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News Archive - 2011

New date and venue for climax to SSRA Air GP campaign

22 January  2012

It has been decided to reschedule the final air grand prix of the 2011-12 season from 26 February to Sunday 18 March. This will avoid clashing with the British Airgun Championships at Bisley. The new date for Air GP5 also means a new venue, and it will now take place during the Scottish ISSF 10m Championships at Tulliallan rather than at Glenrothes. The competition organisers are happy to run the GP cards concurrently with the Championship series if competitors prefer. For more details please contact Jim McIntosh.


Megalink donations keep squads on target

22 January  2012

After an appeal for sponsors to help the SSRA add to its Megalink electronic targets (30 August 2011), the association is pleased to announce that four units have been obtained and are now in use with the Scotland squads. With a total of ten Megalinks available it will now be possible to hold the finals at the 10m & 50m Championships and the Grand Prix matches with them, providing a much better experience for athletes and spectators alike as well the opportunity for athletes to use them for day-to-day training on their home ranges. Many thanks to all involved for providing invaluable support to Scottish target shooting.

 


SSRA Prone Team League 2011-12: First results

Updated 22 January  2012

Results from rounds 1-3 of this team competition are available on the Domestic Results page.

 


SSRA Prone League 2011-12 results

7 January  2012

The first sets of results are now available on the Domestic Results page.


Brown given green light for Sports Personality award

7 January  2012

Selkirk's Darren Brown, a new member of the Scotland Under-21 squad, has been awarded the Sports Personality of the Year title by Tweeddale Press publication the Wee Paper after an overwhelming response to the newspaper's inaugural poll to find the best local sportsperson.

 “The last three years have been amazing and I have met a lot of great people along the way. I would like to thank everyone who helped me and everyone who sent in a nomination for this award,” said Darren.

Click here to read more.

 

 


Season's greetings to all . . .

26 December  2011

The SSRA would like to take the opportunity to wish all of its members, and target shooters across the globe, a merry Christmas and all the best for 2012.

Don't forget to enter the SSRA postal competitions: CanDicap, Speedway and Medal. There is still time to enter online and entries will be accepted until 1 January 2012. Click here to enter or visit the Enter Domestic Competitions online page to find out more.

 


SSRA to promote Scottish Air Rifle Blind Shooting Championships

4 December  2011

The SSRA is keen to promote target shooting for all, and to that end will set out to assist with the Scottish Air Rifle Blind Shooting Championships held at Denwood in 2012.
One of the successful exponents of the discipline is Hussein Patwa, and together with Carol Brown (pictured) are delivering superb scores. Their performances at the 2011 championships drew much attention, especially as Brown scored a 600 out of 600 which prompted a round of applause from observers.
"This (Denwood) is the only rifle range that does acoustic shooting in the whole of Scotland," said Patwa, 24, who started out after his father found an advert about the competition in the local magazine for the Society of the Blind in 1997.
"It's a very technical sport," he explained, "there is a lot of tweaking. There is a lot of room for movement and innovation and taking things further which rather appealed to me."

The two-day British Championships take place in Wolverhampton on the first weekend of March 2012.

For  more information on the sport and how you can help promote it, contact Jim Hammond.
 

 


 

 

Scotland set to host ISSF Judges course

26 November  2011

An ISSF judges course, designed to give applicants a national British Shooting C licence and put existing holders firmly on the road to a B licence, is set to be held in the autumn of 2012 in central Scotland, potentially Edinburgh, with easy access to the airport. While the course helps preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow by qualifying officials to ISSF standards, the course will be open to anyone in the UK. This two-day course will be run by experienced by ISSF officials and for more information or to register your interest, contact Jim McIntosh

 


Tulliallan confirmed for 2012 Scottish Air Rifle Championships

26 November  2011

The SSRA has announced that it will stage its 10m Air Rifle Championships at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan by Kincardine-on-Forth on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18 of 2012. The competition will be run along ISSF guidelines and some accommodation is hoped to be available on site.

For more information and to arrange for an entry form by mail or for download, contact Ian Henderson at executive@ssra.co.uk. Online entering will also be made available.

 


Law has the edge in opening grand prix

13 November  2011

After an exciting and tense final, Robin Law narrowly held off Sarah Bates in Callander to win the first SSRA Air GP of the 2011-12 season with Kathryn Williamson in third. Earlier, Sarah Bates won A  class, B class went to Mark Joyce, Maria Bexley took the honours in C class and early bird Bill Vaughan won D class. Detailed scores can be found here for Rifle and Pistol here.


Way cleared for McIntosh to defend title

13 November  2011

The decision by the Commonwealth Games Federation to vote for Gold Coast to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games overshadowed another important series of decisions made at the CGF meeting on St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. After lobbying by the Commonwealth Games Federation (European Division) members the federation voted to resurrect a number of events to the CG programme, including Women's Prone Rifle. While this decision does not automatically mean that the event will be added to the 2014 Games in Glasgow, the CG2014 organisation will review the decisions and rule on this by March 2012.

Despite this caveat it would seem highly likely that Jen McIntosh will be given the chance to defend her title on her own soil in three years' time and indeed offer her compatriots the opportunity to add to Scotland's superb gold haul in target shooting. We await developments eagerly . . .

www.cgcs.org.uk
Air Grand Prix date in January amended

12 November  2011

The date for SSRA Air Grand Prix 3 at Denwood has been moved  to 22 January 2012. The change from the original date of 15 January was requested by Denwood for logistical reasons.


Balerno & Currie invite entries for 2011 Open

6 November  2011

Balerno & Currie Rifle Club will hold their annual Open event on the weekend of 19 and 20 November. An entry form can be downloaded here Email inquiries can be made here.


Making the SSRA website work for you

19 October  2011

A range of new functions has now become available at http://forms.ssra.co.uk. for everyone to use. Now, entering competitions and paying for fees; joining and/or renewing SSRA membership; and downloading entry forms for a range of SSRA events throughout the year can be done by a simple process. By now existing SSRA members should have received an email giving them a "get you started" link into the new membership pages. If you are a member and have not received such an email click here and provide your name, SSRA membership number and your current email address.


Scots all smiles after Cardiff campaign

18 October  2011

 

 

Robin Law, James Paterson and Janis Thomson were among those to the fore at the Welsh Airgun Championships held in Cardiff. 

Law, (pictured left) shooting in A Class, won Comp 1 with 577 ex 600 Comp 4 with 577. He was also third in Comp 2 with 577. Paterson, (shown right) in X Class, made it to the final where he finished fourth with 579+101.1. Air Pistol shooter Thomson won Comp 4 in B Class with 544 and was second in Comp 2 with 544 and Comp 1 with 538. Click here for the results.

The event was a great success overall with a range of competitors from as far afield as Norway and Holland and finals shot on Megalink electronic targets. There was also the bonus of a film crew recording them and the results streamed live on the internet.

 

 

 


Weather too Mutch for Mel

14 October  2011

Mel Mutch had to contend with bitingly cold conditions as the sole Scottish representative in the UK Police team at the European Championships at Vingsted in Denmark. He came 13th with a score of 585 and 30x in a field of 31 competitors.

"Three shooters were on 587 for a shoot-off for 7th and 8th place," explained Mutch. "Chris Brown of Leicester was in a shoot-off and went into final 7th and finished 6th.
"My finger kept on getting cold so lost all feeling in it. - stopped three times to get sensation back into hand," he went on. "Others had prepped for this by bringing heat packs that they kept near them in a bag so they could defrost their hands between shots. A duvet in evidence too - heaven knows how much that cost in excess baggage..."


Mutch gets blue light to fly flag for Scotland in Denmark

11 October  2011

Mel Mutch will fly out to Vingsted in Denmark as the sole Scottish representative in the UK Police team at the European Championships. The standard of the competition is high and the UK team is made up of two men in the prone, two in the men's 3P and air. The ladies have two for prone and are also competing in 3P and air. Mutch will look to improve on his 13th place from last year.


Spence reaches a new audience at the CSF (ED)

Updated: 8 October  2011

Bobby Spence made the final of the Men's Prone at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (ED) event held at Bisley but could not stop James Huckle taking the title. Mel Mutch had delivered a superb 595 in the elimination round but came up short in qualifying.

Spence faced a whole new experience by making the final: Having a big audience!
"It's something I'm not used to from the (SSRA) grands prix." he said. "It certainly puts the pressure on knowing there are a lot of folk watching you as you shoot."
The ISSF-style final set-up meant that scores from the Sius Ascor electronic targets were read out for each of the finalists, shot by shot. There was no hiding place and no way to avoid hearing what Spence's rivals were doing. That meant it came down to mental toughness.
"Shooting the final itself, I just took it easy and tried not to pay attention to any of the other scores though I  knew Wayne Piri (from Gibraltar and in the firing point next to him) was shooting well," he went on. "I had a good spell of 10.6s and 10.7s in the middle which boosted me up to fourth until the last shot which gladly I was blissfully unaware of!
"Sadly on the final shot I just couldn't get the condition I was looking for and my aim off wasn't enough, placing the shot as a 9.5. I finished equal sixth but got the equal highest scoring the final so left on a high."
Orcadian Spence took time to praise the contributions of the team coach and management. "Having Sinclair Bruce and Cyril de Jonckheere there was a great benefit and thanks must go to them that we got a training day the day before the event where we could get set up and get some final bits of advice. During the event they were both on hand to give out advice and tactics to keep on top of the tricky conditions."
Bruce, Scotland's first full-time small bore coach, was also to be seen offering vocal support throughout the final, delivering more than a few whoops from behind the chain link fence of the firing point (erected to keep the likes of him from causing trouble, a source close to the judges claimed).
As with many of the Scotland competitors, Spence had a long, costly and arduous round trip to Bisley, with a lengthy delay returning north of the Border on the Monday due to traffic snarl-ups. However, he has at least found some help in the shape of local sponsors.
"I was lucky enough Scotrenewables Tidal Power was able to sponsor me for the event. Travelling to so many events is always a strain on the finances and any help that can be had is always appreciated. Further sponsorship I have achieved recently is from Northlink ferries which will be a big boost over the winter to attend the squad training
and Air grands prix."
And talking of sponsors, Spence - along with the majority of the team based in Scotland - was indebted to his uncle for the loan of a vehicle to make the journey south.

