The second Air Rifle Grand Prix of the 2001/2 season produced some better scores, with visitors from Wales and the North East of England. Robin Law came out on top, but was pushed hard through the final by Claire Griffin, with Andy Lawrence in third place. The pistol event was won by Mark Joyce (who also shot in the rifle).

sportscotland, in conjunction with Scotland on Sunday, are in the process of launching a Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. One hundred Scottish sports men and women have been included on a short list, and the Hall of Fame website contains details of them. Two shooters have been included in this list of 100. One is Alister Allan MBE, a life member of this Association, a former Commonwealth, European and World Champion and double Olympic medallist. The other is Edward Ross, winner of the full-bore rifle Queens Prize in 1860, the first year it was held.

The website has been established to allow members of the public to nominate up to three people to be included in the final 50 who will be the initial inaugurees in the Hall of Fame. Of the three nominations that can be made, one can be from outside the short list of 100. One of the criteria for inclusion is that the athlete in question must have been retired for at least five years, which excludes recently retired Commonwealth Games medallists like Tricia Littlechild and Shirley McIntosh and Commonwealth Championship medallists like Ronnie Sellar. Other notable Scottish shooters members might care to nominate include

• Robert Murray, winner of an Olympic Gold Prone Team medal in 1912
• John Kynoch, winner of an Olympic Bronze Running Target medal in 1972
• Bill MacNeil, winner of Gold and Bronze Commonwealth Games 3P & Air Rifle medals in 1982 & 1986
• John Knowles, winner of a Bronze Commonwealth Games Prone medal in 1986 and a European Prone Team medal in 1981
• Bill Murray, winner of Silver and Bronze Commonwealth Games 3P medals in 1990 & 1994
• John Oliphant, winner of the Scottish and National Meeting Aggregates, the Earl Haig Scottish and Lord Roberts British Championships, all in 1992

The first steps have now been taken to merge the Lanarkshire and the Stirlingshire & Clackmannanshire county associations. The new association, to be known as the Forth & Clyde Target Sports Association, will affiliate to the NSRA as of 2002.

Robin Law has continued a welcome return to form after the CSF championships. Victory at the Staffordshire Open in October and second place at the Welsh Open in Cardiff in early November has been followed by a win in the first Air Rifle Grand Prix at Callander. The Air Pistol event was won by Nicky Credland. The full results are available here .

The next event is at Glenrothes on Sunday 9th December.

The 2001/2 10m Air Rifle Grand Prix series kicks off at Callander on Sunday 18th November, and continues over the winter and early spring at Glenrothes, Aberdeen and Dumfries. Each Grand Prix event consists of one 60 shot match (in four classes), with an Olympic final for the top 6 or 8 shooters (depending on range size). In addition, there is an optional second 60 shot match available for those who desire to fire two matches. Grand Prix points will be awarded at each event to the 6 best placed SSRA members. Concurrent events will be held for women (first 40 of 60 to count) and juniors (under 21).

For the first time these open meetings will be extended to include 10m Air Pistol, with the same format as the rifle being followed, although there will be Grand Prix series for pistol. The Scottish Pistol Association has agreed to these being run, and the discount on entry fees available to SSRA members will be extended to SPA members. It is hoped that the final event, to be held at Glenrothes in March, will also include the 10m turning target pistol events.

Tony Credland has resigned from the SSRA Council and from the 'A' Squad with immediate effect. The SSRA would like to thank Tony for his contribution to the Association and wish him well for the future.

Division 1 of the NSRA Scottish League has come right down to the wire, with Alloa & District and Bon Accord tied on 18 points - having beaten each other once and won all remaining matches. The league is decided on aggregate gun score, and the Alloa team of Donald McIntosh, Robin Law, Bill Hamilton, Gordon Winch and Bill Moonie have edged ahead by just 2 points in 20,000.

The Ardmore Super 10 is a fax/e-mail based competition run by the Ardmore club in Auckland, New Zealand. It is open to club teams of five, a maximum of one club per country. E U Alumni have now been competing in this for three years, having been invited to participate when club members attended the 1999 Commonwealth Championships at the Ardmore range complex.

