moved
to the
Claridges Hotel in Surajkund but it has not put Mike Ozmond off. "We had a
practice on Thursday, but I am not competing until Friday & Saturday next week.
The pool is just outside the room, so I shall make use of it. My ammunition is
working well and once I was sighted in I didn't miss the bull once during
practice. Weather 24C and sunny. Food great. Just don't get out other than hotel
or range," he commented.
Pictured above: The Delhi range, left, while, Emma Cole-Hamilton and Jen McIntosh try it out 12.29am, 15th Feb: The Scotland team is currently bound for the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Delhi in February (right now they are languishing in an airport in Dubai, no doubt being waited on hand and foot). Look out for diary updates, pictures and info from the event here, which gets underway at the end of this week. Some of the world's top shooters will be there, including Australia's Warren Potent.
Provisional results from the first stages of the SSRA Medal, CandDicap and Speedway competitions have been published. All competitors who requested printed results should have received them. Results may be subject to change due to challenges and correction of errata, for example if your name is Willie Crawford and you do not shoot for Orkney.... all such inquiries can be directed to Cyril De Jonckheere at c.dejonckheere@btinternet.com A list of score data and those who made the finals can be found here as a Word document. Medal and CanDicap cards to be shot by 22nd March and returned to the scorer by 27th March.
The results of the SSRA Team Prone League, Round 6, are now available
Updated results can be found here for January Prone League cards. Scorer Bill Moonie would like to point out that results for the SSRA 3P League have been delayed to allow for some competitors being involved in international events.
Robin Law took the honours in the Carlisle Air GP yesterday with
a 585+100.6 - and with the final grand prix in Glenrothes to come the
Alloa man is in a strong position to win the series in three weeks' time.
Perth's annual Indoor Shoot will be staged on Sunday 14th March
and organiser Ian Gray would like to inform potential competitors that the
lighting in the range has been improved.
Proof positive that taking part in big competitions helps shooters raise their game came from the Hague today. There was a big jump in Kathryn Williamson's personal best score as she went from 374 on Thursday to 383 on Saturday. Jen McIntosh couldn't quite match her achievements from Day 2, recording a 387 while Kay Copland hit 382. In the Men's Air Rifle, Graham Rudd scored 581 but missed out on the final.
Jennifer McIntosh flew the flag for Scotland - and the McIntosh target shooting dynasty - with a bronze medal on Day 2 of InterShoot in Holland.
Meanwhile, in the Men's Air Rifle event, Graham Rudd just missed out on a place in the final when his 586 - two points better than Thursday's score - was a single point shy of a chance at medal glory. Want to find out more detailed scores? Visit
www.intershoot.nl and watch the action
unfold.
Jen McIntosh, right, takes her bow at the medal presentation with, from left, Lotten Johansson of Sweden who won silver with her compatriot and gold medal winner Hanna Saker. Pictured right: Jen, second from right, in action during the Junior Female Air Rifle event
The results of the SSRA Team Prone League, Rounds 4 and 5, are now available. Please note that Round 4's results have been revised after the re-shoots for Bearsden, Selkirk and Inverurie & Oldmeldrum.
Kay Copland also reached a final, the Junior Women's Air Rifle,
racking up a personal best of 389 before running out with 488.2 - and she came
so close to being in the medals, but her final shot of 8.6 just edged her out,
leaving her in 7th. Jen McIntosh missed out on the final by just two points
after a 385. And Kathryn Williamson was another to hit a PB, with a score of
374. A live score computer graphic from Graham Rudd's final
Aberdeen's Neil Stirton has recently been accepted into the
latest draft of the World Class Programme by governing body
British Shooting, and with all
eyes on the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games, he took the time to
give ssra.co.uk his thoughts on what the support of the programme means for him
. . .
Falkirk's Jen McIntosh gained more valuable international
experience in Munich after being called up to the Great Britain team for
the annual IWK Air Rifle & Pistol international match from 26-31 January
She took part in the Junior Women's Air Rifle event, staged at the venue
used for the 1972 Olympics.
More than 500 shooters were involved. James Huckle and Vicki Mullin fared best
in what was a terrifyingly high standard of world-class competition. Great Britain team:
10m Air Pistol Women: Gorgs Geikie, Geri Buckley; 10m Air Pistol Junior Women:
Danielle Jones, Hannah Polak, Vicki Mullin; 10m Air Rifle Women: Michelle Smith;
10m Air Rifle Junior Women: Sheree Cox, Jen McIntosh; 10m Air Rifle Men: Ken
Parr; 10m Air Rifle Junior Men: James Huckle
"Getting away from the grind of training winter in the cold and
wet is a great lift to the spirits, and although the temperature and altitude
provide challenging conditions for the athletes, we can expect to see the
benefits in the next few weeks and months.With only a few weeks to go until we
depart for the Commonwealth Championships in Delhi, it’s great for the shooters
to get outside again and get their tactical skills honed before entering the
international arena in what is a very early competition for us this year."
