David Rattray and Robin Law have been included in the British team which will compete at the International Air Rifle and Pistol Competition in Munich in mid January 2001.

There are some changes to the ISSF rules that come into effect from 1st January 2001. The following text was extracted from the ISSF site (the Pistol and Clay Target sections are not included here):

THE ISSF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE INFORMS IMPORTANT AMENDMENTS AND CHANGES TO THE ISSF RULES AND REGULATIONS IN FORCE AS FROM 1st JANUARY 2001

GENERAL
The main goal of the amendments has been to bring the Rules in such an order that the coaches and shooters can find all parts are important for the competitions in each of the RULES corresponding to each of the Disciplines.

ISSF GENERAL REGULATIONS
Women's events
300m Rifle 3 position (3x20) and 300m Rifle 60 shots prone has been added to the recognised ISSF events.

Range facilities:
The number of minimum range installations for Final competitions in Olympic events has been added.

Maximum national team size for World Championships events:
The maximum number of entries in Rifle events has been changed from 7 (5 without 300 m) to 9 (7 without 300 m) men and from 5 to 7 (5 without 300 m) women.

Entry fees:
A fee of US$ 150.00 will be paid for each shooter entered in each event. No further fee can be collected for shooters. A fee of US$ 50.00 must be paid for each official. The participating federation is responsible for the travel and living expenses of team members. The Organising Committee must provide transportation from the local airport or railway station to the hotel and from the hotel to the range.

ISSF Identification Number (ISSF ID Number)
To participate in ISSF supervised competitions and Championships it is mandatory for the shooters to have an ISSF Identification Number (ISSF ID Number). The National Federation of the shooter must make application for the issuance of the ISSF ID Number on a special form.

Protest fees:
Appeals: US$ 50,-- or its local equivalent
Other protests: US$ 25,-- or its local equivalent

GENERAL TECHNICAL RULES
The new "TECHNICAL RULES" do not include Rules for Tie breaking, Protests and Appeals. These chapters have been transferred to the corresponding Rules for each discipline.

RULES FOR FINAL COMPETITION
This Chapter has been cancelled and each DISCIPLINE RULE includes also the rules for Final competitions in the different Olympic events of that discipline. However, the command in all cases of "Count Down" has been changed from "5-4-3-2-1-START" to " 3-2-1-START", as well in Final competitions as also in different Pistol events.

RIFLE RULES
Standards for 300m Standard Rifle and 10m Air Rifle
The butt plate may be adjustable up or down, offset parallel to the centre line of the normal end of the butt plate left or right a maximum 15 mm or the complete butt plate (not part) may be turned on the vertical axis. Turning
the butt plate on the horizontal axis is not permitted. Lowest point of stock or toe of butt plate with the butt plate in its maximum downward position 220 mm from the centre line of the barrel.

The important measurements in the new Rules are:
E: Lowest point of pistol grip 160 mm
F: Lowest point of stock ...as until now 220 mm
K: Offset of butt plate parallel to the centre line of the normal end of the butt left or right - 15mm.

300 m Rifle for women
Same as for men but with a 6.5 kg weight limit.

Shooting shoes
The flexibility of shooting shoes will be enforced.

RUNNING TARGET RULES
Individual Ties in 10 m Events
In the event of tied scores for the first eight (8) places, the order of ranking must be determined by the following rules taken consecutively until the tie is resolved:
The highest score in the last ten shot series working backward by 10 shot series until the tie is broken.
The highest number of 10's, 9's, 8's, etc.
The highest number of inner tens.
If any ties remain, the shooters must be given the same ranking.

Final in the Olympic Event
Number of Finalists: 6 competitors

When there are more than six (6) eligible for the Finals start because of tied scores, the tie will be broken by shoot off on the qualification range. This shoot off includes two (2) sighting shots (1 left - 1 right) in 2,5 seconds (fast run). After the completion of the sighting shots each shooter will shoot two (2) additional competition shots (1 left - 1 right) in 2,5 seconds (fast run). In the event of further tied score, the shoot off will be continued until the tie is broken.