2001 has produced the best result to date, with the Scottish club in fourth, one point behind the Ardmore team. The competition was won by DSB/ASF Aarhus of Denmark, with Llantrisant & Cardiff of Wales in second place.

The NSRA are now managing to catch up on the results of their summer league competitions.

In the short range Standing & Kneeling league, an E U Alumni 'A' team of Martin Sinclair, Cliff Ogle & Lynda Sinclair have secured Division 1, with an Alumni 'B' team of Donald McIntosh, Shirley McIntosh & Susan Jackson (!) in second place.

In the 50m League, the Alloa & District team of Sinclair Bruce, Donald McIntosh, Alasdair Horne, Alastair Mackenzie & Robin Law have secured Division 1 after nine rounds.

Club Affiliation & Individual Membership forms, along with entry forms for the winter competitions, have just been sent out to all Scottish clubs, all 2000/1 and 1999/2000 individual members. Entries for the Scottish Short Range Prone league, and the Individual Prone, 3P and Air leagues all close at the end of October. Entries for the remaining competitions (Medal, Speedway, CanDicap, Short Range 3P) all close on the 31st of December. The Secretary would like to apologise for the delay in these being sent out.

The Short Range Prone League is for affiliated Scottish club teams of four. This league was launched in 2000/1, and attracted 29 teams from 25 affiliated clubs. There are over 100 clubs in Scotland. Does your club support the Scottish Governing Body? It is hoped that more Scottish clubs will affiliate and support this competition, the only Scottish indoor league.

The Individual Prone, 3P and Air leagues are open to all shooters based in the UK, regardless of their nationality and/or place of residence.

The Medal & Salvers competition is restricted to individual members of the SSRA, and comes free with your membership.

The Speedway, CanDicap and Short Range 3P competitions are open all those eligible to join the SSRA (all those resident in Scotland - regardless of nationality - and those living outside Scotland who are eligible to represent Scotland). If in doubt about eligibility, please contact the Secretary.

The SSRA would hope that all Scottish clubs and individual shooters think seriously about joining the association, which does a lot of hard work in the background representing the interests of said clubs and individuals. The more members the association has, the easier it becomes to represent your interests. If you haven't received a form, and would like one, please e-mail the Secretary with your name and address. There are reduced membership fees for juniors (under 21) and students in full-time education.

There has been a substantial increase in the number of Scots in the British squads. Martin Sinclair, Donald McIntosh, Jonathan Hammond, Jim Cole-Hamilton, Bill Brown, Robin Law and David Rattray all feature in the Men's Rifle Squad, while Sheena Sharp and Lynda Sinclair appear in the Women's Rifle Squad. It has been pointed out that there are as many Scots in the Men's Rifle Squad as there are English...

The Senior 'A' squad remains largely unchanged for 2002, with one addition in the form of Sheena Sharp to the women's prone squad in place of Janis Thomson, who retains her 3x20 and Air places. Donald McIntosh, already a squad member for 3x40 and Air, rejoins the men's prone squad.

A piece of missing news from August was that Martin Sinclair & Donald McIntosh are to receive additional Sport Science & Sport Medicine support from the Scottish Institute of Sport in the run up to the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Susan Jackson, Janis Thomson, David Rattray & Robin Law have already qualified for membership of the Institute by winning medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Honours have been shared in the annual postal international match with the team from the North Island of New Zealand. In the senior team of fifteen, the NINZ team are the winners, five points clear of Scotland with 5892 vs 5887. Top scorers in the Scottish team were Graham Rudd and David Bremner with 397, while Ryan Taylor was one better in the North Island team with 398.

In the junior match, Scotland were the victors with 1953 vs 1950 points. Top scorer in the Scottish team was Graham Rudd once more - Richard Hearn in the North Island team equalling the excellent score of 397.

The results can be found here.

Hugh Simpson, Simon Clark & Donald McIntosh have been included in the British team of 10 to compete in the annual Wakefield postal international match, while Bill Brown is first reserve. Each team member will shoot an English Match on their home range, the scores being collated by the NSRA.

Sinclair Bruce won the final Prone Grand Prix of 2001, one point away from the Scottish record with 597. The Grand Prix series was secured by Jonathan Hammond, with Martin Sinclair not doing quite enough to close the gap.