For detailed results from the CSF programme of events, visit the ESSU site.

 


'Tenshun! Scots see off Army

8 October  2011

The Scotland team won the annual ATSC match against the Army at the Ash Ranges. Scores of 1154 from Bill Brown, 1164 from Bill Baird, 1149 from Lenny Thomson and 1145 from Ian Henderson secured victory.

 


Harris steps into hot-seat at British Shooting

4 October  2011

John Harris has been unveiled as the first independent chair of British Shooting. With considerable experience in the fields of engineering and commerce, he takes the post for an initial term of two years and will be present for a busy period in the sport, with the 2012 Olympics followed by the Paralympics and of course the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. Harris will head a board consisting of the following members: David Wathen: British International Clay Target Shoot Federation (BICTSF); David Parish: National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA); Robin Pizer: National Rifle Association (NRA); Trevor Budgen: Disabled Target Shooting Great Britain (DTSGB); Nick Fellows: Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA); Peter Underhill: Accountable Officer.

 


North Island take honours in 2011 match

29 September  2011

Scotland's score of 5903 was agonisingly not enough to see off the New Zealanders of North Island in the annual postal match, with the Kiwi side scoring 5907. The Scots junior side scored 1944 to North Island's 1957. Click here for detailed Scottish scores and here for North Island's.


Reprieve for The Scottish in 2012

26 September  2011

The NSRA has announced that the 2012 Scottish Meeting will be held at Dumfries. After a lengthy consultation period in which competitors at The Scottish in Caithness were asked for their opinions and during which Huntly and indeed a meeting held in the north of England were mooted, it was decided that the meeting will return to Dumfries for the first time since 2008, on 23-28 June 2012.



SSRA Winter competitions 2011-2012

22 September  2011

Entry forms will shortly be made available for the SSRA Winter postal competitions such as the Speedway, Medal and CanDicap. In addition, it will also be possible to download entry forms, enter the competitions, pay for competition fees and indeed SSRA membership using a secure online system via this site. Check back with www.ssra.co.uk regularly for updates on this development.


 

Swarm of Scottish Bs head for Bisley

21 September  2011

The Scotland team for this week's Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) event at Bisley has been unveiled and the line-up is...

Men's Prone: Mel Mutch, Robert Spence
Women's Prone: Sarah Bates, Sarah Brown
Development: Julie Ballantyne, Maria Bexley
Women's 3P: Sarah Bates, Maria Bexley
Women's Air Rifle: Sarah Bates

(Yes, that's right, four Bs from the B-squad plus Bobby and a.... bobby.)

Thanks to Willie McAulay at Alloa RC, the Tullygarth 50m range was made available for Sarah Bates (pictured top) and Sarah Brown to get some final practice in before heading south...

 

 

Mac makes his point at Gagie

6 September  2011

Donald McIntosh proved there was "still some life in this old dog" when he took the honours in the final SSRA prone grand prix of the season with a win that eclipsed Tom Hodgson by just 0.1 in the final.  Class A had been won by David Caughey, Class B by Jonty Barron, Perth's Stephen Gemmell picked up C Class,  while Ian Henderson saw off Ron Nilsen on countback for Class D. Nilsen rallied for the C&D final, however, and took the title with 577, ahead of Gemmell's 571.

Into the ISSF style ten-shot final then, and McIntosh added to his qualification score of 593  with 101.7 for a total of 694.7. Tom Hodgson, starting the final with 594, scored 100.6 for a total of 694.6. Jonty Barron came third with the highest score, 103.7, for a final total of 693.7 after his qualifying 590.

Donald accepts a dose of cough syrup from Jim McIntosh, left, while Sheena Sharp was rewarded for her century of Scotland caps with the presentation of a trophy from SSRA chairman Ian Thomson.

The previous day at Denwood saw the fifth and final 3P grand prix of the season. Iain Malone won the men's 3x40 event and Sheena Sharp the women's 3x20.

The inaugural SSRA C&D Prone League reached its conclusion and congratulations go to Nick Brown for taking the title. Full results for all the above competitions are available on the Domestic Results page.

 

 


Funding boost is recognition of shooting sports success

31 August  2011

 

Scotland's success at last year's Commonwealth Games and our potential for more shooting sports achievements was recognised by the Scottish government when Minister for Commonwealth Games & Sport Shona Robison announced the launch of the sportscotland Athlete Personal Awards (SAPAs).

Managed by the sportscotland institute of sport, this new three-year initiative offers an annual financial award of �3,000, �5,000 or �10,000 to individual athletes who are considered to have the potential to deliver a medal winning performance at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (and / or London 2012 Olympics).

In the first of three, annual award announcements, forty-five athletes across 13 sports will receive awards totalling �204,000. And Scotland's shooters -  Jen McIntosh, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matt Thomson, Shona Marshall and John MacDonald - have all been awarded between �5000 and �10,000 each.

Click here for more details of the awards.


 

 

Spence beats the gremlins to win at Denwood

31 August  2011

Orkney's Bobby Spence survived target changers that blew open in the gusts of Denwood to win SSRA grand prix IV and the Grampian Open title. In the ISSF-style final his 101.4 added to his qualifying score  of  591 for a total of 692.4 and kept Tom Hodgson at Sinclair Bruce at bay. Hodgson scored an excellent 103.2 in the final and, added to his qualifying 587, gave him a total of 690.2. Scotland coach Bruce, pictured right, who must have won the award for best-dressed tartan rug wearer in the chilly conditions, scored 588+ 101.6 for a total of 689.6 and third place.

The conditions tested the skills - and the patience - of the competitors after a series of power failures on the Saturday led to the cancellation of the finals for the 3P event.  Mark Szymankiewicz won the men's 3X40 event with a score of 1132 and Sheena Sharp the women's 3X20 with 560. The inclement weather - well it was August in Scotland after all - meant that rain squalls and wind gusts led to a game of musical chairs over the whole weekend as a number of Gehmann target changers failed and shooters had to be shunted around for workable firing points. The event's apprentice range officers found themselves kept on their toes as they battled to beat the gremlins.

 In the end,  though, it was Spence who came out on top. And thanks to some generous contributions of kit from fellow competitors, he will make his first venture into 3P at the final 3P GP on 3 September, also in Aberdeen. Of his preparations he commented: "Bobby's 3P challenge....starting to tweak things! Some for better some for worse! One day left to prepare.... challenge is definitely the right word!" on Facebook.

For full class results from the weekend, go to the Domestic Results page.

 

 

 


Help Scotland's squads keep on target for success

30 August  2011

One of the major steps forward for the Scottish rifle shooters in the four years between the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games was the increasing availability of electronic targets to train on.  An initial purchase of two Megalink 4K300 units in early 2006 was followed over the next three years with four more of these units – suitable for use with smallbore rifles at 50m and with air rifles and air pistols at 10m – along with two of the larger 4K560 units suitable for use with smallbore rifles and free pistols at 50m.

There are currently insufficient for our whole squad to train on them at once, which leads to continued reliance on the ageing set of paper target changers at Denwood, and makes it much harder for the coaches to have good visibility of how the athletes are progressing within a training session.

A longer term objective of having sufficient units to allow the SSRA Grand Prix and Championship events at Denwood to be run on them would reduce substantially the workload on the volunteers, provide results in real time and narrow the gap between the experience of competing in domestic competitions and the realities of international shooting. The competition for medals at the Commonwealth Games such as India and Australia have such facilities in abundance, providing top class facilities all year round. A significant advantage over our athletes.

The 4K300 units are the preferred option for these purposes, with the flexibility to use them for both Air Rifle and Smallbore events.  With four additional units it would be possible to hold the finals at the 10m & 50m Championships and the Grand Prix matches with them, providing a much better experience for athletes and spectators alike.  They are also relatively portable, providing the opportunity for athletes to use them for day to day training on their home ranges.

We are seeking sponsors to help with providing more of these targets in order to support the progress of the current generation of rifle shooters who have done Scotland proud in recent Commonwealth Games and other international competitions, along with the next generation of young athletes who are inspired by the prospect of a home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. 

One target costs somewhere about the �3,700 mark – depending on the vagaries of the Pound/Euro exchange rate and shipping costs – with some additional infrastructure costs likely if we can progress beyond ten targets.  We are happy to discuss all kinds of options with individuals, clubs, associations, businesses and anyone else who would be interested in supporting our ongoing programme.  Please feel free to contact Donald McIntosh (donald@maccoach.co.uk) or Sinclair Bruce (performance@ssra.co.uk) for more details or if you have any questions.

Visit http://www.megalink.no/defaultEN.htm for technical information about Megalink electronic targets.


Hold that ferry - here comes Spence!