Please Note:
The present list of changes does not include all the details that were changed or added in the 2001 edition of the regulations. It is only meant to serve as a reference for the most important changes.

The January Air Rifle Grand Prix has moved from the 21st to the 14th. The venue remains unchanged, and will be the first of these events to be held on the new facilities at Callander.

SSRA A squad members David Rattray, Susan Jackson, Jonathan Hammond, Donald McIntosh, Martin Sinclair, Neil Stirton, Barbara Mackay, Jim Cole-Hamilton, Bill Brown, Janis Thomson and Sinclair Bruce have all received Lottery Sports Fund awards for 2001 from sportscotland. Awards were also made to shooters from the clay target and fullbore rifle events.

Robin Law won the second Air Rifle Grand Prix of the 2000/1 season at Glenrothes on 10th November, equalling the Scottish record of 592 in the process.

Full results are available here.

Robin Law won the first Air Rifle Grand Prix of the 2000/1 season at Denwood on 19th November. His score of 583 consisted of five strings of 98, spoiled by a 93 for his third string.

Full results are available here.

Bon Accord have won Division One of the Scottish League, beating last year's winners Alloa & District into second place.

The full text of this can be found here.

Results have now come through from the North Island, and in a low-scoring match it is a ten-point victory for the Kiwis this year. Jon Hammond was top score in the Scottish team with 397, Robbie McNair the best in the NI team with 395, but the final team totals came out as 5876 vs 5866.

In the inaugural Junior match, the honours went down under again, the NI team winning 1961 - 1949.

Full results can be found here.

Scotland won 8 medals at the CSF(ED) Championship, held over the weekend of 15th - 17th September on the Isle of Man, 6 of them coming from the smallbore rifle shooters. Robin Law led the way, with silver in the men's air rifle individual. Robin combined with Donald McIntosh for second place in the air rifle pairs, with Donald also picking up the individual bronze. Tricia Littlechild completed the medal haul on the 10m range with bronze in the women's air rifle.

At the 50m range Jim Cole-Hamilton and Sinclair Bruce took bronze in the men's prone pairs, with Jim going on to individual bronze also. Jonathan Hammond completed the medal haul with bronze in the men's 3 positions match.

The remaining two medals came in the Skeet event - Mike Thomson taking bronze, and pairing up with Ian Marsden to win the gold.

Wales dominated the smallbore events, winning five of the six individual events and three of the four pairs matches, with one English win in the individual men's 3P and the Isle of Man winning the men's prone pairs.

Scottish shooters performed well in the development matches, with personal bests from Jonathan Hammond in the air rifle (557), Neil Calder in the 3x40 (1090), Rosie Fraser in the 3x20 (523), Gordon Motion in the prone (593), and solid performances from Jim Ward, Sheena Sharp and Mary Melvin.

A summary of the results can be found here.

Donald McIntosh secured second place in the 3P Grand Prix series with a win at the final event at Denwood on Saturday 9th September.

Results of the Grand Prix, and the final GP Series points tables, can be found here and here respectively.

Results of the Gagie Open & Grand Prix V along with the final GP Series points tables can be found here.

Following the trials for the cartridge squads at Bisley on the 2nd and 3rd of September, six Scots have been selected for the British squads for 2001. Susan Bell is the only woman, included in the prone squad. In the men's prone Bill Brown and Neil Stirton have been selected, with Neil also being in the junior men's squad. Martin Sinclair secured his place in the men's 3P squad, with Robin Law and David Rattray being included in the men's air rifle squad.

With one event remaining, Martin Sinclair secured the 3-Positions Grand Prix series with his fourth victory at Denwood on Saturday 26th. On the Sunday, he went on to secure the Prone GP series as well, with what is believed to be the first Scottish score over 700 (597 + 103.6) including the final.