Martin retained the 3x40 series for the third year in a row, the final two events having been cancelled due to a lack of entries.

With many of the usual suspects away on international duty at the Commonwealth Championships, Sheena Sharp secured victory in the fourth Grand Prix of the year at Denwood on the 26th of August. The series remains open, and may come down to a battle between Martin Sinclair and Jonathan Hammond at Gagie in two weeks time.

In the C&D Prix Series, Charles Allan secured the series with one event remaining.

All the news from the Commonwealth Championships at Bisley can be found on our dedicated 2001 Commonwealth Championships page

All the news from Bisley can be found on our dedicated 2001 NSRA National Meeting page.

There was Scottish success at the NSRA/Eley Inter Region match, shot on the new Malcolm Cooper 50m range at Bisley.

In the Women's Prone Sheena Sharp produced her second 590 in a week to win the individual event, teaming up with Mary Melvin for 2nd in the pairs. Shirley McIntosh won the Women's 3x20 individual with 556, but without a partner found the pairs rather tough going.

In the Men's prone Jonathan Hammond, with 592, was top individual with Jim Cole-Hamilton 2nd. Teaming up with Cliff Ogle, they won the team event. In the 3x40 Jonathan was run-away leader with 1142, 30 points clear of the next person, with Cliff Ogle in third, therefore also securing the pairs event.

Neil Stirton took third place in the Men's Prone at the GB Junior International Match at Bisley, securing the medal with his last shot. Graham Rudd also qualified for the final, ending up in 6th place.

The following teams are to represent Scotland in the Home Countries International 3P Matches at the National Meeting on 11th and 12th August.

Janis Thomson won the Women's 3x20 Open and Confined titles, for the new Pleasance Cup (donated by E U Alumni Rifle Club), coming through in the final. Shirley McIntosh raised the Scottish record for a standing final in taking 2nd place in both events, with Helen Vincent 3rd in the Open and Lynda Sinclair 3rd in the Confined.

In the Men's Prone a tight final produced a win for Harry Creevy (Isle of Man) in the Open, just missing the 700.0 barrier by the narrowest of margins. The Confined title went to 1999 runner-up Simon Clark with Martin Sinclair 3rd in the Open/2nd in the Confined and Graham Rudd 3rd in the Confined.

Full results are available here.

Martin Sinclair extended his run in the Scottish 50m 3x40 Championship to three in a row, pulling up from 4th to 1st in the Olympic final at Denwood on Saturday 4th August. England's Jason Burrage took second in the Open section, with Jonathan Hammond 3rd in the Open/2nd in the Confined and Donald McIntosh 3rd in the Confined.

In the Women's Prone England's Helen Vincent won the Open section on countback from Sheena Sharp, who took the Confined title. 3rd in the Open/2nd in the Confined went to Lynda Sinclair, with Barbara Mackay 3rd in the Confined.

Full results are available here.

The championships conclude tomorrow, with the Women's 3x20 and the Men's Prone.

The following people will be representing the Scotland region at the NSRA/Eley Inter Region Match at Bisley on Friday 10th August:

Jonathan Hammond moved into a lead in the Prone Grand Prix series, with a win at the Caithness Open in Wick, but along with second placed Martin Sinclair will miss the next round due to a clash with the Commonwealth Championships at Bisley in August.

In the C&D series Charles Allan moved into a commanding lead, with his second win of the year, having taken silver at the first match.

Susan Jackson has come 16th in the Women's Prone at the European Championships in Zagreb. In the Junior Men's Prone, Graham Rudd came 21st, with Neil Stirton 47th.

Jonathan Hammond raised his personal best by a massive fifteen points at the Hampshire 3P Open on Saturday 14th July. His 1155 beat John Croydon of Wales by two points.

The following shooters have been selected to compete in smallbore and air rifle events at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships which will be held at Bisley in August immediately after the NSRA National Meeting:

Where appropriate, the first two named shooters will form the teams for the pairs matches. The remainder of the Scottish team will be nominated by the pistol, clay target and fullbore associations within the next couple of weeks.