23 August  2011

Bobby Spence, 27, must surely be one of the furthest travelled members of the Scotland squad in the UK, for he lives and works in Orkney. Despite this logistical handicap he has travelled the length of Britain to compete, including the Island Games on the Isle of Wight, the NSRA Scottish meeting in Caithness - practically a home gig for this amiable man - and all without any official funding.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's SSRA Grand Prix at Denwood, only one question seemed relevant: "How do you manage it?"
"With a lot of hard work," laughed Spence, 27. "I save all my money to do it and just budget around it." He can claim to get some financial support - from the ferry company for "frequent flier mileage". He's lost count of the amount of trips he's made to the mainland in 2011 but thinks he has around 20 planned for next year.
"It's something I'm passionate about," he said of target shooting," and something I enjoy.It was last year, I decided ' right, I'm going to take it seriously now'."
As for training on Orkney itself... "there is an indoor club, with three firing points, open once a week, but I've managed to persuade the caretaker to let me in two or three times a week," he said. "There are no outdoor facilities at all but I've bought a few wind flags and my dad has built a mobile bullet catcher, it's an old trailer that we've cut the back end off of and put a big steel plate on, on my cousin's farm."
Not ideal, but the alternative is to travel to Wick or Denwood for outdoor shooting.
Spence did reasonably well at the Scottish with the odd trophy >cough<...so many in fact that he almost missed the ferry home after picking up the Mowat Cup at the Caithness Open after a tie-shoot with David Simpson, catching the boat with just ten minutes to spare.
"I'm quite good at that," he smiled wryly. "The ferry people are used to me arriving late but usually I phone ahead and they wait."

Spence started shooting small bore when he was 17, but stopped in 2003 for four years because he could not afford to carry on when he at Napier University studying mechanical engineering. Only when he graduated in 2007 did he take up the sport again and bought his new rifle. "I shot indoors for a few years," he said, "learning how to do it again and last year I started competing again and doing it properly."
Was he surprised by the level of success he had in Caithness? "Yeah, it was beyond my expectations...."
And for those of you who shoot air rifle, look out - Spence has recently acquired an air rifle and is currently reacquainting himself with the discipline....


 

Success for Scots at Bisley as Sharp hits 100 mark

23 August  2011

Sunshining stars: The Scotland main team (R Simpson, G Shedden, J Paterson, J Henderson, S Bates, W Vaughan, M Mutch, W Baird, W Hamilton [capt], C de Jonckheere, W Brown), junior team  (A Ozmond, M Ozmond [capt], E Steeples, S Malone) and ladies team (F Shedden, M Melvin, S Bates, J Ballantyne, A Hamilton [secretary], S Sharp [capt], M Bexley).

Scotland won the Home Countries Junior International match at Bisley for the ESSU Bisley trophy. Expertly wind coached by Julie Ballantyne and captained by Mike Ozmond, the team of Andrew Ozmond, Seoc Malone and Emma Steeples left England in second with Wales third.

Scotland     50m     100yds   Total

S Malone    192      191        383

A Ozmond  192      191        383

E Steeples 193      188         381

Team total: 1147 ex1200. England total: 1130. Wales total:1125.

Sadly the main team and ladies came up short in their international matches but this could not dampen Sheena Sharp's moment of glory, as she notched up her 100th cap for Scotland.

Meanwhile, Sarah Bates won promotion to X class after finishing second in A class and was selected for the Randle match. Amongst the Scots in X class,  Mel Mutch was second, James Paterson was sixth and James Henderson made the top ten. Seoc Malone and Andrew Ozmond were selected for the GB Drew match (50m junior postal event against USA/Canada/South Africa/NZ), while James Henderson, Bill Baird and Bill Vaughan made the final of the Roberts.

For more detailed scores, visit the NSRA website.

 


News from World University Games

20 August  2011

Kay Copland made it to the qualifying round of the Women's Prone in the World University Games at Shenzhen in China but her score of 585 ex 600 was not enough to make the final. Earlier she had scored 591 in the Elimination round. Rory McAlpine (581) and Olly Barron (584) came up short in their Men's Prone bid.

 


Search begins to find Olympic volunteers for ceremonies

16 August  2011

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympics Games (LOCOG) has begun a search for adult volunteer performers to participate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Artistic Directors Danny Boyle and Kim Gavin are searching for 10,000 volunteer performers to fill roles as dancers, actors, percussionists and general all-round performers in the Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies respectively. Successful applications will perform in front of a packed Olympic Stadium and a worldwide broadcast audience of more than one billion people.
Applicants must be able to participate in up to two auditions that will take place evenings and weekends in November and early December of this year, up to two or three rehearsal sessions each week of up to four hours per session from March 2012, and a number of all-day rehearsals in the three weeks leading up to each Ceremony. All of these rehearsals will take place in East London.
Bill Morris, LOCOG Director of Ceremonies, Education and Live Sites, said: ‘To deliver Ceremonies of this scale a significant amount of time commitment is required from the volunteer performers. Performers will be required to attend up to two or three rehearsals each week in London from March 2012 so applicants should consider this. Previous performance experience is not required for people to apply, applicants simply need lots of enthusiasm, personality, and a positive attitude."
People can find more information and register their interest for this opportunity by completing the online application form at www.london2012.com/ceremoniescasting. The deadline for receipt of applications is Wednesday 31 August and it is not a first come first served process. To be eligible applicants must be aged 18 years or older on 1 March 2012. Only one application per person will be accepted and if LOCOG receives over 15,000 applications a computerised draw will be used to randomly create the short list for auditions.


Alloa scores surface at last

16 August  2011

 

 No, that's not a misprint....for Alloa's 50m Open shoot was ultimately conducted in monsoon conditions and more fishing permits were being awarded than competition stickers. The moral of this story is shoot your cards on the first day when conditions were fine, but nonetheless that didn't stop Dave Caughey from winning A Class with a score of 592 just ahead of R Simpson who matched his score but lost out on countback. Class B went to Billy Crawford with 584, Class C to J Allan on 570 and D Class to E McIntyre with a score of 543. Competition organiser Willie McAulay reported a satisfying entry for the event - 35 in total being broadly the same as last year - and looks forward to making it bigger and better next year.

 

Detailed scores from all the event's competitions are available here

 

Zinging in the rain: All this 50m point needed was a diving board

 

 


Scots so close in Belgrade

5 August  2011

Despite excellent performances from the Scottish contingent in the GB team at the European Championships in Serbia, there was frustration after the Women's 3P and the Men's Prone.

Jen McIntosh scored 575 in the Women's 3P, ahead of England's Michelle Smith with 572 and Wales' Jenny Corish with 562. McIntosh's score was so close to achieving a quota place for next year's Olympics, only to be denied by X-bull count. The event was won by Germany's Sonja Pfeilschifter whose qualification score of 588 was followed by 97.5 in the final for a total of 685.5.

Matthew Thomson with 596, Jon Hammond with 593 and Neil Stirton with 591 made it through the Elimination round to reach Friday's Qualification round in the Men's Prone. There Thomson repeated his feat by scoring 596 with Hammond matching that and Stirton scoring 592 - but on a day of high scores their efforts did not prove to be enough to reach the final where Slovenia's Rajmond Debevec's qualification score of 598  was added to with 104.8 for a total of 702.8.

On Wednesday, Jen McIntosh scored 584 in the Women's Prone, on a day when Michelle Smith was denied gold after losing out to Sweden's Marie Enqvist with a lower X bull count after both women scored 595. Jenny Corish also recorded 584 and the GB team finished sixth.

The previous day had seen competitors faced with a tricky set of wind conditions and Rory McAlpine scored 579 and Fraser Cheetham 575 for Great Britain in the Junior Men's Prone. The GB team finished 11th.


Eastern promise for Scots

27 July  2011

Coach Sinclair Bruce will be heading for China next month with the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) squad for the World University Games in Shenzen from 12-23 August. Amongst the Scots in the squad are Ollie Barron (University of Aberdeen), Kay Copland (University of Aberdeen) and Rory McAlpine (St Andrews).


Paterson and McIntosh lift Scottish 50m championship titles at Denwood

24 July  2011

In the afternoon's blue riband event, James Paterson emerged  victorious in the Men's 50m Prone event. His score of 693.9 won the title, with Jon Hammond  who won a tie shoot for second and 692.7 against Northern Ireland's Matthew Hall. Jen McIntosh won the Women's 3P title with a storming score of 674.7. In second place was Jenny Corish with 665.8 and third was Helen Warnes with 664.1. Detailed results from all the weekend's events are now available on the Domestic Results page.

From left: James Paterson accepts some of his prize haul, including a bottle of whisky, from chief range officer Ivor French; Jen McIntosh shows off her 3P trophy, and Jon Hammond shows us all how to deal with the chill on the firing point at Denwood thanks to his trusty sleeping bag...clearly he spends far too much time in West Virginia working!

 

 


Scottish Air Rifle Blind Shooting Championships announced

24 July  2011

The Scottish Air Rifle Blind Shooting Championships, incorporating a Home Countries International against England, will be staged at Denwood on 27-28 August, making it a bumper weekend with 3P and Prone GPs also taking place. Our partners RWS will award pellets as part of the prizes for this event.

Jim Hammond is the organiser of the Scottish Air Rifle Blind Championships. "We've always had the best blind shooters in Britain," he said of the competition. "The championships have been staged on more or less the same weekend at Denwood for the last three or four years. There's usually been a 3P Grand Prix on the Saturday but not usually a Prone GP on the Sunday."
For those unfamiliar about how blind shooters go about their sport, Hammond explained: "There's what looks like a telescopic sight on the air rifle and it translates light intensity into sound. The targets go from black at the edges to white in the middle. And what the shooter hears on the headphones is a dull-pitched hum on the black and a high pitch on the white. It's very variable and you do need quite good hearing as well as being able to shoot!"
The course of fire is 60 shots, exactly the same as the standard air rifle event.
There are also different disciplines. "What's called stand assisted: in which they rest the rifle on a stand which has a coiled spring in it so it's not steady, you have to hold it steady. The other is normal air rifle, free standing," Hammond said.
This year the plan is to use four lanes operating with electronic targets all linked up to a computer and the [projection] screen, a technique which worked well at the Scottish 50m Championships.

Click on the link on the SSRA calendar page to send Jim Hammond an email for an entry form or further details about blind shooting.