The Grampian Open, qualifier for the GP, produced some fine shooting, with Cliff Ogle producing 596 in his old (and rather worn out) jacket, Martin Sinclair on 595 and Susan Jackson (equalling her Scottish record) and Sinclair Bruce both producing 594. There were a further 6 scores breaking the 590 barrier. Lothian (featuring all four of the top scores along with Lynda Sinclair's 579) won the Inter-Region match, with Central second.

The following team has been selected to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships, which will be held on the Isle of Man in mid-September:

Where applicable, the top two names will compete in the pairs event.

It is safe to say that 2000 was not one of the better years for the Scottish shooters at the NSRA's National Rifle Meeting at Bisley. In the opening Weekend Aggregate competitions, Cliff Ogle was the winner in Class A, with Gordon Cox winning Class D.

Prize-list appearances were few and far between through the main Aggregate, Graham Love winning the English Match in Class B the only trophy winner, but a degree of consistency saw Sinclair Bruce come third in the Class X aggregate.

There were no Scots in the final of the British Long Range Championship for the Earl Roberts trophy, but the Junior U21 title went to Jon Hammond.

In the Home Countries Internationals, the closest result came from the Junior team, three points off the lead - but a lead shared by England and Wales, the tie-break going the way of the former. The Scottish Ladies were second behind England by 25 points, but 12 ahead of Wales. The main team of ten had a horrible day, 78 points behind England's record score of 3917, with Wales 25 point ahead of them as well. A summary of the results can be found here.

The first weekend of the NSRA National Meeting at Bisley includes the 3P competitions. Martin Sinclair won the British 3x40 Championship, with a score of 1150, with Jonathan Hammond third on 1140 (and another Scottish junior record).

The concurrent Home Countries match was won by the Scottish team of Martin, Jonathan and Donald McIntosh (1129) with team score 25 points higher than the previous Scottish record.

In the concurrent club team event, E U Alumni (Martin, Donald and Cliff Ogle (1120)) won by a huge margin of 50 points, increasing their own Scottish and British record score by 29 points. A clean sweep of the team events was foiled by the two Scottish counties represented (Lothian and Stirlingshire) each being one member short of a full team.

Donald McIntosh and Tony Credland won the men's 3x40 team event for Scotland at the Inter-Region match at Bisley on Friday 11th August. Donald came 3rd in the individual match with 1120. The men's prone team of Donald, Tony and Sinclair Bruce came third in the team match, with Sinclair top individual score of 592. Donald and Tony also came third in the inaugural air rifle match, with Donald losing third individual place on countback.

In the women's prone, Mary Melvin and Sheena Sharp came second in the team event, with Mary taking third in the individual with 584.

Neil Stirton shot 593 to win the first of the prone matches at the GB Junior International at Bisley, the week before the National Meeting. Jonathan Hammond raised the Scottish junior men's 3x40 record to 1135 on his way to victory in that match, before going on to win the second prone match, also with 593.

As advised below, a series of postal matches have been held against Australian teams, concurrent with our respective national championships. Each match was for a team of three, across all six ISSF rifle events.

Scotland's sole win was in the Men's Air Rifle, where David Rattray, Robin Law and Ronnie Sellar won by 1748 to 1735. Men's 3P was close, the Australian team just coming home two points ahead, and the Men's Prone was also relatively close, with Scotland seven points adrift.

The closest result in the Women's matches came in the Prone, where the Australians took the honours by five points. The 3P and Air Rifle events were rather more one-sided affairs.

Full results can be found here.

The 2nd Scottish ISSF 50m Open Championships were held at Denwood on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th August.

The first event to be decided went to Janis Thomson, who won the Women's Prone ahead of Barbara Mackay and Mary Melvin.

Martin Sinclair then retained the men's 3x40 ahead Robin Law and Simon Bailey.

The Sunday saw Shirley McIntosh winning the women's 3x20 (in her first 3P match since last year's championship) from Janis Thomson and Lynda Sinclair.

