Following the postponement of the NSRA's Rifle Judges Course in the wave of snowy weather in the first week of December, a new date of 22-23 January has been put forward.
Robin Law took the honours in the second SSRA Air Grand Prix of the season. His score of 573+100.8 edged out Steven Watterson who scored 571+98.6. Results from the Air Rifle event can be found here and the Pistol event, won by Mark Joyce from Forres, here.
SSRA members may be asking where on Earth competition stickers for the various postal 2010-11events have got to...ssra.co.uk has been advised that they are in the process of being posted out to entrants. If anyone feels that they have not been sent the correct stickers they should contact executive@ssra.co.uk without delay.
Regarding times and the inevitable problems caused by the weather in submitting cards, entrants should check with the individual scorers nominated for each competition.
The NSRA has been forced to postpone this weekend's Rifle Judges Course due to the inclement weather and the disruption to travel links with airports closed, train services decimated and road conditions uncertain.
The NSRA's David Goodfellow commented: "Having just consulted with David Parish we have reluctantly agreed to postpone the course until early in the New Year, at a date to be arranged. The most likely alternative dates will be one of the weekends in February.
"I apologise for the inconvenience caused by this decision as I know that some will most likely incur expenses in cancelling travel and/or accommodation costs, but I think that we have had to make the decision sooner rather than leave it until the last minute so as to give you a chance to notify clubhouses or hotels, etc. of non-arrival. I would hate to think of any of you getting into difficulties in a stalwart attempt to get to Bisley."
Course applicants are urged to post or e-mail their pre-course exercises to Goodfellow over the week-end so that he can mark them in advance of the re-arranged course.
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.
The SSRA is constantly on the look-out for ways to support its members and, of course, to welcome new ones. The association has now entered into co-operation with RWS ammunition via RUAG Ammotec UK Ltd which will supply R50 0.22 rounds and air pellets as prizes during the SSRA grands prix season and postal competitions - with substantial amounts on offer to the winners of all classes. Look out for more details on what the SSRA can do for you at your local club soon.
Five Scots are studying hard for an ISSF Rifle Judges licence which could put them on the road to Glasgow 2014 and, before that, the chance to be involved in the London Olympics - and they hope to be the first of many from north of the Border.
Following on from our news that a course will be run at Bisley on 4-5 December, 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/ and fill in the application form British Shooting application form on screen. Save it to your computer, and then send it as an attachment to the e-mail address on the form, judges@britishshooting.org.uk.
Manxman's Steven Watterson won the opening Air Grand Prix of the 2010-11 season at Callander.
The Edinburgh-based shooter, who represented IoM at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, won the A class from Robin Law, while B class was taken by Kathryn Williamson, from Mark Joyce and Jamie Hodgson. The fun started in D class where we had the veteran Cyril De Jonckheere trying to fend off some relative newcomers in the shape of Mike and Andrew Ozmond. Mike took the honours with a 501 having only started shooting Air last week - which just goes to show that it is not as hard as it seems to get up from the prone to standing. We do need a lot more to try it.
The Pistol event started in B class with Bruce McIntosh and Mark Joyce pushing each other along, McIntosh taking round one. In the other classes Bill Hamilton won C Class from newcomer Fiona Shedden and her shiny new Morini pistol.
Overall this was a good meeting with the level of banter and comradeship at its best as it should be. Results for Air Rifle can be found here and Air Pistol here.
The selections for the 2010-2011 'A', Fast Track, 'B' and Under-21 squads are now available on the Squads & Athletes page.
The club's annual Open shoot will be staged on 13-14 November and anyone wishing more details on how to enter should contact club secretary Alasdair Horne here.
The NSRA club instructors course held at Balerno & Currie over the weekend has been declared a resounding success thanks to the diligent teaching of coaches Sinclair Bruce and Ian Thomson, 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.
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.
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 there were more medals today: Angus McLeod and Ian Shaw took the silver medal in the pairs full bore open final.
Two golds in 24 hours for Jen McIntosh who scored a fantastic 597 to win the Women's 50m Prone this morning, coming three points clear of India's Tejaswini Sawant and four clear of Wales' Johanne 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.
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.
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.
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. I t’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
In her second quest for medals this week, Jen McIntosh made it to the final of the Women's Three-Position rifle, only to finish in fifth place with a final ten shots of 96.0. She qualified for the final in fourth place with a score of 571. Her partner in pairs glory on Tuesday, Kay Copland, just narrowly missed out in the qualifying round, her score of 567 leaving her in 11th place. The event was won by Alethea Sedgman of Australia with an overall score of 575+101, with Singapore's Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei second and compatriot Aqilah Sudhir taking the bronze medal. For detailed results click here to download the PDF select the Reports drop-down menu and click on Results.
Coach Sinclair Bruce advises that this course is now fully booked for 16-17 October
Edinburgh's Graham Rudd came up short in his bid for 10m air rifle glory, finishing 11th in qualification with a score of 584. "I felt the performance was good considering the amount of changes I've made recently (new cheekpiece, sights, tube, shooting glasses and hand position!). It's beginning to feel really steady at times so with more training I think my scores will improve greatly," he said.
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.
Kay Copland, left, and Jen McIntosh took the bronze in the Women's 50m 3P Pairs, an event won by Singapore with India second.
After picking up her first Commonwealth Games medal McIntosh said: “I’m obviously delighted to have won a medal, though it’s a bit disappointing to come away with bronze rather than silver or gold." And Copland added: "I'm really happy with the result. I had no idea it was so close, but it's a great feeling to come away with a medal."
McIntosh was one of the first shooters to complete all three positions, leaving her with the unenviable task of watching her partner finish. It was a tense half hour with the medal places changing after almost every shot. “It was absolutely terrifying watching Kay shoot that last sequence,” she said. “It’s always the worst part for me”. Despite being alone in action, Kay was aware that there could be a lot riding on her last few points: “It was running through my head that there could be just a few points between gold; silver, bronze and fourth, but I was trying not to think about it too much."
Jen’s dad and coach, Donald McIntosh was proud of the pair’s performance, saying: “It was a pretty tough day and the scores are actually pretty low. The girls fought well through the wind and came away with a medal which is great. There was the pressure of the occasion to deal with as well and a level of expectation about medals. There was plenty of adrenaline flowing between the two of them today.”
The duo will be back in action on Thursday in the 50m 3P singles event.
For detailed scores on this event visit the Sius Ascor site. For details on the event scheduling during the Games, please visit the Commonwealth Games site. And click on the logo for the first part of the exclusive SSRA diary from Delhi.
Aberdeen's Neil Stirton savoured the evening's spectacular opening ceremony and declared: “To step out into the stadium again for Scotland was an incredible feeling. Looking up and seeing the saltires in the crowd brought back some warm memories, and the show was truly spectacular. It’s great knowing that the Games are underway, and I can’t wait to get out to the range to start competing.”