Scottish 50m Championships: First-day success

23 July  2011

James Huckle and Jenny Corish took gold on the first day of Denwood's Scottish 50m Championships. Huckle won the men's 3P competition with a score of 1243.8 beating Ken Parr's score of 1239.2. The host club's Neil Stirton came third with 1235.8. And Cambridge-based Jenny Corish took the Women's Prone title with 591 ahead of Sarah Bates on 582 and Jen McIntosh on 579. The Prone final was broadcast to spectators with Megalink projections of the actual shots in real time, an encouraging development for the SSRA's ISSF-compliant events. In the Confined titles (open to Scottish entrants) were 1: Sarah Bates 2. Jen McIntosh and 3. Sarah Brown for Women's Prone. The Men's 3P Confined was won by 1. Neil Stirton 2. Jon Hammond and 3. Andrew Ross. Detailed results, including the scores in the finals, are available on the Domestic Results page.

 
Beat the clock for Scottish 50m championships

18 July  2011

Competition organiser Jim McIntosh advises that entries are now full for the Men’s Prone elimination rounds for Sunday  24 July at Denwood. The event promises to be very well represented with an estimated 60 SSRA members taking part, and including Scots GB squad shooters such as Neil Stirton and Jen McIntosh who returned from Austria this week after a successful visit to the IWK Tyrol 2011 competition.


3P GP 2011

17 July  2011

The results from the third Three-Position Grand Prix of the season are available on the Domestic Results page.

 


Take the Alloa challenge . . .

14 July  2011

A reminder that Alloa & District Rifle Club stage their 50m Open Challenge event at the Tullygarth range on 6-7 August. Entry forms are available by clicking on the link from the SSRA event calendar page.

 


Bates shows her appetite for success in Caithness SSRA Grand Prix

10 July  2011

Sarah Bates, currently based in Edinburgh but due to move to Caithness shortly, emerged triumphant from the latest SSRA Grand Prix, held at Thurdistoft, the venue for the NSRA Scottish meeting, in the third GP of the season. Tucking into a well-earned cake from the excellent local WRI service, Sarah explained that she only travelled to the area on Friday and showed her strength in the 50m event, coming out on top in the ISSF-style final. Look out for the detailed results here.

Thanks to local organiser Marty Simpson's hard work, the results from the Caithness SBRA county meeting (which also include the SSRA GP results) are available here.  And webmaster Colin Watson has come up with a tongue-in-cheek diary from his week in Caithness, including never before seen photos...click here.

 

 

 


Bruce almighty at The Scottish

8 July  2011

 

Alloa and District's Sinclair Bruce has won the Earl Haig competition at the NSRA Scottish meeting in Caithness. Bruce, recently appointed a full-time coach through Sportscotland, took his medal haul of 12 trophies last year a stage further with victory in the Haig. The one-time Commonwealth Games shooter, also a member with Balerno & Currie, may now be under some good-natured pressure to enter the Scottish 50m championships in Denwood after all at the end of the month after his great achievement. His traditional hurl in the Earl Haig chair from the other finalists was topped off with a medicinal dram  - and a celebratory Tunnock's teacake from the SSRA hack. It's hoped to  publish still pictures and video from the Earl Haig ceremony soon. Pictured left, Sinclair Bruce is carried high, after a chat with his canine pal, Willow, right.

Visit  http://www.caithness-scottishrm.org.uk for more info from this year's NSRA meeting and photographs via the flickr site.

 


Scotland does the double at the Scottish

8 July  2011

The annual Scotland-England match at The Scottish saw Scotland come away with a win from both the main and Ladies teams: Scotland's women's team of SE Brown, FE Shedden, S Sharp, M Bexley and M Melvin scored  77 off ex 400 against England's 82. The main team of JG Shedden, L Thomson, AS Bruce, J Henderson, J Cole-Hamilton, WT Vaughan, STM Malone,  RG Spence, H Simpson and I Burton scored 117 off to England's 136.

Pictured left: The Scotland main team of  JG Shedden, L Thomson, AS Bruce, J Henderson, WT Vaughan, J Cole-Hamilton, STM Malone,  RG Spence, H Simpson and I Burton (reserves:JF Smith, Miss SE Brown). At right, Scotland ladies: SE Brown, FE Shedden, S Sharp, M Bexley, M Melvin

 

 

 

 

 

 


"The Scottish": Make sure you use your vote!

7 July  2011

The future of the annual NSRA Scottish meeting has come under scrutiny and, following some recent success in reducing the costs of organising and running the national meetings, the NSRA Board of Management are looking closely at ways of maintaining this momentum without compromising the opportunity for members to participate in the national meeting. The SSRA urges everyone who is interested in securing the future of this historic meeting to reply to the NSRA questionaire by clicking here. All replies  must be returned to Ali Aitken at the NSRA (aliaitken@aol.com) in the next two weeks.


Freuchie final: Ogle puts rivals to the sword

7 July  2011

The SSRA Freuchie competition, a traditional event held during lunchbreaks at the Scottish, reached a conclusion today when  Bill Vaughan, Cliff Ogle and Jim Cole-Hamilton held their nerve in the blustery winds of  Caithness to reach the final where Cliff Ogle emerged triumphant and was awarded the impressive Wilkinson sword trophy. The C&D final was contested between Steve Gemmell, Adam Dove and Michael Baker and Adam Dove came away with the title.

Cliff Ogle is presented  with his prizes by Mark Swift from RWS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


"The Scottish" 2011: Qualifiers for Earl Haig final

3 July  2011

After the first round of this year's Haig trophy, the following competitors made it through to Friday's final round at Thurdistoft Range near Castletown: JA Henderson. STM Malone, WT Vaughan, CG De Jonckheere, JR Sinclair,  FA Spence*. SE Brown*, SM Sharp, JR Brown, RB Campbell, AS Bruce, IR Malone, WMJ Cole-Hamilton, J Paterson, RG Spence *, TF Hodgson, E Paton*, JG Shedden, M Bexley and RW Emburey. In addition, S Dixon, A Dove, and F Howden have qualified for the B, C and D final. (Competitors with an asterisk have qualified for the B,C and D final).

 


The future's bright...the future's Alloa

27 June  2011

The second year of Alloa & District Rifle Club's Triple Dewar saw an increased entry from the 2010 debut, 35 from 28. More and more target shooters it seems are taking the opportunity to use the event's proximity to the NSRA Scottish meeting as a worthwhile preparation competition and this year's entries brought competitors from as far away as London. Alloa shooters cleared the boards, explained organiser Willie McAulay,  and interestingly five out of the six competitions were won  by shooters using RWS ammunition.

James Brown won Class A,  Billy Crawford B Class, Willie McAulay C Class and T Kenny, with only a few months experience in target shooting, took the honours in D Class. Away from the serious business of winning medals and cash prizes, there was time to introduce some new features at the range, such as a cunning device to stop novice shooters (you know who you are) from cross-shooting and a chance for Alloa to take its youth policy to a new level with an introduction to the sport for Willie McAulay's grandson Jack, shown above, with the emphasis on understanding safety and instilling confidence working with firearms under close supervision. More detailed scores are available here.

 
Your country needs you - Part II

19 June  2011

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are now just three years away. While the choice of Barry Buddon as the venue for the shooting events has not been a popular one, nonetheless the programme is now moving forward and we now wish to collect the names of those willing to commit themselves at this point in time to getting involved.

The requirements for the Games are listed below:-

1. International Qualified Technical Officials
2. National Qualified Technical Officials
3. Sport Specific Volunteers

Interested? Click here to read the full details from the SSRA's Jim McIntosh. Contact Jim here.


Scots produce best of British as they plunder prizes at Bisley

12 June  2011

 
Edinburgh's Matthew Thomson won the British 50m Men's Prone title at Bisley as he led a Scots raid on one of Britain's biggest events.

Thomson scored 695 (592 plus 103 in the ten-shot final) to see off compatriot and Commonwealth Games champion Jon Hammond by just 0.2 points. There were  four Scots in the eight-man final with Aberdeen's Neil Stirton sixth and James Henderson from Caithness seventh.

Scotland's men team of Thomson, Hammond and Stirton won the team event with 1774 to England's 1763 and Northern Ireland's 1760

Earlier, double Commonwealth champion Jen McIntosh won the Women's Three-Position event and set a record at  Scottish Junior and Senior levels as well as the British Junior and Senior qualification mark. She beat Jenny Corish of Wales by 12.2 points with a score of  678.4.  Edinburgh-born McIntosh also won silver in the Women's Prone event.

The NSRA has listed scores from this weekend's British 50m Championships at Bisley and you can study them here

 

 


Venue for SSRA AGM announced

11 June  2011

The SSRA AGM 2011 will be held on Sunday 3 July at the Park Hotel in Thurso, from 7.30pm. There will be a pre-meeting for members of the SSRA council at 6.30pm. The agenda and previous minutes will be distributed shortly by email, or post to those who have not registered an email address. Meanwhile, a selection of photos from the recent Grand Prix at Gagie have now been published - see the report below.


Deadlines extended for Caithness entries

11 June  2011

 

The 2011 Scottish and Bisley national meetings will be held in Castletown, Wick (2 to 8 July 2011) and Bisley (13 to 21 August 2011) respectively.  The Scottish meeting deadline for entries has passed, however due to the low turnout at the closing date, it has been decided to extend the deadline until 22 June 2011 without the additional late fee being required.

Any competitor who wishes to enter either of the meetings can do so by following the link below where the entry forms can be downloaded, or by calling 01483 485508 and requesting an entry form by mail. Click here for the Scottish meeting and here for the Bisley meeting.

Anyone wishing to enter the Scottish meeting is asked to submit their entries as soon as possible in order that the entry can be processed by the closing date.  Payment may be made by credit card; anyone wishing to use this service is to call 01483 485508 with their card details.  Please either email or fax (01483 476392) your entry forms before calling to pay by credit card.

 

For further information, contact the NSRA Competitions Department on competitions@nsra.co.uk


 
Scottish Government wants 'fantastic training facility' for shooting, says Robison

7 June  2011

The quest for a purpose-built shooting centre in Scotland took another twist when Commonwealth Games and Sports Minister Shona Robison was grilled by John Beattie and Rhona McLeod on Radio Scotland's Sport Nation programme on funding for facilities. . .