The most fiercely contested event was the Men's Prone, won by Jim Cole-Hamilton, with Tom Hodgson and Sinclair Bruce taking second and third respectively.

Full results can be found here.

This year sees the introduction of a new postal international match. Teams of three, shooting under ISSF conditions, will compete against teams from Australia. In each case the matches will be shot concurrent with the respective National Championship. The Scottish Teams for this inaugural match are as follows:

The Air Rifle match has already been completed, but the results will not be published until the 6th of August once the remaining Scottish teams have shot.

Jonathan Hammond has secured third place in the men's prone at the European Junior Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic, with a score of 590 + 103.9. Neil Stirton was 11th with a score of 589.

Bill Copland won his first SSRA Prone Grand Prix at Wick on Saturday 29th July. The majority of the Caithness Open competitions were shared around the visitors, with Jim Cole-Hamilton winning the Aggregate, Cyril De Jonckheere winning the Caithness Open Championship, and Alloa cleaning up in the team events. A huge amount of work had been put in by members of the Wick Old Stagers club before the meeting, raising the firing point to meet army regulations, raising the roof to compensate, and building a new clubhouse to replace that burned down by vandals earlier in the year.

Jonathan Hammond won Silver in the Junior Men's Prone at the Nordic Championships in Kouvola, Finland. Jonathan and Neil Stirton were two thirds of the GB Junior Men's Team that also won Silver.

David Rattray qualified for the final of the Senior Men's Air Rifle with 586, ending up in 7th place.

Jim Cole-Hamilton was the most successful of the Scots taking part in the Karstula International Match Week in Finland, recording the top prone score of the week with 597 - a personal best by four points. Jim also shot a score of 596 twice during the re-entry match periods. Simon Clark also produced a personal best, with 593 during the re-entry stages, and he took third in the final "one-off" match, producing the only "clean" final in difficult conditions. Sinclair Bruce completed a successful trio, equalling his PB of 594 twice but was unfortunate to be called out of time on one shot during the final, dropping out of medal contention.

Janis Thomson won the one-off ladies prone with 580 and was second in the 3x20 with 545, having also been well placed during the re-entry stages. Donald McIntosh took third in the one-off 3x40 match, with 1128.

Jonathan Hammond raised the Scottish Under 21 3x40 record once more during the SSRA Grand Prix at Denwood on the 2nd of July. His 1130, including a fine 399 prone, was good enough for second place overall, Martin Sinclair continuing his clean sheet with 1147.

Jonathan Hammond won the Class X Aggregate at the Scottish Meeting in Fort William, with Jim Cole-Hamilton and Sinclair Bruce in joint third place. James Brown won A class, Tony Credland won B class, with the highest aggregate score of any class, and fifteen year old Matthew Thomson won D class.

Jonathan went on to win the Earl Haig Scottish Long Range Championship, becoming the youngest ever winner at the tender age of 19. 1998 champion Jim Cole-Hamilton was second, with three-times (1985, 1990 & 1993) champion Gordon Winch third.

Scotland won the main International match, our 3814 ex 4000 points beating England's 3783 and Wales' 3756. A fine reward for Cyril De Jonckheere in his 50th appearance in the team. Our Under 21 team also won, 1117 ex 1200 beating England's 1109. Unfortunately the Ladies lost, 1848 ex 2000 being beaten by England's 1861. A summary of the scores is available here.

Cyril De Jonckheere took full advantage of good weather on the first day, winning the unsquadded aggregate.

Bon Accord won both of the Scottish confined team events - the Pullar Targe at 50m and the ICI trophy at 100 yards - along with the "sharpshooter" disk breaking team event.

The "Freuchie" competition run by the SSRA for the Scottish Long Range Matchplay Championship was won by Sinclair Bruce who took home the Wilkinson Sword, with Matthew Thomson winning the C&D class section for the the Sgian Dubh.