An Eagle Eye on Eagle Eye: Top picture: Neil Stirton breaks in his new Kustermann Fusion jacket. Above, from left: A little RnR at Sun City after a hard few days work; All the squad hard at work in a Prone match; Graham Rudd shooting some excellent kneeling on the third day.
With the SSRA Air Rifle Championships, which incorporate the Home Countries Internationals, taking place at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan on 20-21 March on the horizon, entry forms for this competition are now available from the SSRA, including details on how to arrange accommodation in the area. Contact executive@ssra.co.uk to receive these forms. News Archive All of the news stories that appear here will be archived periodically. Follow the links to see each archive The current 2009 archive runs up to and including 19 January 2010.
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Scottish Smallbore Rifle
Association
Scotland's superb team performance in Delhi was tonight
honoured at the Commonwealth Games Scotland Sports Awards Dinne
r in Glasgow.
Following
on from our news that a course 
with all 12 candidates
passing their assessments. Thanks also go to the unsung heroes from the
probationary ranks at at B&C who gave up their spare time to volunteer as guinea
pigs......
The
Commonwealth Games has drawn to a close but one final honour was bestowed on
Scotland's target shooters: Jon Hammond was the flagbearer for the team with Jen
McIntosh in the flagbearer party along with team leader Joan Watt and swimmer
David Carry. Just as Jen's mother Shirley flew the flag in
Victoria in 1994 as the squad's most successful athlete so did Hammond, for w
Joan is attending her ninth," Shirley went on, "she has acted as physio, lead
physio and shooting team manager over the last 32 years. She has been a staunch
supporter of shooting and has been involved with shooting since before I can
remember. Her own sport was athletics and she has been heavily involved in the
SAF for many years also.
team mate Neil Stirton finished in fifth with 693.7. England's Mike Babb finished fourth with
693.9.
Brekke. McIntosh's score is a new
Commonwealth Games record, beating the previous mark of 590 set by Carolyn
Quigley of Malaysia in 1998. Kay Copland improved on her score of yesterday with
a 583 and finished 13th in a strong field. "It feels amazing to have won it and I am just going to enjoy
it," said McIntosh.
Jen McIntosh and Kay Copland notched gold at the
Commonwealth Games today in the Women's Prone Pairs after a nailbiting set of
scores saw them edge out England.
India's
seemingly-unbeatable Gagan Narang won gold with 1166+96.2. Neil Stirton just
missed out on a place in the final with 1135.
Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond picked up bronze medals in the
Men's Three-Position Rifle Pairs, narrowly beaten to silver by the England
pairing of James Huckle and Ken Parr by a single X-bull. The bronze was the
first in this event since Bill Murray and Alister Allan's achievement in
Victoria, British Columbia in 1994.The gold was won by India's Gagan Narang
and Imran Hasan Khan.
Forward
thinking is paying off for the team in Delhi as training continues for next
week's events at the two Games venues.
The
heat will be more bearable for some, with Jonathan Hammond seeing it as an
advantage over some of the competition. The 50m Rifle shooter, who has lived in
the USA for eight years, and has benefited from a number of bespoke training
sessions, including Team GB preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. 
ed
by problems at the athletes' village. While the teams for Boxing, Wrestling and
Sevens Rugby will be delayed, the shooters will travel along with the
teams for Archery, Lawn Bowls, Tennis and Weightlifting.There are indications that the Delhi Government under the leadership of
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is taking responsibility and driving concerted
action to resolve the issues in the Games Village.
Dave Caughey won the SSRA grand prix prone series
title after the final
grand prix of the season at a blustery - but mercifully dry - Gagie outside
Dundee.
Caughey won an extremely closely-fought ISSF-style
ten-shot final with a score of
690.4 from Tom Hodgson and Cyril de Jonckheere. Fiona "ten-point something"
Shedden fared very well in her first-ever final (that downbeat estimated score was actually a
superb 10.7, Mrs Shedden) and despite his failing hearing, De Jonckheere was more than sharp
enough to spot an error in target direction from range officer Jim McIntosh....
There
was a full array of medals for Scots in the Junior international competitions at
Bisley. Kathryn Williamson won gold in the Women's 50m Prone GP, The Scotland
team of Andrew Ozmond, Seoc Malone and Fraser Cheetham won silver in the Team
event and Malone won bronze in the Men's 50m Prone GP. Detailed results can be
found on the NSRA site and, alternatively, 
bulls - with China's Chen Fang, the scoring system went to a "countback"
of the 60 shots and McIntosh emerged victorious. Fellow Scot Kay Copland was
agonisingly close to that bronze too and deserves a great deal of credit, her
score of 593 with 32 X bulls, just one point behind, leaving her ninth in
what was a world-class field headed by the USA's Sharon Barazani with 596. The
medal came on the heels of gold for Britain in the 300m full bore rifle team
event.