"Jen McIntosh, our top shooter, she hints at what every other sport would ask you," said Beattie. "'We'd like an indoor centre of our own, please' she says.'Any sign of a permanent facility being built for the most successful TeamScotland sport of the Commonwealth Games 2010?' I think she lives in Alloa and trains in Aberdeen. You could build them an indoor centre, too."

Robison replied: "In terms of shooting, we have been having some really constructive discussions with the governing bodies what the legacy may be around shooting for the Commonwealth Games and one of the things I'm hoping we can agree upon is some kind of good quality, fit for purpose, training facility for our athletes. That has been put on the table as something we'd like to work with them towards so they don't have to go to Aberdeen [Denwood] because Aberdeen doesn't have the facilities they require. They require more facilities than are available in Aberdeen, they told us that very clearly. So we're keen to work with the athletes, to work with the governing bodies, to look at how a part of the legacy can be a fit-for-purpose training facility in a reasonably easy to access location and hopefully we can take these discussions forward."

Rhona McLeod asked: "We've kind of heard this before and it's just nailing down the amounts of money and the timeline with this. How serious a commitment is this, is this going to happen before 2014? Is it going to happen in 20 years' time from now?"

"The discussions we've had are at a fairly early stage, it has to be said, with the governing bodies," Robison went on. "But the legacy was to look at something that was from 2014 onwards to make sure that there is something there that is a fantastic training facility, hopefully for those athletes that will be coming through who are inspired to take up the sport and who are reaching a very high level within their sport. Having something for shooting that can allow those athletes to perform at that level I think that would be a great legacy.
"But it's early days, early discussions about timescales and all the rest. But we are, from the Scottish Government's point of view, very very keen to take that forward and hopefully we can achieve something special."

"Good news for the shooters then," said Beattie.
 


Caughey comes out on top at Gagie

7 June  2011

Dave Caughey came through to win the second SSRA Prone Grand Prix of 2011 - an ideal confidence booster for his forthcoming World Cup trip to Munich.

Gagie, so often home to a downpour, was flat calm on Sunday for the first two details of the elimination round. With such benign conditions the competitors took advantage, with an excellent 599 ex 600 from Olly Barron showing the way in A class.

While there were a number of notable performances and personal bests on the day, it was the future of target shooting which was the real winner. Ashleigh Taylor, just one of a number of Juniors present, simply got stronger as the day wore on and won the C&D final.

"One comment I heard at the back was the average age amongst the competitors was cut in half compared to the past, this is great we should be able to sustain our competitive shooters for Scotland in depth in the future," said the SSRA's Jim McIntosh.

 

The class winners were awarded prizes of R50 ammunition thanks to SSRA sponsors RWS.

For the the A&B final Caughey and Robert Spence arrived on the firing point with the same qualifying scores of 596, just ahead of the other six finalists, with Sinclair Bruce and Martin McGill going great guns. Spence started strongly and held the lead for the first five shots of the ten-shot final, but Caughey dug in and pulled the deficit back by the sixth and from that point on did not relinquish his lead.

All in all it was a great weekend for competitive shooting in Scotland and a great number of PBs collected on the way. Spence did it twice the second one by a considerable margin.

A/B Final aggregates: D Caughey 700.8; R Spence 698.2; O Barron 697.4; S Bruce 694.6; M McGill 694.1; D Simpson 693.4; H Simpson 691.2. M Bexley 687.0.

 

Full results on the Domestic Results page.

From left: Overall winner Dave Caughey gets yet more Scotch from Jim McIntosh after last year's win at Gagie; Ashleigh Taylor is congratulated by SSRA chairman Ian Thomson after her win in the C+D final; Bobby Spence's trip from Orkney was worth the while and Olly Barron may have come up short in the final but his superb 599 still made it a day to savour. Photographs courtesy of Bruce McIntosh and Sarah Brown.

 
McIntosh and Ross take the honours

4 June  2011

Jen McIntosh won the Women's 3x20 event and Andrew Ross the Men's 3x40 event in the latest SSRA 3P Grand Prix in Denwood.

In variable temperatures in Aberdeen on Saturday, all the competitors had to deal with tricky conditions.The women showed that their continuing hard work in the three-position discipline is paying off. Maria Bexley managed to beat Sarah Bates this time but lost out to Sarah in the GP final. McIntosh produced a steady show to come out on top overall but she was not happy with her own performance.The gentlemen had to cope with some target malfunctions with Ross taking the honours and the Malone family of Iain and Seoc changing places this time around.

Andrew Ross goes it alone, left, while pictured right, the GP final gets underway.

Full results on the Domestic Results page

 
Scots team for ISSF British 50m Champs unveiled

2 June  2011

The line-up for the British 50m Championships on 10-12 June at Bisley has been announced.

Women's 3P: Sarah Bates, Kay Copland, Jennifer McIntosh. Women's Prone: Sarah Bates, Kay Copland, Jennifer McIntosh. Men's 3P: Jon Hammond, James Paterson, Neil Stirton. Men's Prone: Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matthew Thomson

This news comes hard on the heels of the British team being announced for the next round of the ISSF World Cup in Munich, where Dave Caughey joins Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton and Matthew Thomson in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone, Hammond and Stirton feature in the Men's 50m 3P Rifle, and Jen McIntosh takes part in the 10m Women's Air Rifle and the 50m 3P Women's Rifle.


McIntosh enters Hall of Fame

2 June  2011

The University of Edinburgh has honoured Shirley McIntosh by inducting her into its Sports Hall of Fame. The first all-female list of inductees since the awards began three years ago,  McIntosh is joined by Cathy Panton-Lewis, co-founder of Europe’s first ladies golfing tour, and  world champion orienteer Yvette Baker in receiving the highest sporting honour the university can bestow. Click here to read more.


 It really is Great Outdoors

29 May  2011

The first of the SSRA Outdoor taster sessions took place at Alloa's Tullygarth  range. The object, to give new target shooters the chance to experience 50m and 100yard shooting, proved to be an ideal snapshot of the Great Outdoors - the range was hit with wildly gusting wind, torrential rain, sunshine...all in one afternoon. But with other, experienced outdoor shots to hand to help with understanding the different techniques required for the discipline, Edinburgh-based Michelle Galea was one of the visitors impressed with her day out and has the bug. "It was a great experience," she said. "I'll be back."

Alloa's Willie McAulay plans further taster sessions, but to register your interest, click here.


 GB pair edged out in top-class field

22 May  2011

Matthew Thomson and Jonathan Hammond's bid for glory in the Men's 50m Prone at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, Georgia fell short in the qualifying round after scores of 595 and 593 respectively. Austria's Christian Planer who scored 599 and Sergei Martynov of Belarus on 598, led the way into the final where 596 marked the cut. In the final, Germany's Henri Junghaenel emerged victorious with 597+105.6, landing gold ahead of Martynov (103.1) and Serbian Nemanya Mirosavljev with 597+103.3.

The day before, Edinburgh athlete Thomson had forged his way in the Elimination with a 598 (included 42 inner bulls). Bested only by Martynov, the current world champion, who delivered what is believed to be the eighth perfect 600 of his target shooting career, Thomson staked his claim with Virginia-based Hammond who scored 595. Fellow Scot Neil Stirton missed the cut for the qualifying round by an agonising one point, with 587.

 "I'm definitely pleased with my score especially because it was pretty tricky conditions," said Thomson of his 598 on facebook.

 


New territory for Paterson

21 May  2011

In his first international Prone final, James Paterson came in a highly creditable sixth in the ISCH event in Hannover recently. After a score of 595 he shot 103 in the final itself.


Get ready for the Triple Dewar

21 May  2011

Alloa RC's Tullygarth range hosts the Triple Dewar competition on Saturday and Sunday 25&26 June. First details commence at 9am each day and for entry forms or just to request additional information, please click the link on the Calendar page.


STSF seeks Chair

18 May  2011

The Scottish Target Shooting Federation, known as Scottish Target Shooting (STS), is seeking to recruit a Chair to head up the Council Executive (Management Board).Applications by letter to be received by 15th June 2011. Click here for details and how to apply.


Caithness goes online...

17 May  2011 

 

The Caithness Scottish Open Rifle Meeting web site has been set up to promote this year's NSRA 2011 Scottish Meeting for all small-bore rifle shooters around the country.   http://www.caithness-scottishrm.org.uk


Elementary my Dear Denwood

11 May  2011 

The weather in Scotland threw everything it could at the competitors at Denwood for the Denwood Open and first Prone Grand Prix of the season, the venue having hosted the first 3P GP on the Saturday. Kay Copland won the Junior event with 592, and was just pipped by Martin McGill for A class honours with 593. The Commonwealth Games Women's Pairs champion pulled out all the stops in the A&B final though, where a fine 103.6 ensured she took the major honours for the day.

B Class went to Olly Barron, C Class to Iain Malone and D Class to  L Thomson who went on to win the C&D final with 578.

"Saturday was fine weather wise, although the range was not full - we had two ladies and four gents shooting the 3P and three juniors at the far end getting in some range time with their coaches," writes Jim McIntosh.

Sarah Bates won the 3X20 event with a score of 639.3, while Fraser Cheetham took the honours in the 3X40 event with 1084+96.0.

 "As for Sunday, the overnight rain made getting to the range tricky," McIntosh went on. "That was the start of a difficult day to say the least, the first detail actually went quite well with no equipment failures. The second detail was fully booked with the range officers getting soaked loading the target changer boxes, so on  the detail wet cards stuck to the backing support with subsequent card failures swhich meant that both 'hospital bays' (additional targets set up to cope with such failures) were in use and still on sighters."