The annual prone match between the Police Athletic Association and Scotland was held on Friday 23rd June on the range of the NSRA Scottish Meeting outside Fort William. Teams of eleven shooters completed sixty shot matches at each of 50m and 100yds, with the best ten scores to count at each distance. Scotland were top scorers at both distances, winning the match by 55 points.

The results can be found here.

The following members of the SSRA 'A' Squad will be competing at the International Match Week in Karstula, Finland during the week beginning 1st July: Janis Thomson, Sinclair Bruce, Jim Cole-Hamilton, Simon Clark and Donald McIntosh.

David Rattray has been selected to compete in the Men's Air Rifle at the Nordic Championships, which will be held in Finland in mid-July. Neil Stirton and Jonathan Hammond will compete in the Junior Men's Prone, with Jonathan also competing in the Junior Men's 3x40.

Martin Sinclair won the Men's 3-Positions at the NSRA ISSF Meeting, his 1149 fourteen points clear of the field. Donald McIntosh also qualified for the final, ending up 5th. Neil Stirton was the best placed Scot in the Men's Prone, ending up 5th.

In the women's events there was less success. Barbara Mackay was the best placed with 8th in the Prone, Janis Thomson and Lynda Sinclair 7th and 8th respectively in the 3x20.

Jonathan Hammond improved substantially on his Scottish Under-21 3x40 record on the GB Junior tour to Oldenburg, with a score of 1128.

Congratulations to A-Squad member Susan Bell, who married fellow E U Alumni club member Angus Jackson in Dunfermline on Saturday 28th May.

Barbara Mackay and Jim Cole-Hamilton competed at the French Masters in Bully-les-Mines between Thursday 26th and Saturday 28th May. The results can be found here.

Jonathan Hammond equalled his Scottish Under 21 3x40 record at the Hampshire Open on Saturday 21st May at Basingstoke, with a score of 1112. Martin Sinclair tied for first place with 1150, losing on countback to Jason Burrage of Surbiton.

Confirmation has just been received that the NSRA's British Short Range Team of 8 has been won by Wick Old Stagers, beating last years title holders Bon Accord in the final.

Confirmation has just been received of Scottish successes in some of the NSRA Club & County Indoor Leagues. Bon Accord have secured Division 1 of the National Short Range Prone League, with E U Alumni retaining Division 1 of the National Short Range Standing & Kneeling League and the Club Team of 3 Air Rifle Knock-out. Lothian have won Division 1 of the Inter-County 3P League.

With Aberdeen University Rifle Club short of cash, Neil Stirton was one of those unable to attend the British Universities Championships in Appleton. Instead 19 year old Neil stayed at home, and won the first SSRA Prone Grand Prix of 2000 with an equal Scottish (and provisional British) Junior Record of 596 ex 600. The existing record was set by Neil's Bon Accord clubmate Jonathan Hammond, when he won the World Junior Championship in Barcelona in 1998.

The British Universities Outdoor Championships were held at the Appleton Rifle Club range near Warrington on Saturday 6th May. St Andrews won the main team of VIII and the Quartet for the first time, with Edinburgh second in both. Edinburgh also won the Ladies Triad. The Ladies Individual title went to Mary Boston of Edinburgh, with the main Individual title being won by a Scot, Jonathan Hammond, representing Leeds.

The Scottish Universities Outdoor Championships were held at Denwood on Saturday 29th April. St Andrews won the main team of VIII competition and the Quartet, with Aberdeen winning the Pairs. The Individual Championship went to Neil Stirton of Aberdeen.

David Rattray and Bill Brown have been included in the GB team for the ISSF World Cup in Munich, which will take place in early June. David will compete in the Air Rifle, Bill in the Prone.

Jonathan Hammond and Neil Stirton have been included in the GB team for the Junior International match in Suhl. Neil will compete in the Prone, Jonathan in the Prone and 3x40.

Grampian won the Short Range Inter-Region match, narrowly beating Highland. The full results can be seen here. The scores for the New Zealand match will not be published yet as we wouldn't want the opposition to see what they have to beat!