Cyclist Ross Edgar led Team Scotland into the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as the XIX Commonwealth Games officially got underway. It was, said Edgar, “a really proud moment, and up there with the best experiences I’ve ever had in sport.
Team Scotland have announced the cyclist Ross Edgar as the Flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony in two days time. At a special reception in Delhi, Ross was presented with the flag by Michael Cavangh, Chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland Chairman and Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and Sport. The opportunity of having the majority of the team in one place provided opportunities for official, and less official, team photos to be taken.
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
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 right 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.”
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
Dave Caughey took yet more honours when he won the Fife & Kinross Outdoor Open, hosted by the Perth range. Results are available here.
It has been confirmed that Scotland's shooting teams will begin their journey to Delhi on Saturday 25 September, putting an end to concerns that the departure would be 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 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.
Neil Stirton, Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh have completed their final preparations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games with a training camp in Kuwait.
In searing heat - at times reaching 40°C - all three athletes worked exceptionally hard for the six days of the camp, based in the enourmous facilities operated by the Kuwait Shooting Federation.
The hospitality extended to the small team was incredible, and they were treated to a fabulous dinner as guests of H.E. Sheikh Salman Al Sabah, President of the Kuwait Shooting Federation.
The Fife & Kinross Outdoor Open, hosted by the Perth range on 25 September, might be your final opportunity to compete outdoors before the indoor season begins. Click here for entry forms.
Dave Caughey won the SSRA grand prix prone series title after the final grand prix of the season at a blustery - but mercifully dry - Gagie outside Dundee. Caughey won an extremely closely-fought ISSF-style ten-shot final with a score of 690.4 from Tom Hodgson and Cyril de Jonckheere. Fiona "ten-point something" Shedden fared very well in her first-ever final (that downbeat estimated score was actually a superb 10.7, Mrs Shedden) and despite his failing hearing, De Jonckheere was more than sharp enough to spot an error in target direction from range officer Jim McIntosh....
There were class wins for Dave Caughey in A, Graham Shedden in B, Iain Malone in C (just edging out his son Seoc) and Charles Allan in D. The C&D final was won by Carlisle's Brian Duffy-Cooke. Allan also won the trophy for the C&D class GP series. Full scores are available here.
Click here for the final standings in the series.
All smiles: Winner Dave Caughey accepts some malt whisky to soothe his tired muscles after a long day
There was a depleted entry in this the last 3P Grand Prix of the year at Denwood, but a very nice prone from James Henderson, only dropping one point out of 400, really put the icing on the cake after fiancee Sarah Bates won the McIntosh Cup for the series of 3x20.
The 3x40 series was won by Andrew Ross despite his absence due to a trip to Eley in Birmingham to batch test ammunition for himself and partner Jen McIntosh before she goes off to India for the Commonwealth Games. Click here for scoring details and the final standings in the series.
Jim McIntosh
It was agreed at the Balerno & Currie club AGM that an NSRA club instructors' course will be held at the range over the the weekend of 16-17 October. Places will be limited so please apply to Sinclair Bruce for more details of the requirements.
The wind was one of the winners in challenging conditions at the Grampian Open and SSRA Grand Prix IV at Denwood. Gusts, rain and plummeting temperatures were the order of the day as quilts and travel blankets were pressed into service. The actual event was won - after a tieshoot won by Dave Caughey against James Henderson to earn the eighth place in the final - by Kay Copland with 590+105.9. Full scores for the event can be found here. The C&D class final, however, was won by Watten's Gregor Bremner with 585 ahead of Steven Gemmell from Perth on 583 and Alloa's Andrew Ozmond with 579. Earlier, there were class wins for Steven Gemmell in class D, Gregor Bremner in class C, Tom Hodgson in class B and John Sinclair in class A.
The three-position events, staged the previous day, saw Jen McIntosh win the ladies 3x20 event and Neil Stirton the men's 3x40. Click here for results. With the season's final grand prix at Gagie on Sunday 5 September there is still much to play for in the championships. View the state of play here.
Results from this event, held at Alloa & District's Tullygarth range on 21 August, are now available here.
The MOD's fullbore range at Barry Buddon near Carnoustie has been selected to host all shooting events for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. After a great deal of wrangling during which the Strathclyde Police firearms training facility at Jackton was considered along with a late bid for a custom-built target shooting centre at Morton Clays near Livingston, the decision has been made to adapt Barry Buddon for small bore events as well as shotgun and fullbore.
It is understood that the electronic targetry equipment and relevant buildings will be hired from the London 2012 Olympics organisers who are currently working to build a temporary shooting venue at Woolwich. Glasgow City Council, responsible for funding the 2014 Commonwealth Games, have a budget believed to be in the region of £4.25 million for shooting events, and will hope to save on the equipment costs as a result. However, the facility at Barry Buddon is a strictly temporary one and will be dismantled following the Games. Just as the London organisers faced a barrage of criticism following the decision to ignore the "legacy" concept - regarded as an integral part of taking up the staging of any Olympics - so the organisers of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games are likely to face similar disgruntlement from the target rifle community.
"We are now being told that should Scotland care to come up with the financial difference between the leasing of the equipment and the purchase price we may get the equipment for 2014," a source close to the project told ssra.co.uk. "So if it comes to pass, Glasgow and Scotland will have to pay the costs twice in order to fulfil the requirements for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in this time of austerity within the UK. With the bill for the London Olympics possibly going to reach £20 billion, and Glasgow £600 million I think we have learned nothing from the errors in the past created for both Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh."
There was plenty of success for Scottish shooters at the NSRA's Lord Roberts meeting at Bisley. Sarah Bates won the BOBS (B,C,D final of the Roberts), also B class Life and Annual members. Kathryn Williamson won Comp 1 and Comp 4 in D class and was 2nd in D class aggregate. She was also highest scoring lady in D class.
There was a raft of other silverware heading north of the Border thanks to great performances from Sheena Sharp, James Henderson, Graham Shedden, Charles Allan and Robert Spence. (More results data available from the NSRA here). As a result of their scores, Sarah Bates, Charles Allan and Kathryn Williamson will be promoted from their class.
It was Williamson's first trip to Bisley and the youngster's rapid progress continues to impress.
"I was surprised myself at how I managed to cope at Bisley, being so new to prone," Williamson said. "I definitely learnt a lot in the two weeks I was down there and I'm now looking forward to putting that into practice in coming weeks. I'm really pleased to have raised my PB from 564 (which I got at the ISSF at Denwood) and to 576 at the Grand Prix and then up to 580 on the Cooper range for a Double English match the next week."
Charles Allen described his outing as a tough but ultimately successful week, picking up the Centenary competition, Class B, trophy. "I was ninth overall in the B Class aggregate, gaining promotion back to A for next year. For me personally, the highlight was being selected to shoot for Scotland in the Home International for the first time.