Fraser
Cheetham has been named as one of the 30 athletes, 16 coaches and ten mentors in
the Achieve 2014
ut
variable winds the two day-event saw a number of superb performances
.
Aberdeen's
Sheena Sharp, the defending Commonwealth pairs champion, edged out her pairs
partner from the Melbourne Games in 2006, Susan Jackson, to take the coveted
Earl Haig trophy and thus make her Scottish champion - but she had to go through a tie-shoot to do it. Her reward
included a "hurl" in the new Earl Haig chair from her fellow finalists.
. 
Susan
Jackson has won the Freuchie trophy at the NSRA Scottish Meeting in Lauder. The
C+D final was won by Jonty Barron.
Linlithgow's
Sinclair Bruce laid claim to the early trophies at the NSRA's Scottish meeting
with victory in the Bournemouth Shield thanks to an aggregate of 1155 ex 1200.
Jim Cole Hamilton was third with 1138. Bruce also bagged the WH Mackay trophy
with a winning score of 394 ex 400. Amongst other Scottish successes were S
Gemmell from Perth who picked up two trophies in Class D, the Robert O Sinclaire
Trophy and the Eric Nicholl Memorial Quaich. Ian Henderson triumphed in the
Weekend Aggregate where his 1138 landed him the Wyvern Rose Bowl. Henderson also
came second in the Parker Hale Cup. Iain Malone won the Embankment Cup, JS Sime
the Red Hackle trophy, L Thomson the SAW trophy while Susan Jackson lifted the
Gregory Salver.
es
Paterson, Kay Copland and Andrew Laurie were amongst the top Scots performers at
the recent BUCS University Outdoor Meeting in Appleton.
There
were gold medal performances from Sheena Sharp, James Brown, Emma Cole-Hamilton
and Sarah Brown as the Scots contingent descended on the
The
first stage of competition in the 25th ISAS (International Season Start for
Sport Shooters) indoor match
Open
Championship: 1. Robin Law, 2. Das Devproteek, 3. James Paterson
r
the weekend. His win in the A/B class final, fending off the challege of David
Simpson, 
Cyril de Jonckheere, erstwhile Scotland B Team coach, makes sure none of
those pesky "squeaker" shots get away without being thoroughly checked. Or those
penalty points (no names no pack drill Mike Ozmond). And if they do, SSRA member
Jim McIntosh, left, is there to ensure fair play.
There
were positives to take from both the 50m rifle and Skeet ranges, though.
Over at Skeet, Drew Christie was unable to capitalise on his excellent form
yesterday, and fell away to finish in 7th
– one target off the final. Nonetheless, it was good experience for
the young shooter from Auchterhouse.
There
were two more silver medals for Scotland today on the penultimate day of the
Commonwealth Championships in Delhi. Kay Copland (GIS) bounced
back from the frustrations of watching her team mates stand on top of the podium
yesterday to produce a first-class performance of 593 in the Women's Prone
Individual. In tricky wind conditions, Kay took almost the whole allotted
time of 75 minutes to fire her 60 competition shots, waiting patiently for the
wind to blow in the right direction and at the correct strength time after time.
She lost out on the gold by one point, behind the highly-experienced Johanne
Brekke of Wales - a medallist at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2009
European Championships, with Robyn Van Nus of Australia one further point behind
in the bronze medal position.
There
were golds on the first day of the Commonwealth Shooting Federation
Championships for Falkirk's Jen McIntosh and Aberdeen's Kay Copland
as records tumbled.
people at the airport helped me by closing my case and putting it on my trolley.
Unfortunately the keys to the padlock were in it ." 
7.18am,
17th Feb:
1.25pm,
15th Feb: The Scotland squad's trip to Delhi has so far had to endure
little more than inconvenience but the deadly bombing of a bakery frequented by
foreigners in Pune at the weekend may explain the very cautious security
approach they have encountered.
Jen,
18, is the daughter of Shirley and Donald McIntosh from Falkirk whose reputation
needs little introduction (they are both in the SSRA Hall of Fame), and her
rapid rise in Scottish and international target shooting shows little sign of
abating. After Thursday's 385, she came back out and scored 390 on Friday. Her
quest to reach the final was more successful than on Day 1 but also rather more
dramatic, as it took a tie-shoot to squeeze her in. Jen was joined in the
ten-shot play-off by Kay Copland who had recorded an excellent 391. Jen then
notched 101.8 to take 
With
the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Delhi less than a month
away, the Scotland squad beat the bad weather here and gained some vital
acclimatisation into the bargain at a winter training camp in South Africa.