The report of the UK Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee on Control of Firearms can be found here.

The following team has been selected to represent Scotland in the annual postal match against the North Island, New Zealand:

In addition, for the first time, an Under-21 match will be held. The following team has been selected:

The matches will be shot alongside the Short Range Inter-Region Match at the range of Perth C&C on Sunday 16th April.

Irene Paul from Wick Old Stagers has won the Women's section of the NSRA's "News of the World" British Short Range Individual Championship, shot at the Surbiton Postal Rifle Club range in London on Sunday 9th April. Jonathan Hammond of Bon Accord was the highest placed Scot in the Open final, in 6th place. The Championship was won by Simon Aldhouse of Addiscombe.

Graham Rudd, a schoolboy from George Watson's College in Edinburgh won the SSRA's "Speedway" Short Range Matchplay Championship in Perth on Sunday 2nd April. Gordon Motion of Callander was second, with Hugh Simpson of Wick Old Stagers third. Staying with the Simpson clan, the C&D Speedway ended up a fight between between Hugh's sons Hugh Jnr and David, with the former coming out on top. Fourteen year old Matthew Thomson from George Watson's College was third.

Full results are available for the A&B Final and the C&D Final.

Edinburgh University continued their winning form, taking the team title at the Indoor Championships held in Sutton Coldfield. St Andrews University were third. Top Individual score was Jo Hossack of Edinburgh, with Neil Craven of St Andrews second and Stephen Watterson of Edinburgh third.

The Scottish Universities Main Team and Women's Team both beat the English Universities teams in the "international" matches (apologies for earlier statement that main team had lost).

Following a successful appeal, Barbara Mackay of Watten has been awarded a Lottery Sports Fund award under the "National Squad" scheme. Barbara is a member of the Scottish 'A' squad, and was 4th in the Women's Prone at the 1999 Commonwealth Championships in New Zealand.

David Rattray equalled the Scottish Men's Senior Air Rifle record at the Cumberland News open in Carlisle on Saturday 25th March. Shooting with a new Feinwerkbau P70 with a aluminium stock which he had purchased only two days before, David recorded strings of 100, 99, 100, 95, 99 & 99 for a total of 592.

The Scottish Target Shooting Federation Open Air Rifle & Pistol Championships were held at the Inverclyde Sports Training Centre in Largs over the weekend of the 18th and 19th of March. Two times British Champion David Rattray finally won the event which has eluded him for years, beating Ronnie Sellar into second place, with 1998 champion Debbie Venables in third. Debbie retained the Ladies Open title, with Shirley McIntosh winning the confined Scottish event. Stuart Rillie retained his Junior Open title, with Di Coates also retaining her Disabled Open title.

Fifteen year old Chloe Johnstone produced the most impressive performance of the weekend, shattering her own Junior Women's record in her first match and then going on to do the same again on the second one.

The Scottish team of David Rattray, Ronnie Sellar and Robin Law won the Home Counties International match, setting a new Scottish record in the process.

Full results are available here.

Hugh Simpson of Wick Old Stagers won the NSRA Scottish Short Range Prone Championship for the Daily Record trophy at the Denwood Target Shooting Centre in Aberdeen on Sunday 12th March. Simpson, who had previous won the event in 1986, recorded a score of 396, two points clear. A tie-shoot was required for the remaining medals, between Under 18 Champion Graham Rudd of George Watson's College, Aberdeen University's Neil Stirton and the 1987 & 1999 Champion, Jack Lavety of Bon Accord. Youth had it's day, with Rudd taking the silver and Stirton the bronze.

The Semi-finals and Final of the Scottish Cup, for teams of six, were also held at Denwood on the same day. Wick Old Stagers and Bon Accord met in the final, having disposed of Dunfermline and Watsonians respectively. The Aberdeen club successfully defended the trophy, making it now four in a row, with a 100% record since the final stages were changed to be shoulder to shoulder.