A large contingent of the SSRA 'A' squad attended the International Match Week in Karstula, FIN, from the 4th to the 8th of July, and there were fine performances all round. In the re-entry match period Sinclair Bruce raised his personal best first to 595 and then to 597, with that being the top score of the week. Simon Clark equalled his PB of 593 in the re-entry period, and Donald McIntosh set a new Scottish Men's record of 573 in the 3x20. Janis Thomson set a new PB of 573 in the 3x20, with Barbara Mackay equalling her PB of 593 in the prone.

In the main competitions the women were dominant, Lynda Sinclair winning the prone, with 2nd and 3rd also going to the Scots, and Janis Thomson won the 3x20. Over on the men's side, five of the eight finalists in the prone were Scots, ending up with the top three places including another equal PB for Simon Clark on his way to his first international win. A clean sweep was denied in the 3x40 however, with Finnish Olympic medal winner Juha Hirvi and Swedish Paralympic champion Jonas Jacobsson showing how it should be done, and despite a season's best of 1141 Donald McIntosh could only come 5th.

Following on from The Freuchie, the NSRA confined Scottish events were held at Denwood on 1st July. In the club team events E U Alumni secured the 50m championship, with Watsonians second. The 100 yards event was won by Bon Accord, with E U Alumni and Alloa & District tying for second place.

In the Earl Haig Final Martin Sinclair produced a fine performance, his 590 pipping Graham Rudd by one point, with Trevor Hastings two points further behind. Graham also secured the under 21 event.

The Earl Haig final for competitors in classes B, C & D also produced some fine shooting, with Graham Rudd coming out on top, followed by Charles Allan and Sheena Sharp.

With the NSRA Scottish Meeting postponed, the Scottish Long Range Matchplay Championship, otherwise known as The Freuchie, was held over the afternoon of 30th June at Denwood. Some fine shooting produced a first win in the event for Tom Hodgson, with Graham Rudd second and Bill Copland third. In the C&D event Charles Allan secured his first win of the weekend, with David Champion and Willie Allan tying for second place.

Martin Sinclair secured a second win in the SSRA Grand Prix 3x40 series on Saturday 30th June, helped by the withdrawal before the final of English visitor Jason Burrage who had held a two point lead. Jonathan Hammond secured second and Cliff Ogle third.

In the women's 3x20 a rare appearance by Shirley McIntosh proved that she can still produce the goods, with 564 the best Scottish score this year. Susan Jackson produced a third personal best in three matches to take second, also setting a new Scottish ten-shot final record in the process.

Three Scots are included in the British team to compete in the European Championships in Zagreb next month. Susan Jackson is part of the women's prone team, with Neil Stirton and Graham Rudd competing in the junior men's prone.

The Freuchie is being held on Saturday 30th June at Denwood in Aberdeen, and will commence at 1pm. There is still room to get your entry in!

Five SSRA members - Jim Cole-Hamilton, Bill Brown, Neil Stirton, Donald McIntosh and Cliff Ogle - qualified for the Great Britain team in the annual Dewar international match, shot at Appleton on Saturday 23rd June. Cliff produced the top score in the match, with a fine 398 ex 400.

Lynda Sinclair proved the most successful Scottish shooter at the NSRA ISSF Meeting over the weekend of 8th - 10th June, winning the Women's 3x20 and taking third place in the Women's prone. Husband Martin successfully defended the Men's 3x40 title, but ruined his chances in the men's prone with a cross-shot for his last shot of the prone match.

Susan Jackson took third place in the Women's 3x20, with Janis Thomson eighth. In the Men's 3x40 Donald McIntosh took fourth, Jonathan Hammond sixth and Cliff Ogle seventh. Unfortunately none of the Scottish men qualified for the prone final, Sinclair Bruce the best placed at tenth.

Donald McIntosh won the second 3x40 Grand Prix of 2001, narrowly beating Martin Sinclair at Denwood on Saturday 2nd June. In the 3x20, Susan Jackson (in her first ever match) recorded a win over Lynda Sinclair.

Donald went on to win the Angus Open at Gagie the following day, and took third place in the Grand Prix. Jonathan Hammond won comfortably, with a fine 597, with Martin Sinclair second. Fifteen year old Matthew Thomson produced the shoot of the day, his 591 in the Grand Prix putting many a seasoned internationalist to shame!