At least two competitors moved to the third squad, which by that time was getting full.  The list of failures by that time was keeping the range offices having difficult in keeping track of where everyone was. The weather then decided not to punish them any more and the C&D final finished up with the sun coming through.

 The A&B qualifying was contested in such fine conditions that sunglasses were being required to find the shots on the cards. The final was shot late (from 4pm) but the sun stayed out.

The event was the first in which, courtesy of our partners RWS, top-of-the-range R50 ammunition was awarded to the first and second prone shooter in each class, along with prizes of Scotch whisky.


Scots do Grand in Pilzen

10 May  2011 

Matthew Thomson headed the list of Scots at the Grand Prix of Liberation in the Czech Republic with 597 in the Men's Prone followed by Dave Caughey on 596 and James Paterson on 590. Paterson went on to score 579 in the 10m Men's Air Rifle. Jen McIntosh scored 395 in the Women's 10m Air Rifle and 569 in the Women's 3P while  Andrew Ross scored 1113 in the Men's 3P event and 554 in the 10m Men's Air Rifle. For full results data, click here.


Heroes of Delhi given cash boost

6 May  2011 

Jen McIntosh, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Kay Copland, Shona Marshall, Angus McLeod and Ian Shaw have all been rewarded for their superb achievements last year in the Commonwealth Games. Each gold medallist receives  �10,000 and for details click  here and, for reaction in the sports press, click here. And McIntosh was voted the Aberdeen Sport Person of the Year ahead of swimmer Robbie Renwick and Hammond.


Scores on the doors at Watson's

4 May  2011 

Results from the recent Watsonian Rifle Club Open are now available here.


Room at the top . . .

4 May  2011 

British Shooting is on the look-out for a new and independent chair, The Chair will provide leadership and direction to the Board, the Chief Executive and, crucially, to the many parts of British Shooting. The Chair will ensure that British Shooting has a strategic plan and lead the  strategic interaction with a range of sporting agencies. Click here for full details.


Caithness is calling you

28 April  2011 

There's no need to leave the beautiful wilds of Caithness after the NSRA  Scottish meeting as you can enter the Caithness Open meeting which includes the second SSRA grand prix. A gentle reminder that entry forms can be found here (and also on the calendar page)


Get your entries in for  "The Scottish"

19 April  2011 

The entry form for the NSRA's Scottish Meeting 2011, which will be held at Castletown between 2 - 8 July 2011 is now available here. Entry forms may also be downloaded from the NSRA website, or if you require a hard copy, please contact the NSRA Competitions Department. 


World University Games

18 April  2011 

The time is close for selection for this event and those who wish to make themselves available must register with BUCS by 1st May. Click here for details on selection policy and more information or visit the British Shooting site.

 

 


Sunshine on Denwood

18 April  2011 

No, honestly it's true. No sleeping bags, no mystery competitors, no double hats (probably)...a beautiful day was had for the SSRA All Ranges match, and the results are available on the Domestic Results page.


SSRA Air Rifle league

18 April  2011 

The final results from this league are now available on the Domestic Results page.


Testing times in Changwon

14 April  2011 

Jon Hammond scored 1157 in the elimination round of the Men's 3P event at the ISSF World Cup  in Changwon, South Korea with Neil Stirton on 1145 but it was not enough to make the final stage where England's James Huckle made it through, finishing sixth with 1168+99.1.


SSRA Team Prone League: Final results

11 April  2011 

 
Division 1:  Bon Accord held off Watsonians, who fell off a cliff in the last two rounds, to win on aggregate after tieing on points. Top average: Ken Silver (Bon Accord) – 1.0.
Division 2:  Larbert were runaway winners, only dropping one point over the season with Callander a distant second. Top average: Gordon Motion (Callander) – 1.1.
Division 3:  In a very tight division, Inverurie & Oldmeldrum got the better of Alloa & District to win by two points.  Top average: Robin Law (Alloa & District) - 2.0
Division 4:  George Watson’s College only had the third-best average but kept winning matches and beat their mentors Watsonians B into 2nd place.  Top average: Robin Thomson (Watsonians) - 1.7
Division 5:  Despite losing their last two matches (their only losses), Orkney B held on to win over Clachnacuddin C.  Top average: A M Bexley (Clachnacuddin) - 3.0

The results and averages for Rounds 9 and 10 of the Team Prone League are now available on the Domestic Results page.

 

Our thanks go to Bill Hamilton for his diligent work in compiling the scores. After six seasons, he has decided to take a well-earned rest and so the SSRA will be on the look-out for a new league organiser for next season – anyone interested should contact the Executive Officer,

Remember remember

10 April  2011 

A reminder that the All Ranges competition takes place at Denwood next Sunday and also that the new C&D Prone postal league will start next month with the last date for entry Sat 30th April.


Blow for Scots in South Korea

11 April  2011 

Competing as part of the GB team, Neil Stirton (596), Jon Hammond (595) and Matthew Thomson (595) made it through the elimination round of the ISSF World Cup Men's 50m Prone event in Changwon, South Korea. In the qualification round, however, the weather took a turn for the worse. "Nasty cold and windy day in Changwon." tweeted coach Donald McIntosh. Hammond came away with a score of  590, Thomson 588, and Stirton 584 and they did not make the final - the cut-off score being 593. Thomson explained what he had to contend with on his Facebook page: "Still can't get over just how windy the match was this morning! Having 30 shots to go in just ten minutes is not a good way to finish a match. Still, quite fun though!"
 


SSRA Winter comps finals

9 April  2011 

Jim Cole-Hamilton won Class A of the SSRA Medal competition after a re-gauge from Hugh Simpson following scores of 300 ex 300. Class B honours went to Wick Old Stagers' Peter Richard and Julie Ballantyne of the Fochabers club took the Class C title. The CanDicap competition was won by Neil McMillan from Greenock. The 3P Championship went to James Paterson.

Final stage results from the Medal, CanDicap and 3P Championship are now available on the Domestic Results page.

Stop press: Final (interim) results from the SSRA Prone League are now available.


Setting sights on Glasgow 2014

7 April  2011 

The Edinburgh Evening News has today published a story on ISSF rifle judges in the Lothians as they begin their apprenticeships. Read the article here.


Caithness Open update

5 April  2011 

Marty Simpson, the County secretary of the Caithness Small-Bore Rifle Association, has advised that the recently-issued SSRA competition entry forms for the Caithness SBRA Open contain an error which competitors should be aware of. The form states that the Open will be held at Wick Old Stagers range in Wick, when it should in fact be at Thurdistoft range Castletown, where the Scottish will be held. In addition, the late entry date is incorrect, it should be 3rd July 2011. A substitute series of forms can be downloaded here, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.


SSRA 3P League results

5 April  2011 

The latest results for March are now available on the Domestic Results page.


Hammond so close to World Cup final

29 March  2011 

Jon Hammond came agonisingly close to making the final of the Men's Prone at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney, but his score of 594 fell just short.  See the full results  here


Grand ideas for 2011 Grand Prix series

26 March  2011 

500 rounds of RWS R50 ammunition are on offer at each of the 2011 SSRA Grand Prix prone events.

The first event is the Denwood Open on 8 May,  and each class winner from A to D will be awarded 300 rounds of R50 as part of the prizes with 200 rounds going to the second-placed competitor. If you do not already have an entry form for the grand prix events, please click on the event link on the Calendar page to request an entry form either in paper form or sent by e-mail.


Scots team lines up to tackle Kiwis

24 March  2011 

The Scotland team to take part in the annual postal match against New Zealand on Sunday 27 March at Balerno & Currie's range is: Main team: T Kidner, J Latimer, D Simpson, H Simpson, G Shedden, T Hodgson, I Henderson, R Spence, M McGill, J Cole-Hamilton, R Simpson, M Sinclair, JR Sinclair, K Silver, J Brown. Reserve: WT Vaughan. Junior team: J Barron, A Taylor, G Buchan, J Sime, E Steeples. Reserve: D Brown.


Paterson and Corish take Air Rifle Championship titles

22 March  2011 

James Paterson, left, won the Men's title and Wales' Sian Corish the Ladies title at the Scottish Open Air Rifle Championships held at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan over the weekend.

Sunday's championship finals and prizegiving marked the culmination of not only a weekend of great effort from the competitors but the organisers as well who laboured until 10pm on Friday to get the range set-up in working order.
Saturday's first detail, for the aggregate competitions, started at 9am, featured just two competitors, which gave everyone a welcome light run to ensure the flow of equipment control and targetry etc was glitch-free to cope with the busier details throughout the next two days.
"The equipment control was in the safe hands of Colin Watson and Gavin Walker, who were up to date on the ISSF’s latest meanderings with regard to equipment. Unfortunately our competitors were not," explained the SSRA's Jim McIntosh, himself a recently qualified GB Shooting B licence rifle judge. "We did know that trousers and jackets would be a problem and it did turn out that way. For example, the seat patch on the trousers is now a minimum distance (150mm) from the lower belt seam. At the next ISSF meeting it is anticipated that the equipment control will be run according to the latest publication of February 2011."
 
As far as results went, the performance of the competitors, as in previous years, was great and a number of personal bests were achieved. The finals were run according to the latest ISSF rules clarifications with a fairly slick operation set up to ensure the scores were collected, although Cyril de Jonckheere did his best to keep everyone on their toes by forgetting that each finals shot was permitted a full 75 seconds and not 45....
There were entries from across the home countries, with Wales providing three, so a Celtic Challenge ensued. Wales were represented by Sian Corish, Mike Lewis and David Williams. The Scottish trio were chosen from those who had completed their aggregate on the Saturday and the competition was run concurrently with the Championships and both ladies shooting a full 60-shot match.
The results were: Wales: Sian Corish 587, Mike Lewis 561, David Williams 558, total 1706. Scotland: James Paterson 583, Andrew Ross 562, Kathryn Williamson 563 total 1708 and a narrow win for Scotland.
Among those competing for the first time was Sarah "Two Hats" Bates who shot her first 40-shot match in Air Rifle and her extensive 3P experience paid off as she came up with a very commendable score as well. Kathryn Williamson continues to improve with twice this weekend improving her PB and two Chocolate Creme eggs as a result.