Full results are available here.

The final of the Lothian Smallbore Shooting Association "World Cup" competition was held at the range of Balerno & Currie Rifle Club on Saturday 26th February. The format of the competition is designed to mimic that of the soccer World Cup. 24 competitors had qualified from the postal group stages, and faced a further group stage of three rounds - with the top two from each group and the four best "losers" going through to the knockout stage. Mel Mutch of Watsonians was the eventual winner, beating Bill Vaughan of Selkirk in the final.

The Scottish Universities Indoor Championships were held in Perth on Saturday 19th February. Edinburgh University, winners of the 1999/2000 League and Women's League, continued to dominate - winning the main Team of Eight event. Edinburgh also won the Pairs, Quartet and Women's Triad team events. The individual title went to Jo Hossack, a first year student at Edinburgh, beating her team Captain, Mary Boston, into second place.

The British Open Air Rifle Championships were held at Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton over the weekend of 11th to 13th February. Scotland's David Rattray won the Senior Men's title, six years after his previous victory. The 1999 champion, fellow Scot Robin Law, took the silver.

The Scotland team of David, Robin and Tricia Littlechild were beaten into second place by England in the Home Countries match, with the Women's team of Tricia, Janis Thomson and Susan Bell down in third, below England and Wales - a results summary can be found here.

Glenrothes were unable to defend the club team title, coming second behind City of Birmingham.

This website was launched on the 10th of February of 2000.

Entry forms for the 2000 Scottish Air Rifle Championships are now available from the SSRA - e-mail your name and address to us if you would like one. Alternatively, a limited number will be available at the National Indoor Shooting Centre in Aldersley, Wolverhampton from Saturday 12th February.

The last weekend in January saw the launch of the Sport Science Support Programme for the Scottish Shooting Team. Nineteen athletes across all of the Commonwealth Games disciplines attended a weekend of introductory lectures and discussions with staff from the University of Edinburgh. The initial lectures covered sports psychology, physiology and psychophysiology. The athletes were given a medical profiling interview by a doctor and physiotherapist. The programme will shortly be expanded to include nutrition and sports vision.

A Club Instructors course was held on the 22nd and 23rd of January at Glenrothes Target Shooting Club. Twelve new club instructors, primarily from Scottish University clubs, were instructed in basic techniques for smallbore and air rifle shooting, and will now hopefully take those skills back into their clubs. A number expressed interest in taking the 3-Positions and/or Air Rifle further, particularly in Edinburgh University, were both events are already available, and in St Andrews were the Glenrothes facility is close enough to be attractive.

Further courses are planned, probably continuing on the University theme for the next one, and then more generally to provide instructors for other clubs. Details are available on the Coaching Courses page.

The Scottish Sports Aid Foundation has made awards to two members of the SSRA's Junior Squad. Simon Clark and Neil Stirton, both Aberdeen University students and members of the Bon Accord Rifle Club will receive financial support to help with training and competition costs.

The Lottery Sports Fund have made awards to thirteen members of the Scotland Shooting Team for the year to November 2000, including nine SSRA members.

Susan Bell, Jonathan Hammond and David Rattray have been awarded substantial grants under the "Top Scot" scheme, while smaller awards have been made to Bill Brown, Janis Thomson, Sinclair Bruce, Robin Law, Martin Sinclair and Donald McIntosh under the "National Squad" scheme.

The awards are to be used to support a balanced programme of training and competition, both domestic and international, and can also be used to pay for equipment, coaching, sports science and sports medicine costs.

The Scottish Team has come home with four medals from the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.

Donald McIntosh and Martin Sinclair topped the bill with Gold in the 50m 3-Position Pairs. David Rattray and Robin Law took silver in the 10m Air Rifle Pairs. It was silver too for Mike Thomson and Ian Marsden in the Skeet Pairs, with Mike also picking up the Individual silver.

More details are available on the International Results page and there are some pictures in the Pre-2000 Picture Gallery.