The results of the Home Countries International can be found here. Suffice to say that both the Main and Ladies Prone teams were well behind England. No Junior team was entered, and we were unable to field a 3x40 team. A 3x20 team was entered, but only two of the three selected athletes were able to take part.
From left: Graham Shedden. Kathryn Williamson, Sarah Bates, Sheena Sharp, Charles Allan and James Henderson.
From left: Graham Rudd, Neil Stirton, Kay Copland, Jon Hammond and Jen McIntosh
A strong line-up for Delhi as part of Scotland's Commonwealth Games team has been announced.
Aberdeen-based Jen McIntosh, 19, has been going from strength to strength with a bronze medal at the recent World Championships in Munich her latest achievement. She will be joined by Aberdeen's Kay Copland, 20, who won gold and silver at the Commonwealth Championships in Delhi earlier this year. Edinburgh's Graham Rudd, 27, who picked up medals at the same event in Delhi and has been competing at the highest level, will enter the 10m Air Rifle event. The men's pairing of Neil Stirton, also from Aberdeen, and Virginia-based Jon Hammond, 29, is a strong one as Hammond represented Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics and Stirton, also 29, is very much in the frame to fly the flag at London 2012. All five athletes will compete in a number of events, the Three-Position, Prone Individual and Prone Pairs competitions plus Air Rifle.
With a great shooting sports reputation at the Commonwealth Games - Edinburgh's Susan Jackson and Aberdeen's Sheena Sharp won two golds at the 2006 Melbourne Games - McIntosh and co have a tremendous opportunity to add to Scotland's medal haul in India in October.
Women | Men | |
Skeet | — | Drew Christie Ian Marsden |
Trap | Shona Marshall Linda Pearson |
John MacDonald Ossie McLean |
25m Sport Pistol | Caroline Brownlie | |
50m Free Pistol | Alan Ritchie | |
10m Air Pistol | Caroline Brownlie | Alan Ritchie |
50m Prone Rifle | Kay Copland Jen McIntosh |
Jon Hammond Neil Stirton |
50m Three Positions Rifle | Kay Copland Jen McIntosh |
Jon Hammond Neil Stirton |
10m Air Rifle | — | Graham Rudd |
Fullbore Rifle | Angus McLeod Ian Shaw |
The following support staff will accompany the team:
Manager: | Joan Watt |
Coaches: |
Donald McIntosh (Smallbore Rifle) Allan Mabon (Fullbore RIfle) Iain MacGregor (Shotgun) |
There was a full array of medals for Scots in the Junior international competitions at Bisley. Kathryn Williamson won gold in the Women's 50m Prone GP, The Scotland team of Andrew Ozmond, Seoc Malone and Fraser Cheetham won silver in the Team event and Malone won bronze in the Men's 50m Prone GP. Detailed results can be found on the NSRA site and, alternatively, here.
From left, Andrew Ozmond, Seoc Malone and Fraser Cheetham
Jen McIntosh did the honours for the GB team with bronze in the Junior Women's 50m Prone in a nail-biting contest in Munich. Level on a score of 594 with an equal count on inner 10s - 44 X bulls - with China's Chen Fang, the scoring system went to a "countback" of the 60 shots and McIntosh emerged victorious. Fellow Scot Kay Copland was agonisingly close to that bronze too and deserves a great deal of credit, her score of 593 with 32 X bulls, just one point behind, leaving her ninth in what was a world-class field headed by the USA's Sharon Barazani with 596. The medal came on the heels of gold for Britain in the 300m full bore rifle team event.
On Monday, in one of the highest standard final qualifiers ever seen, the Scots trio of Matthew Thomson, Neil Stirton, Jon Hammond fell agonisingly short of reaching the 50m Men's Prone final. Stirton scored 596 as did Thomson and Hammond scored 595, but it was not enough as the all the eight finalists scored 598 or above. Matthew Emmons made it through but there was no room for Warren Potent. In the end the title was won by Sergei Martynov of Belarus whose 104.9 was enough to triumph ahead of France's Valerian Sauveplane by 0.1 points, with Emmons third. The three senior men had made it past the elimination round with Stirton scoring 594, Hammond and Thomson 593 each. Ollie Barron shot 585 in the Junior Men's event to also make it through. He improved that in the Individual round, delivering a highly-impressive 592 but that too was not enough for a medal. For more detailed scores, visit Sius Ascor or via the ISSF's own site.
So close: Stirton, Thomson, Hammond/ Photos courtesy Donald McIntosh and Wolfgang Schreiber
Competitors from the Alloa & District club swept the boards with class wins in A,B,C and D at the new two-day 50m Open Challenge event. Robin Law took A class with 590, Billy Crawford B class with 578, Willie McAulay C class with 578 and Ted Bear D class with 561. For full results, click here.
Fraser Cheetham has been named as one of the 30 athletes, 16 coaches and ten mentors in the Achieve 2014 programme, a new initiative designed specifically to enhance the winning opportunities of Scottish athletes and coaches on the world stage. Achieve 2014 will offer the athletes and coaches the opportunity to travel to the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games for a five day learning experience. Each team member will observe their own or similar sport in competition as well as visit the Games Village to see how their Team Scotland counterparts live and train. They will complete specific learning tasks and daily event logs.
“Glasgow 2014 is no longer a distant prospect, the venues and infrastructure are rising from the ground here in Glasgow and all across Scotland people are getting involved and feeling the excitement that the Games will bring. As part of this the Scottish Government’s Games legacy plan aims to inspire everyone in Scotland to get involved and take advantage of this unique opportunity to become a healthier nation," said Shona Robison, minister for public health and sport.
The project will cost up to £144,000 and includes funding from Commonwealth Games Scotland and an award of £20,000 from sportscotland.
July 17 and 18 saw the Scottish 50m Championship staged at Denwood in Aberdeen, the overall Prone title won by Sinclair Bruce who held his nerve in the ten-shot final, the first Scottish prone final to be staged entirely using electronic targets, and held off the challenge of Matthew Thomson by a mere 0.1 points.
With the selection process for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi looming, there was more at stake than the small matter of Scottish titles. In a day of light but variable winds the two day-event saw a number of superb performances.
Graham Rudd won the Men's Three-Position title with a steady display at Denwood. His final score of 1243.3 was just too strong for James Paterson, with 1209.7, and Andrew Ross, with 1208.4, to catch.
The Women's Prone title was won by the Croydon club's Jenny Corish with 597, and impressive performance with four 100 "possibles" in her sixty-shot match, which edged out Lara Ward on 591 and Emma Cole-Hamilton on 589.
Provisional results are available here.
Pictured left, Graham Rudd picks up his prize from Equipment Control officer Eddie Thorne while Welsh international Jenny Corish gets hold of a guid Scottish souvenir to go with her trophy. And pride of place goes to Sinclair Bruce, right, who spent much of the day "grazing" before winning the Prone title.
A useful week was spent in Innsbruck by a number of the Scottish athletes who have been selected for the World Championships, combining some training days with competing in the IWK Tirol competition alongside a star-studded internatioal field.