Saturday's aggregate championships saw class wins for Sian Corish in A, Mike Lewis in B, Andrew Laurie in C and Sarah Brown in D.
 
A fixture clash with the BUCS meeting deprived the Championships of a few top-quality shooters although overall entries were still up on last year. As a result, it has been proposed that next year’s event is on the calendar  for 10th&11th March. 

Pictured above right: Sian Corish, Emma Cole-Hamilton, Kathryn Williamson, Emma Parr and Sheena Sharp in the ladies final. Photos courtesy Bruce McIntosh.

Paterson, Corish and Calum Seale (Junior champion) pick up their RWS pellets

Detailed results are available on the Domestic Results page.


SSRA Team League update

22 March  2011 

Results for Round 8 are now available here.


Chillin' out at Denwood . . .

22 March  2011 

A recent B squad training session took place at Denwood in Aberdeen, with an opportunity to start some outdoor training but the oddball Scottish weather had other plans to test them,  writes coach Jim Cole-Hamilton.

While they set up the range, the grass was green, but by the time they started shooting the snow had begun and stayed with them through the day.  

"While the weekend was constructive (thanks to some sleeping bags to stave off frostbite, shown left) it was also cold and for the Sunday we returned to the 'relatively' warm conditions of the indoor range," he said. "We weren't the only fools there, the University held their outdoor SUS over the same weekend, using the long range on the Saturday, and the 50m on Sunday. Those hardy souls did both days outside..."

Do you know who the mystery shooter pictured in the bag is? There's a Tunnock's teacake on offer to the first person with the correct answer to mail webmaster@ssra.co.uk

 


Watsonians Open (12-13/3/11) update

 9 March  2011 

Competitions secretary Beverley Burnside advices that all the details on Saturday morning for this two-day event have now been booked.  For those intending on entering on the day it would therefore be best to drop her an email  here. beforehand so she can pre-book details for Saturday afternoon or Sunday and thus avoid disappointment.


Taste of the great outdoors: update

 9 March  2011 

Willie McAulay has confirmed that the Alloa & District club will hold an outdoor taster session at the Tullygarth range on  Saturday 28 May between 12-00 hrs and 18-00 hrs.

The range will be open for Alloa club members from Sunday 3 April.

 

Air Rifle League update

 8 March  2011 

The results for Round 4 are now available on the Domestic Results page. Competitors at the forthcoming Scottish Air Rifle Championships are reminded that their scores there can be nominated  for the final round should they so wish - simply inform competition organisers Cyril de Jonckheere and Jim McIntosh before shooting.


New SSRA Postal League unveiled for 2011

 6 March  2011 

A new 50m league aimed at Class C+D shooters spearheads the SSRA's outdoor season.

Designed to encourage new shooters to try their hand at shooting outdoor 50m events around Scotland, entries are now invited for this inaugural competition. Click here to have an entry form sent to you.

The entry forms for all the 2011 Outdoor SSRA Competitions, including the grand prix series, are now available. While existing SSRA members should expect a package containing all the season's forms in the post, anyone is welcome to enter the competitions and a form can be sent out by emailing Competitions Manager Ian Henderson.

Check out the SSRA calendar page to select what events suit you.

 

 


Kidner lifts Speedway crown

 6 March  2011 

Bon Accord's Tim Kidner won the SSRA Speedway competition held at the Balerno & Currie range. Watsonians' Callum Seale was the winner of the Class C/D final. Click here for full results.


Bruce draws Alasdair's horns to take LSSA World Cup

 5 March  2011 

Home advantage was not enough for Balerno & Currie's Alasdair Horne to retain his LSSA World Cup title - but it took fellow club mate Sinclair Bruce to do it after the drama of a shoot-off. Both men had dropped just two points in the final, but SSRA performance manager Bruce showed he can still shoot as well as he coaches by  notching a 100 maximum in the shoot-off to beat Horne's 99. Horne, who made the mistake of issuing the news to the media first instead of his wife, was no doubt "gutted" to relinquish the title he had won four times in the last five years.

 Detailed results will appear on the LSSA website.


SSRA 3P league

3 March  2011 

The latest results in the 3P League are now available on the Domestic Results page


Rule of Law on Air Grand Prix series

1 March  2011 

The final Air Grand Prix of the 2010-11 season, at Glenrothes, saw the irrepressible Robin Law retain the title once more

"The guy has over a hundred caps for Scotland and has not lost the Plate yet, who is out there willing to try and give him a run for his money before 2014?" asked competition organiser Jim McIntosh.

Balerno & Currie's Steven McLeod marked his debut in air GPs with a win in B Class pistol  and he went on to top that by by winning his first-ever final by one point from Bruce McIntosh. The overall series honours, however, were lifted by Mark Joyce from Forres.  The event also marked the first awards of ammunition prizes from SSRA sponsors RWS. All those competitors who had won their class during the GP season were given RWS R10 air pellets - something to consider when the dates for the 2011-12 season are announced in due course. New competitors are always made welcome, so why not give it a go? The Air GP series is an ideal way to obtain valuable experience and gain fresh insight into your sport.

But the season is not over yet north of the Border. The Scottish Air Rifle championships are being staged at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan on 19-20 March and the numerous class winners there will walk away with a supply of high quality match grade RWS pellets in addition to a trophy. The SSRA is keen to encourage new - and not so new - air shooters, there is still time to enter this event. Click here competitions@ssra.co.uk  and supply a postal address and you will receive an entry form by return of post.

The results from the Glenrothes GP are available on the Domestic Results page.


SSRA Results update

1 March  2011 

Latest scores from the Team Prone and Air Rifle leagues plus the qualifying rounds of the Medal, CanDicap and Speedway are now available.


McIntosh takes title at Bisley

20 February  2011 

Jen McIntosh has won the Ladies Junior Airgun title at Bisley, reports SSRA Performance manager Sinclair Bruce from Bisley. James Paterson made the Men's final in sixth place and in a close-fought affair made it up to fourth,  fighting for third but had to settle for fifth. Emma Cole-Hamilton was eighth but due to entry numbers only seven shot in the final of the Ladies. 


World Cup call-ups for Scots

19 February  2011 

Scotland's successful Commonwealth Games athletes are amongst the contingent from north of the Border who been selected for the GB teams in two forthcoming ISSF World Cup events next month. Trap shooter Shona Marshall, who won the Kuwait Grand Prix on Friday, heads for Concepcion in Chile  on 1 March along with skeet shooter Drew Christie.

Jen McIntosh, Neil Stirton, Jon Hammond, Matthew Thomson, Morgan Cook, Sian Bruce and  John MacDonald have all been picked for the  World Cup event in Sydney from 21-31 March.

ISSF World Cup (Shotgun, Concepcion, Chile, 1-9 March): Women's Trap: Shona Marshall. Men's Skeet: Drew Christie. 
ISSF World Cup (Pistol, Rifle & Shotgun, Sydney Australia, 21-31 March): Women's Trap: Shona Marshall. Women's Skeet: Sian Bruce. Men's Trap: John MacDonald. Men's Prone Rifle: Neil Stirton, Jon Hammond, Matt Thomson. Men's 3P Rifle: Neil Stirton, Jon Hammond. Women's 3P Rifle: Jen McIntosh. Women's Air Rifle: Jen McIntosh. Men's Rapid-Fire Pistol: Morgan Cook.


 
SSRA Competition results

17 February  2011 

After an inexcusable delay, the results from the Air Grand Prix in Carlisle are in plus the latest scores in the SSRA Prone League and 3P League competitions. They can be found on the Domestic Results page.


McIntosh sets new record in Colorado

10 February  2011 

Jen McIntosh, in the United States with a GB squad including Neil Stirton, continued to grab the headlines when she set a new Scottish Record (both Junior and Senior) for Women's Air Rifle at the Rocky Mountains Match in Colorado Springs. She beat her previous record of 393 (set at the Junior Nordics in 2008) by two points now raising the record to 395. Results can be found here.


Team Prone League

9 February  2011 

Results for Round 5 of this competition are now available.


Urgent Olympic plea for Scots

6 February  2011 

The highly publicised "Games Maker" scheme for volunteers to help with officiating at the 2012 London Olympics has attracted a vast number of applicants and now an urgent request has been made to narrow the field by interviewing the hopefuls. With this in mind, a tight deadline has been set of TUESDAY 8 February  for anyone wishing to lend a hand in conducting the interviews. There is a specific requirement to interview candidates based north of the Border at the Glasgow Science Centre. Approximately 50  volunteers are needed within Scotland to help out with a selection event at the Science Centre in Glasgow between 4 May and 15 May 2011. 
As a selection event volunteer, you’ll conduct interviews, support the check-in desk and provide information to Games Maker applicants.
 Interested? Email SEV@london2012.com. to apply and click here for the application form and here for the necessary HR form.


InterShoot opens doors for new wave

6 February  2011 

Caroline Brownlee and Jessie Liddon from the Scottish Pistol Association produced the star performances from the Scots contingent at the annual InterShoot Air Weapons event in The Hague. Their third and second places in the Women's Air Pistol  and Women's Junior Air Pistol respectively led the way but highly notable mentions must go to Jamie Hodgson and Fiona Park who competed for their country in Air Rifle on a self-funded basis and gained valuable international experience.

"Compared to domestic competitions InterShoot was a very high standard and provided excellent experience for all who attended," said Edinburgh's Fraser Cheetham. "There was some very good shooting most notably from Fiona Park who at her first international competition managed to score a new personal best of 379, unfortunately just missing out on a place in the final. The shooting didn't always go to plan but everyone who went came away with valuable lessons which can be put into practice in training and at future competitions."