Martin Sinclair won the 3x40 event at the Hampshire Open on 19th May, placing him at the top of the GB squad rankings at the half-way stage. In the prone event Sinclair Bruce lost on countback to Olympian Mike Babb, despite a 300 finish.

Following the postponement of the 2001 Scottish Meeting, alternative arrangements are in the process of being finalised to hold the Scottish Championship events at Denwood.

The 3P Grand Prix scheduled for 8th July will now be held on Saturday 30th June, starting at 9am.

The "Freuchie" Matchplay Championships will be held on the afternoon of Saturday 30th June.

The NSRA Scottish Club Team Championships, and the Earl Haig Scottish Long Range Championship will be held on Sunday 1st July.

The NSRA have advised that it is hoped to hold the 2002 Scottish Meeting at Lauder over the first week in July.

The NSRA have published the results of the "Daily Record" Scottish Short Range Prone Championship, which was held as a postal competition due to the Foot & Mouth outbreak. Neil Calder of East Grinstead produced a perfect 300 to beat Bill Brown of Chobham by one point, with Graham Rudd of Watsonians a further point behind.

Martin Sinclair won the first 3x40 Grand Prix of 2001, narrowly beating Cliff Ogle at Denwood on Saturday 5th May. In the prone event the next day, Martin took second in the Grand Prix behind Graham Rudd, with Lynda Sinclair in third place. As a direct result of his fine score in the GP, Graham Rudd was immediately added to the GB Junior Squad, and left for the junior tour to Oldenburg in Germany within the week.

Donald McIntosh won the 3x40 at the first ever English Open event, held on the new Commonwealth Games range at Bisley, on Saturday 5th May. Donald also came 8th in the Air Rifle event, with Barbara Mackay 6th in the Women's Prone and Janis Thomson 8th in the Prone and 4th in the Women's Air Rifle.

The classifications for the 50m Prone events at the Open Meeting section of the SSRA Grand Prix events (Denwood, Angus, Caithness, Grampian & Gagie) is now available here.

These classifications are based on the scores shot in the Open Meetings (not the actual Grand Prix) last year (or the year before that for those who did not take part last year). The shooters are ranked, and the classes divided into roughly four equal parts. Anyone wishing to enter a meeting whose name does not appear on this list must submit an average based on indoor prone competition cards.

The NSRA have announced that, as a result of the Foot & Mouth outbreak, the 2001 NSRA Scottish Meeting has been postponed. The NSRA and SSRA are consulting as to the options available for holding the Earl Haig championship somewhere in Scotland at around the same time, and options for the Freuchie are also being considered.

The inaugural competition on the new ISSF 50m range at Bisley on Sunday 29th April produced a win for Donald McIntosh in the 3x40 event, beating England's Jason Burrage on countback.

Edinburgh dominated the British Universities Championships, held at Appleton on 28th April. They won the team of eight, the quartet, the ladies triad and the pairs, with Jo Hossack winning the ladies individual but losing the overall individual title to Jonathan Hammond (of Leeds) on countback.

Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire have won Division 1 of the Inter-County 3P League at the first time of entering. The team of Robin Law, Donald McIntosh, Shirley McIntosh and Tony Credland equalled the British record for the course of fire in round 8.

Donald McIntosh has been awarded the "Sports Personality of the Year" award for 2000 by Falkirk Sports Council. The presentation took place at the end of an evening of awards for sports and the arts in Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday April 24th.

Aberdeen University won the Scottish Universities Long Range team event at Denwood on 21st April. Neil Stirton won the individual title, with Aberdeen team-mate Simon Clark one point behind. Edinburgh won the ladies event.

A small contingent of Scots cross the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man for the 2001 Easter Open. Donald McIntosh lost the 3x40 match on countback to Wales' John Croydon. In the women's 3x20 match Janis Thomson's 553 was a point off the lead.

In the Air Rifle Janis took third place with a agg of 1132 and a good final of 100.2. Jim Cole-Hamilton produced a fine 591 in tricky conditions for second in the Saturday prone event, with the Alloa pair of Sinclair Bruce and Donald McIntosh winning the pairs event. Sinclair and Donald went on to take second in the Sunday pairs event also.