The range is set in a wonderful location, on the slopes of the Alps, looking south across the city to the Brenner Pass and onward to Italy.
Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Jen McIntosh and Ollie Barron were amongst the British athletes taking part. Neil shot 594 to qualify in seventh place for the final of the Men's Prone, and in difficult wind conditions he shot 102.2 to take the top spot on the podium.
Jen McIntosh took silver in the Junior Women's Prone with 590. Later the same day she led qualification in the Junior Women's 3P with 575, and held the lead with a final of 94.4 to secure the gold medal.
This new addition to the SSRA calendar will be held by Alloa & District Rifle Club at Tullygarth range on Saturday 31 July and Sunday 1 August. The first detail will commence at 9am sharp with the final detail each day at 6.30pm. An entry form can be downloaded here and all are welcome. Just one proviso - please bring target clips!
Plans have been unveiled in the Edinburgh Evening News for a national shooting centre in West Lothian which could play host to events at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The proposal, put forward by the Scottish Target Shooting Federation, has secured the support of Lothian and Borders Police. SSRA performance manager Sinclair Bruce gives his thoughts on the bid in the article, which also made the front page and the leader.
Andrew Ross won the 3x40 Men's Three-Position event in the third grand prix of the season at Denwood. The Edinburgh man edged out James Henderson and now has a healthy lead in the series. Jen McIntosh won the Women's 3x20, beating Kay Copland by just 0.5 points. Full results can be found here.
There was a second consecutive tenth placing at a World Cup for Jen McIntosh today, her 579 with poor standing but the best kneeling on the range leaving her two points off the final in Belgrade. This performance came hard on the heels of her showing at Fort Benning in Georgia. Full results details can be found here.
Aberdeen's Sheena Sharp, the defending Commonwealth pairs champion, edged out her pairs partner from the Melbourne Games in 2006, Susan Jackson, to take the coveted Earl Haig trophy and thus make her Scottish champion - but she had to go through a tie-shoot to do it. Her reward included a "hurl" in the new Earl Haig chair from her fellow finalists.
The final itself saw Jackson, Seoc Malone and L Thomson make the early running in the 60-shot 100 yard event. Sharp pulled herself back into the contention though with a superb third card and drew level with Jackson to force the tie-shoot. For the full NSRA results package, click here.
Sharp has now followed in the footsteps of her brother Bill who won the Haig at the Scottish when it was held in Lauder in 1989.
The win marked the climax of a Scottish meeting where the wind played a major part but not, fortunately, the weather, with high temperatures almost every day.
From left, Ian Henderson accepts the Patriotic Shield as part of the winning Forth & Clyde County Sextette team; Seoc Malone picks up one of several trophies won by him and the Clachnacuddin club; Sinclair Bruce on his way to "filling the back seat of his car" with one of at least ten awards; Graham Shedden takes the New Zealand Challenge Shield on behalf of Dumfries. Pictures courtesy Geoff Doe/NSRA
The Scots scooped a remarkable number of the awards from what was an event contested by shooters from all over Britain. Other notable successes included the win for the father and son team of Iain and Seoc Malone who, competing under the moniker of the Country Bumpkins, defeated a George Watson's pairing in the final of the Sharpshooters contest, where the object was to knock out a series of clay discs against the clock. That success could perhaps be attributed to the traditional dietary supplement of porridge - made the "proper" way, poured into a drawer!
Scotland Under-25 squad coach Sinclair Bruce, who finished fourth in the Earl Haig and ended the meeting with enough silverware to fill his back seat, was rewarded for all his hard work over the year, including his new role as Performance Manager, with the "unofficial" presentation of a specially printed t-shirt (thanks to Karen Nilsen). Details of this fortunately strictly limited edition t-shirt are available from the webmaster.
Scotland completed a clean sweep of victories against England at Lauder today with wins in the main team event, the Ladies event and the Juniors match.
In the main event Scotland won by 184 off to England's 193. The Ladies won by 103 to 118, while the Juniors came out on top by 74 to 101. For full results, click here.
Cliff Ogle must take a deal of credit for the wins, as he acted as wind coach and his incisive comments and directions on the ever-changing wind at the range made the shooters' job easier (to the uninitiated the commentary sounds rather like a shipping forecast on Radio 4) . No wonder the man who has "Bones" stitched on the back of his shooting jacket and who has a reputation for, ahem, time keeping, greeted the team with a smile and the quip "Hello, fans".The details of the team scores can be found here.
Left, the main team, centre, the Ladies team and right, the winning Juniors side
The annual match against the Army has been a tradition for many years but has been sporadic recently due to the number of Army team members being posted abroad. We agreed this year to hold it at Lauder on Sunday afternoon, since most of the Army team were travelling only for the match. We use it as a training match and try to match both teams' abilities to provide a close match. This year we matched 2xA , 1xB and 2xD class. Unfortunately one of the Army team's A class shooters was delayed in Kenya so we had to drop one of our scores. The overall score was Scotland dropped 156 points against the Army team 185 points on an English match, shot in a very strong and difficult wind.
The Scottish team was Robin Thomson 563 , Andrew Ozmond 564 , Soec Malone 572 , Ashleigh Taylor 553 and Jonty Barron 555. The Army Team was Capt. D Lethbridge 574, SSGT. Zoe Bruce 574 , Sgt. R Crouch 515 and Sgt. C Pretorious 552.
The Army team donate a medal for the top scorer in each team and these were presented to Seoc Malone and Capt. D Lethbridge ( on count back).
Susan Jackson has won the Freuchie trophy at the NSRA Scottish Meeting in Lauder. The C+D final was won by Jonty Barron.
Meanwhile, the Scotland teams to take on England at 10am on Friday morning has been unveiled:
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SSRA chairman Ian Thomson presents Susan Jackson with the Wilkinson Sword trophy
Linlithgow's Sinclair Bruce laid claim to the early trophies at the NSRA's Scottish meeting with victory in the Bournemouth Shield thanks to an aggregate of 1155 ex 1200. Jim Cole Hamilton was third with 1138. Bruce also bagged the WH Mackay trophy with a winning score of 394 ex 400. Amongst other Scottish successes were S Gemmell from Perth who picked up two trophies in Class D, the Robert O Sinclaire Trophy and the Eric Nicholl Memorial Quaich. Ian Henderson triumphed in the Weekend Aggregate where his 1138 landed him the Wyvern Rose Bowl. Henderson also came second in the Parker Hale Cup. Iain Malone won the Embankment Cup, JS Sime the Red Hackle trophy, L Thomson the SAW trophy while Susan Jackson lifted the Gregory Salver.