For detailed results click here.


Forth & Clyde Indoor Open announced

4 February  2011 

The Sands/Alloa Rifle Club in Kincardine will be the venue for this event on 26th February. For more information and details on how to enter, contact Ian Henderson.


SSRA Archive updated

26 January 2011 

The extensive SSRA News for 2010 has now been added to the archive.


SSRA Results news

24 January 2011 

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


Scots success on ISSF rifle judges course

23 January 2011 

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. For a brief diary of the course and how it went click here.


SSRA Air GP III (updated)

Updated 25 January 2011 

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.


Watsonians Open  2011

14 January 2011 

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. 


SSRA Team Prone League 2010-11

14 January 2011 

The results for the first three rounds of this competition are now available on the Domestic Results page


Sports Minister expresses support for Scottish Target Shooting Centre

10 January 2011 

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


RWS offers SSRA clubs try before you buy sessions

9 January 2011 

Our partners RWS Ammunition have for some time been visiting clubs throughout the UK to allow them to ‘have a go’ with RWS rimfire and pellets.  The firm will visit individual clubs and allow them to try their various grades of ammunition free of charge .If your club would be interested in such a session, please contact the SSRA webmaster.


New date for  Rifle Judges Course

16 December 2010 

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.


Law wins Glenrothes Air Grand Prix

14 December 2010 

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 competitions battle through the blizzards

8 December 2010 

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.


Weather chaos claims Rifle Judges Course

1 December 2010 

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.


Hammond and McIntosh honoured for Games success

27 November 2010 

Scotland's superb team performance in Delhi was tonight honoured at the Commonwealth Games Scotland Sports Awards Dinner in Glasgow.

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.

 
SSRA announces sponsorship deal with RWS

22 November 2010 

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.


Attention! Scots on course for Olympic experience

14 November 2010 

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.

Following on from our news that a course will be run at Bisley on 4-5 December (Your country needs you, 30 September),  it appears that should they pass their test, Iain Malone, Jim McIntosh, John Buchanan, Scott Dixon and Colin Watson could find themselves helping out at London 2012 if a shortfall of qualified officials becomes apparent. While the quest for a coveted ISSF red judges jacket is a lengthy one, involving officiating at ISSF events in Britain and potentially abroad, the end product will be to supply the 127+ officials who are likely to be required for the various categories of Juries, Appeal, Full Bore, Pistol, Shotgun and Classification at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

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

 

 


First blood to Watterson in Callander

14 November 2010 

 

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.


Scotland squads announced

10 November 2010 

The selections for the 2010-2011 'A', Fast Track, 'B' and Under-21 squads are now available on the Squads & Athletes page


Balerno & Currie Open Shoot

30 October 2010 

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.


Face the new firing squad: Club instructors' course  a success

23 October 2010 

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, 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......

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.

 

 


 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: CURTAIN COMES DOWN ON SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN

14 October 2010 

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 with four medals - two gold, one silver, one bronze - he is Scotland’s most successful athlete in any sport at a single Games.

 “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, 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. 
"When shooting was put at a satellite venue about 500 miles away from Kuala Lumpur in 1998 Joan stayed with us as our dedicated medical support. She did the same again when shooting was based at Bisley in 2002 [for the Manchester Commonwealth Games]. In 2006 she stepped in a short notice when a change to the coaching team in smallbore shortly before the Melbourne games meant we needed a new team manager. Her knowledge of the overall preparations, the athletes and our programme made her the perfect choice and even though she is not a shooter herself her experience of high level sport including Olympics has been of great benefit to us."

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.


 BREAKING COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: HAMMOND BAGS SECOND GOLD

13 October 2010 

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 team mate Neil Stirton finished in fifth with 693.7. England's Mike Babb finished fourth with 693.9.

 “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.”

Coach Donald McIntosh commented:  “It was a fantastic performance from Jon. He had a great qualifying round in tricky wind, next to Warren Potent, who has been in the top two or three in the world for the last five years. He put in a great performance and increased his lead in the final, in what was a world class performance.”
For full official results click here and select "results list" - and click on Delhi Diary for Graham Rudd's thoughts on the adventure in India.

And there were more medals today: Angus McLeod and Ian Shaw took the silver medal in the pairs full bore open final.

 


 

 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: JUST A PERFECT DAY AS SCOTS HIT GOLD RUSH

12 October 2010 

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 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.

“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

 


 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: GOLD FOR SCOTLAND DUO

11 October 2010 

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.
McIntosh had 591 points and Copland 578. They were tied with England's Michelle Smith and Sharon Lee on 1169 but took the gold  with 60 X-bulls to England's 52.

 "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."
On edging the English pair out for the gold, she added: "We quite often shoot together so it is good to beat them. We're Great Britain team-mates and there is plenty of banter between us but I'm not going to lie to you, it feels good to win."

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.
Indian pair Meena Kumari and Tejaswini took the bronze medal with a score of 1168.

. “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

 


 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: HAMMOND SHOOTS HIS WAY TO SILVER

9 October 2010 

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 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.

“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.

 

 


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: BRONZE FOR STIRTON AND HAMMOND

8 October 2010 

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.

"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).

Pictured left: Jon Hammond and Neil Stirton check those medals aren't really chocolate Christmas decorations

 


 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS: McINTOSH JUST MISSES OUT IN 3P FINAL

7 October 2010 

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)


Club instructors' course to be held in Edinburgh

6 October 2010 

Coach Sinclair Bruce advises that this course is now fully booked for 16-17 October


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:   RUDD REMAINS UPBEAT

6 October 2010 

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.
The competition was won by India's Gagan Narang who scored a flawless 600 ex 600 on his way to topping the podium with 103.6 in the final. England's James Huckle had 591 and a tidy final for third, beating compatriot Ken Parr by a slim margin. It came down to the last shot and Huckle had a 9.8 and Parr had a 9.5.  Edinburgh-based Steven Watterson, competing for the Isle of Man, was 15th in qualification with 572.
In the Women's Singles 25m Pistol  event, Hampshire-based Scot Caroline Brownlie was 14th with 509 and the competition was won by India's Anisa Sayyed with 583, with England's Gorgs Geikie ninth with 562.


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:  BRONZE FOR COPLAND AND MCINTOSH

5 October 2010 

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.

 


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:  LET THE GAMES BEGIN...

3 October 2010 

 

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.


Your country needs you:  ISSF course date announced

30 September 2010 

Further 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

 

 
COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:  GONE WITH THE WIND

30 September 2010 

Forward thinking is paying off for the team in Delhi as training continues for next week's events at the two Games venues.
Commenting on conditions in the 50m range at the Dr Karni Singh venue, head coach Donald McIntosh, pictured left, explained: “Most of the team were here in February at the Commonwealth Championships, and a big part of that was to get familiar with the range. It was really good to get some experience of the wind on the range and to see how it impacts on where the shots land. This helped to plan our strategy on how to deal with it. The wind is relatively consistent,” he went on. “We have seen it being quite tricky on a couple of days back in February but we’ve mainly found it is what we call a clean wind. There’s not a lot of turbulence in it; it just tends to drift left to right most of the time, remaining reasonably constant.”


Heat is also a major factor for the shooters, with hydration and nutrition affecting their concentration and focus. 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.
“The heat is certainly something we were aware of for Beijing," said Hammond (shown left with Neil Stirton) 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,  "so we concentrated on doing a lot of warm weather training. For me, being in the States was handy because they have a big range in Georgia, and in the summer there it can get pretty humid. From then on I’ve found it easier to shoot in hotter conditions and I struggle a lot more when I go home to train in the cold. Hopefully as it gets hotter here it won’t impact on me too much.”
 

 

 

Jon Hammond, left, with Neil Stirton


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:  PLEASANT SURPRISE FOR HAMMOND

26 September 2010 

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 free journey, they had the chance to see for themselves the huge progress which had been made.

 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

 


 

Scores on the doors from The Great Outdoors

26 September 2010 

Dave Caughey took yet more honours when he won the Fife & Kinross Outdoor Open,  hosted by the Perth range. Results are available here

 


 

COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS:  TEAM BACK ON TRACK

23 September 2010 

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 delayed 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.
Following the Chef de Missions meeting this morning, Team Scotland's representative Jon Doig said: "We are heartened that Sheila Dikshit has personally taken control of the situation and ensuring that the necessary additional resources are brought in, including support from the Delhi hoteliers association to address standards of cleanliness and hygiene and oversee quality control. We have continued to make progress addressing the maintenance and operational issues within our own accommodation block and things are looking much better. Therefore subject to a number of assurances from the Organising Committee being realised over the next 24 hours, we feel we will be in a position to confirm tomorrow that our team will travel as scheduled on Saturday."
 Amongst those reassurances required in addition to accommodation maintenance, is proof that all structural safety certificates for both the Village and the venues are in place, backed with full insurance cover through the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee.

 


COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEWS

22 September 2010 

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 Indian police and security agencies are assessing the situation on an ongoing basis with a view to determining its relevance or otherwise to the Games.
Team Scotland is continuing to monitor the situation, liaising with relevant officials from the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who are advising all home nations. Jon Doig, Team Chef de Mission said: “We are continuing with our planning and operational set up as scheduled and we are satisfied that the security arrangements at the Games Village and venues are good and in line with what we expected. We still look forward to competing at the Games when they open on 3 October.”
Commonwealth Games Scotland will continue to communicate with team members through their respective sport team leaders. Media interest in the Games has been "insatiable" according to Katriona Bush, head of press and PR for the Scotland team, and not only because of the well-publicised problems with the venues which include poor conditions in the athletes' village as well as the collapse of a bridge and an incident at the weightlifting arena when the ceiling fell down. As the opening ceremony on 3 October approaches, athletes across all the sports involved have been at pains to talk about their hopes and aspirations rather than any uncertainty regarding the actual venues


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