England's Chris Hector won the Scottish Open Air Rifle Championship, equalling (subject to ratification) the British Senior Men's record of 593 in the process. David Rattray and Robin Law took second and third respectively, with the confined Scottish title going to David. Janis Thomson won the Ladies Open and confined events, with Stuart Rillie winning the Junior titles.

The Scottish Team of David Rattray, Robin Law and Donald McIntosh won the Home Countries match. Robin also combined with Tony Credland to win the club pairs for Glenrothes.

Full results are available here.

Bon Accord secured the "News of the World" British Team of Six in Easingwold on Sunday 8th April. In the individual event, Martin Sinclair and Hugh Simpson tied for second place with 397, with Martin taking the silver on the regauge. Cliff Ogle took 9th place, securing the Northern Ireland championship in the process.

Robin Law won the Scottish Short Range 3P Championship with a score of 1144, with Donald McIntosh a further two points behind. Full results are available here.

The Speedway finals were held over the weekend of 31st March/1st April in Perth. Hugh A Simpson of Wick won the C&D Speedway, with Cyril De Jonckheere of Dumfries winning the main event. Full results are available here A&B Final - and here - C&D Final.

E U Alumni have secured Division 1 of the British Standing & Kneeling League, for the fourth consecutive year, along with Division 1 of the Women's Prone League.

The NSRA have announced that Scottish Cup and Daily Record finals will be shot as postal competitions this year following the cancellation of the events at Perth earlier this month.

The final Air Rifle Grand Prix of 2000/1 was cancelled due to a lack of entries and the Foot & Mouth situation. The series therefore goes to Robin Law once more.

Martin Sinclair has won the British Short Range 3P Championship, with Neil Calder 2nd and Donald McIntosh 3rd.

The NSRA Short Range Scottish Team of Six (Scottish Cup) and Individual (Daily Record) Championships, scheduled to be held at Perth on 11th March, have been postponed due to the Foot and Mouth crisis.

The Scottish Universities Indoor season concluded with the Championships at Perth on February 24th. Edinburgh University won the Main VIII, Quartet and Ladies Triad trophies with St Andrews University taking silver in each of these events. Ross McQuillan and Jo Hossack from Edinburgh took the Pairs award. Jo won the Ladies Individual but was
narrowly beaten in a tie shoot for the overall Individual trophy by Graham Rudd of Heriot-Watt. There was high scoring in each of the teams present, making it one of most closely contested matches in recent years. Robert Gordon University entered for the first time and were a welcome addition to the fold. The event also saw prizes given out for the 2000-2001 League season. St Andrews University were undefeated to win the Main VIII trophy and Edinburgh University collected the Ladies III award. Neil Stirton of Aberdeen University had a superb individual season finishing at the top of the overall averages, with Laura MacNeil of St Andrews taking the Ladies average award.

Patrick Jess.

David Rattray produced a steady 590 with brand new Kurt Thune jacket and trousers to win the penultimate Air Rifle Grand Prix of the season in Dumfries on Sunday 18th February.

The final British Championships to be held at the National Indoor Shooting Centre in Wolverhampton produced a win for the Scottish Men in the Home Countries International. The team of David Rattray, Robin Law and Donald McIntosh were five points clear of the Welsh, with England a further two points behind. The match, shot concurrently with the British Championship, also saw all three Scots qualify for the individual final, with David ending up 3rd, Robin 4th and Donald 7th. The Championship went to Andy Lawrence of Wales, with Craig Miles of England 2nd.

The Women's team of Janis Thomson, Tricia Littlechild and Susan Jackson were less successful, coming third behind England and Wales. Only Janis qualified for the individual final, ending up 8th. The Championship was won by Louise Minett of England with a stunning 397 + 104.0, with Becky Spicer and Claire Griffin (both England) in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

A summary of the international matches can be found here.

David Rattray ended Robin Law's long unbeaten run in our Air Rifle Grand Prix events, winning the first event to be held on the new 10m range in Callander on January 14th. David's score of 591 was just one point away from the Scottish record.