The finalists who have qualified to contest Friday's Earl Haig trophy at Thirlestane Castle near Lauder are: From Squad 1: L Thomson 385, SJM Sandground 380, JF Smith 379, WT Vaughan 378, KL King 378, AS Bruce 376, MJ Ozmond 374, E Brown 374, S Gemmell 372, J Paterson, 372. Squad 2 : WMJ Cole-Hamilton 383, R Law 379, SM Jackson 379, KA Copland 377, WA Copland 377, SM Sharp, 377, GR Mortimer 376, CG De Jonckheere (pictured relaxing) 375, ST Malone 375, IS Henderson 374.
Finalists to contest the C+D class final are: From Squad 1: L Thomson 385, S Gemmell 372, SJ Blackwood 371, MG Rennie 370, Squad 2: ST Malone 375, IS Henderson 374, WD Allan 371, F Shedden 371.
WHEN things are not going well on the range, it always helps to have someone to talk through the problems with. When American Matt Emmons, one of the world's top competitors, finished eighth in the 2004 Athens Olympics Three-Position final after firing at the wrong target, he was was consoled by Czech shooter Katerina Kurkova. Just a few months later Ms Kurkova became Mrs Emmons so clearly that was one kind of couples therapy that worked out in the end - but how do our own home-grown shooting couples get on in Scotland? To find out more and what Matt Emmons has to say on the subject, plus who said: "I’m the kit geek, I do my own thing", click here.
Scots to the fore: From left, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matt Thomson, Ollie Barron, Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh
Six Scots athletes have been named in the team to represent Great Britain at the 50th ISSF World Championships, which will be held in Munich from 29 July to 9 August. For full details of the team and their events, click here.
The SSRA's AGM will be held at Lauderdale Hotel, 1 Edinburgh Road, Lauder TD2 6TW on Saturday 26 June at 7.30pm, the first night of the NSRA's Scottish meeting. Amongst the items on the agenda will be the two vacancies on the SSRA council. The Development Officer position has been vacant for a couple of years, since Jim Cole-Hamilton resigned. The Performance Manager vacancy is currently filled by Sinclair Bruce, but needs to go to a vote at the AGM. Members can be nominated but must be present at the meeting or have offered their acceptance in writing before the meeting. Job Descriptions for both posts are available on the Contacts page.
Alloa & District held their first "Triple Dewar" competition on Sunday 20 June and organiser and contact club secretary William McAulay declared the event a great success. A sizeable entry saw competitors from as far afield as Dumfries attend what was an ideal event to act as a dress rehearsal for the NSRA's forthcoming Scottish meeting at Lauder.
The Class winners were as follows: Class A: 1 C De Jonckheere, 2 R Thomson, 3 T Hodgson. Class B: 1 W Crawford, 2 G Stevenson, 3 N Brown. Class C:1 C Halleran, 2 N Steele, 3 P Dunscue. Class D; K Williamson. Junior: G Stevenson. Team winners: Dumfries. Full score details will be posted here soon.
A further competition has now been agreed, in the "English Match" style, ie 60 shots at 50 metres, will be staged on 1 August 2010. Entry forms will be sent out to members and anyone interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAulay either by e-mail mcaulay8580@talktalk.net or by telephone 01259 723598 at 51 Hillcrest Drive, Alloa, FK10 1SD.
Congratulations to Lockerbie's Kathryn Williamson who has been appointed a Commonwealth Youth Legacy Ambassador for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She is one of four in Dumfries and Galloway and the role provides a good opportunity to promote sport in the area. To find out more about the Legacy Ambassadors click here.
A full document detailing all the results from this two-day meeting is now available for download. Simply scroll down to the news report (Sharp shooter comes good in Caithness, 7th June) and click the full results link.
Neil Stirton won the British 50m Men's Prone title at Bisley, his 596 + 102.1 (698.1) enough to hold off the challenge of Jersey's Steven LeCouillard (694.3) while fellow Scot Dave Caughey was just out of the medals with 692.9 in fourth place. The results - with six Scots in the top 25 - highlights once more the strength of target shooting north of the Border.
"Prone's feeling good just now and Friday's 596 felt like it came with relative ease in a fairly consistent wind compared to [Sunday's]," Stirton said. "The conditions were tricky and flicking round fast, especially on the front flags, which meant it was a mental challenge to try and keep on top of it. It's funny how two shoots with identical scores, and even X count can feel so different.
"I'm delighted to have won the 50m champs, and looking forward to the Belgrade WC, the World Champs and Commonwealth Games over the coming months."
In the men's Three-Position there were three Scotsmen in the top six, with Graham Rudd taking silver with 1142+94.9, Neil Stirton in fifth and Martin Sinclair in sixth.
Jennifer McIntosh, meanwhile, was busy adding to that power base as she became British Senior Women's 3P Champion with a new Scottish Junior & Senior Record as well as the British Junior record of 578 + 96.9 (674.9). In a very strong field she won by a margin from Michelle Smith on 666.2. Aberdeen's Emma Cole-Hamilton was third with 654.7. For full results from the meeting, click on the NSRA icon above, or here.
The Scottish Men won both the Prone and Three Positions international matches - the team scores can be seen here.
Kay Copland notched a new personal best of 595 ex 600 and a silver medal at the Meeting of the Shooting Hopes in Pilsen, Czech Republic.
The Scottish A squad athlete from Aberdeen delivered a superb performance in the 50m Prone event. The full results are available here. Copland followed that up with a new PB of 573 ex 600 in the 3x20 Three Position event. There was also a new personal best for Fraser Cheetham in the Junior Men's Three-Position event with 1141, a new Scottish Junior record, beating Jon Hammond's 1140 in 2000 by one.
Sheena Sharp pulled out all the stops to win the third Grand Prix of the SSRA series at Caithness.
The defending double Commonwealth champion emerged with a score in the final of 698.8 to triumph by a tidy margin from Caithness club's John R Sinclair on 693.5 and James Alexander Henderson in third on 688.5, just ahead of Sarah Bates on 687.2.
The performance by Sharp who improved steadily throughout the day, provided a fine end to the two-day event.
"The shoot was a great success, there were competitors from Orkney to the Borders," said County secretary Marty Simpson. "Prior to the shoot, Sheena Sharp and Bill Copland(snr) both requested that I organised a warm sunny, no wind, no midgies , no fog day. As secretary I always aim to please, and I am delighted to say that's exactly what Saturday was, very warm, sunny,no wind, midgies, or fog.Perfect conditions.Unfortunately, Sunday lashed with rain, and when it didn't rain it was dull and dreich..."
SSRA member Jim McIntosh, the man to be found tucked behind the stats laptop along with Marty Simpson, commented: "We had a good turn out from the Dumfries Club, which being the most southerly coming up to Wick, was a great boost to the local organisers for their hard work. Competitions do not just happen, someone has to burn the midnight oil to get everything in place for the event."
It was good to see a number of new faces there from the local clubs showing a level of interest and ability that should bode well for the future in the Caithness area.
James Henderson took the time out from picking up a raft of prizes to compile a diary from the Caithness meeting - click here to read the inside track on the MSP who asked to have a go and the competitor who should have won a prize for his noble gesture...
There were 15 competitions staged over the two days and here are the results in brief:
Caithness aggregate: Class A James Henderson (Watten RC); Class B: Gregor
Bremner (Watten RC); Class C: Robbie Spence(jnr) (Orkney RC); Class D Lloyd
Prentice (Heriot Watt) .
Spittal Handicap: 1st James Henderson, 2nd Gregor Bremner.
Mowat Cup: 1st Fiona Shedden (Dumfries), 2nd James Henderson.
Daisy Trust 2000: Andrew Nicolson (Wick Old Stagers)
Caithness County Champion 2009/2010: James Henderson.
Detailed results from the Grand Prix can be found here. A full results package of all the competitions at Caithness can be found here.
The outdoor season is hotting up and Dave Caughey took the honours at Gagie after a marathon Angus Grand Prix. His ISSF final shoot string of 103.3 gave him a total of 696.3 and victory ahead of Tom Hodgson (693.2) and Robin Thomson (692.4) - and on his former club range, Steeple, too.
"I was happy with my first A&B GP win, especially on the three-card system," said Caughey. "Since the GP series is going well, I'm going to need to take a trip up north next week (Caithness) to make sure I don't lose my advantage and to try to take some points off the wind shooting specialists..."
Saturday saw the second 3P Grand Prix of the season, at Denwood. "We had 11 hardy souls and whilst the wind was not too heavy it was straight out of the Arctic and did have its effect," said the SSRA's Jim McIntosh.
The scores did prove to be tight in the end with Graham Rudd running out the winner from Andrew Ross in the 3x40 and Emma Cole-Hamilton taking the 3x20 from Sheena Sharp.
Detailed scores can be found on the Domestic Results page.
Jen McIntosh's progress continued apace as she set a new record at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning in Georgia USA.
McIntosh broke the Scottish Senior and GB Junior Women's 3x20 record in the Three-Position small bore event with a score of 581. She qualified for a shoot-off eliminator to get into the final stage, between five competitors for just three places, but fell just short.
"I'm pretty happy with my shoot, although obviously a little disappointed to miss out on the final," McIntosh commented. "I wasn't expecting to come anywhere close to the final though, so I was really pleased to make the shoot-off. It was great experience too - which is really what this was about for me - and I've certainly learned from it. As for the match itself, it could have been better. Obviously I'm delighted to have a new PB - and to have finally beaten that record - but the fact that is that it could have easily been better. I lost my head a little bit during my standing and it cost me... a couple of 8s and a string of 9s that could have been 10s if I'd managed to keep concentrating. But I guess that's what every athlete would tell you - it can always be better and there is always room for improvement.
"For my first World Cup to come 10th... brilliant, not really another word for it," she went on. "It's been a great experience and great fun, but looking forward my next competition (the British Championships at Bisley on 11-13 June) - and the next World Cup in Belgrade. And more than anything, looking forward to coming home!"
Meanwhile, Aberdeen's Neil Stirton shot a new personal best of 1158 in the equivalent Men's 3x40 event. He commented on McIntosh's performance: "Unfortunately she didn't get through but no mean feat nonetheless - well done!" Stirton has been working hard with some new kit and admitted the high temperatures in Georgia made things more difficult.
"After finding a crack in my 'original' Bleiker action a few weeks ago, after Pilzen, I changed barrel and action and am now shooting with a different Bleiker. Training has been going well in Prone and 3P and I was pleased with the new PB in the 3P match. There are still several areas that I know need work and looking forward to focussing on them before he next World Cup in Belgrade. Let's hope it doesn't get too much hotter as this weather with all the gear on is certainly a challenge."
Detailed results can be found at http://results.sius.com
He is best known to the country's target shooting community as Scotland's Under-25 SSRA coach, a representative for his nation at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and an ardent member of the Balerno & Currie club, but Sinclair Bruce has put on a new hat and once more put his own competitions on the backburner...
Bruce has taken up the caretaker role as Performance manager for the SSRA after Donald McIntosh relinquished the post.
"The post will be voted on at the SSRA AGM at the Scottish, I am currently standing in," he was at pains to point out. "I will put my name forward at the Scottish, as will others who are interested and there will be a vote taken. Fundamentally [the role] is about reporting on performance of those in the squads and liaison with coaches on the selections for international matches that occur through the year as well as the training programme."
What about that important coaching role that he continues to carry out, meaning regular trips to the likes of Denwood or Tullygarth? Many people might ask if the two posts overlap.
"They only overlap because I'm doing both," Bruce said. "There is no requirement for them to do so." And his coaching skills extend beyond the locus of Scottish shooters. Northern Ireland internationalist Beverley Burnside for example has sought his help in honing her talents. "We want to develop a strong shooting community throughout GB as ultimately that is the highest level of representation people can achieve through the systems we have in place. I'm happy (from a coaching point of view) to help anyone who is committed to improving," he explained.
How on earth do you fit all that in with your day job, family life and even your own shooting?
"Prioritise and compromise. My own shooting has definitely taken a back seat over the last wee while."
Quite apart from your official remit, what are your aspirations about the role and what can be achieved. Is it largely connected to 2012/2014 or the wider aspect of broadening the appeal and quality of people in the sport in Scotland?
"I want to see as many of our Scottish shooters competing for places in GB teams in the lead up to 2012 which naturally leads on to the development of talent for 2014. This two-pronged view of development is important. We must not just think in the context of Scotland. We want our sports man & women involved at GB level, competing against the rest of the world. People used to think that it was possible to compete at Commonwealth level without needing to be world class. That is no longer the case. We need to aim to have our shooters competing at the world level and that means getting into GB teams and travelling to World Cups, World Champs, European Champs and the like."
A reminder that Alloa & District stage their new "Triple Dewar" competition on Sunday 20th June at The Rifle Range, Tullygarth Farm, Clackmannan. Course of fire is 60 shots at 50 metres and 60 shots at 100 yards + aggregate. Anyone interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAulay either by e-mail on mcaulay8580@talktalk.net or by telephone 01259 723598 at 51 Hillcrest Drive, Alloa, FK10 1SD.
Ollie Barron came through a qualifying shoot-off in Germany to reach the final of the Junior Men's 50m Prone IWK event in Suhl. A score of 590 put the Aberdeen University student into a three way-tie for qualification and his shoot-off score of 51.3 put him into the final stage by a mere 0.1 points. In the final, Barron got the better of Switzerland's Jan Hollenweger to finish seventh overall with the event going to another Swiss, Jan Lochbihler, who, having qualified with a superb 598, delivered an equally impressive 105 in the final to win by a good margin. Click here.for detailed results.
Matt Thomson marked his return to serious international competition with the events in Hannover and Pilzen. A 595 in Germany followed by 594 in the Czech Republic were the rewards for two very solid matches.
"I'm reasonably happy with my match in Pilsen," said the 24-year-old from Edinburgh. "I was a bit worried that the ten-hour coach ride wouldn't leave me in good condition to shoot a match well but I was surprised that I felt okay. The conditions for the match were really quite easy so my score should have been at least a few points better however five out of the six shots I dropped I know why I dropped them.
"It's something that can be fixed with a bit of work. I felt my shoulder tense and that pushed my 9s out left. It could have been the cold but it was mostly just me."
"It was my first time in Pilsen (somehow I have managed to miss it for years) and I was impressed with the range. I was wary of the single shot per diagram because, having shot like that in Bangkok, I didn't really like it. However throughout the match I started to enjoy it. I found it completely helped me concentrate on every shot and have good preparation for every shot. My target approach, for instance, was solid during the match.
"I have been a bit lucky with the generous conditions both in Hannover and Pilsen but I feel that I have put in some solid scores, especially considering these were my first proper internationals in almost two years. The trip has certainly improved my confidence looking ahead to the World Cup in Fort Benning [on 22-31 May]."
Thomson will be joined in Fort Benning in Georgia USA by fellow Scots Jon Hammond, Jen McIntosh and Neil Stirton.
Graham Shedden took the honours in the final of the season opener at Denwood. The Dumfries man held off Dave Caughey by one point to win with 593 and a total after the final stage of 693.8 to Caughey's 693.2.
The "old dogs" were to the fore in the C+D final, with Charles Allan of Bon Accord edging out Ian Henderson thanks to a possible in the final ten shots. Click here for the results.
On Saturday the 3P event was staged and, despite depleted numbers due to international commitments and volcanic ash, a full 3x20 and a 3x40 match was staged plus an Olympic-style final as well. Fraser Cheetham ran out the winner in the 3x40 and Kay Copland, still recovering from the effects of concussion sustained in the gym, took the honours in the 3x20. The rather cold weather was replaced on the Sunday with the wind a lot kinder and the the sun did make a number of appearances but in both days the biggest item missing were the lack of aircraft movements until late on Sunday when a number appeared to want to land up the road.
"The attendance of a good number of brave persons appeared and the later details filled up very well," said the SSRA's Jim McIntosh, displaying the association's new range of personalised branded wear (I've got mine - web editor). Mother Nature had the last laugh, though. "A beautiful thrush decided that a meal was called for and started grubbing around on the range for some 20 minutes," he explained. "This, like all the feathered friends we meet during the summer, defied everything to disturb it."
Congratulations go to Edinburgh's Sarah Bates who emerged top of the pile in the SSRA Winter Three-Position League ahead of James Henderson. Click here for the final scores and placings.
Perthshire Small Bore Rifle Association is holding its annual Open shoot on Sunday 23 May and organiser Ian Gray is keen to point out that, due to possible redevelopment of the range at Rae Place, it could be the last 50m and 100 yard shoot on the range. An ideal opportunity therefore to enter the event and test your mettle in between the trains rumbling past....
Enter on the day or contact Ian Gray at igray.psbra@blueyonder.co.uk for entry forms.
The following team will represent Scotland at the third International Shooting Competition in Hannover from 27 April to 2 May 2010:
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Click here for results.
A Scotland select then travels to Pilsen in the Czech Republic for the 41st Grand Prix of Liberation from 5-9 May:
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Click here for results.
Donald McIntosh will support the teams as Coach.
James Paterson, Kay Copland and Andrew Laurie were amongst the top Scots performers at the recent BUCS University Outdoor Meeting in Appleton.
For detailed results click here.
After some nip and tuck results, there were class wins for John Sinclair, Ian Henderson and Neil McMillan in the final stages of the SSRA Medal while Stewart Dewar won the CanDicap. Congratulations to all who took part and detailed results on all the competitions are now available here.
Watsonians have won the NSRA's Team of Eight competition for the Mackworth Praed trophy, beating Chobham and District in the final by 1567 to 1559.
Final scores were: James Brown 0 1; Ian Thomson 1 2; Susan Jackson 2 1; Bev Burnside 3 2; Rhona Dove 3 1; Nick Baker 2 3; Ronnie Sellar 1 3; Angus Jackson 2 6.
Latest results, for the penultimate round of the series, are available here.
There were gold medal performances from Sheena Sharp, James Brown, Emma Cole-Hamilton and Sarah Brown as the Scots contingent descended on the Sinclair Range at St John's in the Isle of Man and brought back a number of awards. Sharp won the Women's Open Championship, edging out Michelle Smith by one point.
Amongst the medal winners, James Paterson picked up a silver in the first event, the Men's Three-Position with a total of 1210.8 and Cole-Hamilton bagged a bronze in the Women's 3P with 649.0 to follow up her win in Friday's Women's Championship Air Rifle event. James Brown won the X Class 60-shot event with 591 while he also netted silver in the 40-shot Comp 4 with 396. Sarah Brown won the C class prone and Matthew Thomson finished third in the 60-shot prone event on the final day.
The majority of the results are available here.
Bon Accord retained their Division 1 title, with an improved performance. Although they dropped a point this time, their average went up almost a point to 394.4 (not the best seen in this league - that was by Watsonians with 396.1 in 2007). Bon were rarely threatened and finished five points ahead of second-placed Callander A, who despite putting in one 399, lost twice to Bon Accord and also to Bearsden A. The award for best overall average goes to Donald McIntosh with 99.0.
Division 2 was won by Watsonians, seeing off Selkirk by only two points. They won one and lost one each in their matches together, but Selkirk crucially lost one other match. Watsonians had their noses just in front all the way, and Selkirk's loss in R9 confirmed their runners-up spot. The best average in the division was by Nick Baker (Watsonians) with 98.5.
Division 3 ended up about as close as you can get between Inverurie & Oldmeldrum and Forres. They both finished with 16 points, but Inverurie & Oldmeldrum emerged winners by only 8 gunscore points. Forres will be rueing their low-scoring loss by one point to Bearsden B in round 3, a match they would have won with any of their other scores. Top average in the division was Malcolm Catto of Inverurie & Oldmeldrum with 98.1.
Division 4 was won by Clachnacuddin B. Having lost rounds 2 and 3, they won all the rest of their matches and overtook early leaders Alloa & Dist B who had a poor spell in the middle. Top average (of those shooting all 10 rounds) was Peter Gray of Steeple with 96.3.
It was a case of same again in division 5, as this was won by Clachnacuddin C with a clean sweep of 20 points. Orkney B did their best to keep up, and their only losses were to the winners. Clach even had the good fortune to win a match when they were a man short, meeting a similarly disadvantaged team in the shape of Edinburgh University B. To those that hath.... Top average was S Bell (Clach) with 96.3.
The prize medals for each winning team will be presented at the AGM in June. Detailed scores and averages can be found via the Domestic Results page.
The podium places have been decided for this season's Prone League. Congratulations go to Eddie Jones, Ian Henderson and Nick Brown as class winners while full results are available here.
The Outdoor range at Alloa will open its season from Sunday 11 April at 12.30pm. Members of Alloa & District who are in teams for the coming season are reminded that the first round of league cards have a Last Date For Shooting (LDFS) 26th April 2010.
Entrance forms for the All Ranges event and Summer Grand Prix competitions are on their way out to the membership. The first is the All Ranges on 18th April at Denwood in Aberdeen where the course of fire will be an ideal way to test your mettle in several disciplines in quick succession: 40 shots at each distance - 25 yards, 50m and 100 yards. The competition features an Individual event in 4 classes, also Pairs (with handicap), Club team of 3 and Inter Regional Matches at Short Range and Long Range. If you do not receive these forms or would like more information, contact executive@ssra.co.uk.
Watsonians Rifle Club have reached the final of the NSRA's Team of Eight competition for the Mackworth Praed trophy with a superb performance in the semi-final against Weston. The Edinburgh club's score of 793ex 800, provisionally a British record, saw off opponents Weston who scored 763ex800. Watsonians will now play Chobham and District in the final postal match, have already shot their cards and can now only wait on their opponents' result.....
Jen McIntosh has been named Clydesdale Bank Athlete of the Month.
Lockerbie Academy's Kathryn Williamson has fought her way into the Scotland set-up at the age of 16 - with the aid of borrowed boots and trousers. And now she has been rewarded with the Junior Sports Personality prize for 2009 from Annandale and Eskdale Sports Trust.
That success has not come without sacrifice, though. To read more about the trials and tribulations of joining the Scotland squad, click here.
Balerno & Currie's range played host to the annual international match against North Island, New Zealand at the weekend .With the match conducted on a postal basis and the scores remaining strictly under wraps for now, the outcome of the match will be known later in the year when the New Zealanders, the defending champions, shoot their cards in the 40-shot competition. The match rounded off a busy series of events for the Balerno & Currie club, whose range had earlier hosted the finals of the SSRA Speedway and the Lothian Individual Championship, won by club champion Alasdair Horne.
The final day of the competition saw the Scots take part in the
10m Air Rifle Men's and Women's events. There were good performances from Andrew
Ross and Emma Cole-Hamilton today, showing improved levels of control and
application. Sheena Sharp was still suffering from her cold but breathing
better which resulted in some good stuff too only for a string of 9s in the
middle section to spoil things.
Andrew Ross: 95 96 94 94 94 93 = 566
Emma Cole-Hamilton: 97 98 96 97 = 388
Sheena Sharp: 94 97 94 98 = 383
"Everyone in the squad is looking forward to returning home now after a
long and, in general, a reasonably successful trip," commented coach Sinclair
Bruce.
Matthew Thomson shot a superb 595 only to miss out on the final of the Men's Prone by a mere two points. In the end the title went to Sweden's Tobjorn Swensson who added to his 599 in qualifying with 103.0. Silver went to Russia's Dmitry Ponomarev who scored a remarkable 104.9 and bronze to Rajmond Debevec from Slovenia after a final 103.4.
All three SSRA shooters were on the same detail - Thomson, Dave Caughey and Andrew Ross. Thomson (99 99 100 99 98 100) shot well pretty much all through apart from around one of his breaks which should have perhaps been earlier and his score left him in 15th place. Caughey struggled getting the right position and when it was there shot well towards the end of the shoot (592: 97 99 98 98 100 100), while Ross (584: 96 98 98 97 98 97) shot well in bursts.
Selkirk's Eric Brown, competing for the Great Britain Police team, recorded a 574.
Click here for the full results.
Sheena Sharp, feeling a lot better after picking up a cold, finished strongly towards the end of the Women's Prone today. Scores of 97 97 99 99 97 and 99 gave her 588 and 19th place in a field topped by former Olympic medallist Olga Dovgun from Kazakhstan with a stunning 598. Emma Cole-Hamilton put up a good display too, her 98 97 97 99 96 97 for 584 giving her 30th place
Click here for the full results.
Neil Stirton and Graham Rudd finished 24th and 25th in the Men's Three Position 50m rifle event at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney today, a competition won by the United States' Matthew Emmons. Click here for detailed results.
There were no medals today but Andrew Ross delivered a creditable performance in his inaugural 50m 3P Men's Rifle competition.
"His Prone was a little disappointing with a minor equipment problem in the middle of it but the Standing was good. The Kneeling was, well kneeling, really good in spells and frustrating at other times," coach Sinclair Bruce explained. Overall a result of 1100 was a good first attempt at this discipline especially as it was the Balerno & Currie man's first trip into mainland Europe with the Scotland set-up.
Andrew Ross: Prone: 97 99 93 96 = 385.
Standing: 90 89 93 83 = 355
Kneeling: 88 91 93 88 = 360. Total: 1100
Fraser Cheetham was next up in The Junior Men's Air Rifle. He too lost his way just a little in the middle and recovered well to end up with a creditable 564. (96 94 92 94 93 95).
Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh were both good in spells in the Junior Women's Air Rifle but those spells weren't long enough so both were left feeling disappointed.Kay Copland: 384 (97 96 94 97) Jen McIntosh:383 (97 97 92 97)
Want to know more detailed scores? Click here.
Jen McIntosh and Kay Copland delivered a Scottish two-three in the Junior Women's Prone this morning, McIntosh with a 595 and Copland with a 593 behind winner Lisa Tuchter of the host nation who scored a brilliant 598.
As part of a mixed second day in Dortmund, the Junior men will have been disappointed with their scores - Oliver Barron was 15th and Fraser Cheetham 17th in the Junior Men's Prone - as was Emma Cole-Hamilton with her performance in the Kneeling discipline of the Women's Three-Position event which left her with 562 while Sheena Sharp suffered a nose bleed during her standing. She has picked up a nasty cold and we can only hope she will be better for the prone and air rifle events at the weekend. Pictured right: Jen McIntosh, Lisa Tuchter and Kay Copland
Want to know more detailed scores? Click here.
Jen McIntosh, fresh from her Air Rifle success in Tulliallan, unearthed a new personal best with first place in the 3x20 Women's small bore rifle event as Scotland's juniors went into battle in the Three-Position ISAS event in Dortmund.
The first stage of competition in the 25th ISAS (International Season Start for Sport Shooters) indoor match saw her record 199 in the Prone (99 100), 189 in the tricky Standing discipline (96 93) and 195 in the final Kneeling discipline. (97 98) to give her a total of 583, two points ahead of her nearest rivals in a 49-woman field contesting the 3x20 event. Second was Elin Karlsson of Sweden with and third was Alexandra Malinovskaya from Kazakhstan. Kay Copland had a 562 (Prone 197: 100 97; Standing 185: 92 93; Kneeling 180: 89 91).
Fraser Cheetham finished 20th in the Three-Position men's small-bore event. With the top scores in the event of 1160, 1158 and 1148, Cheetham shot 1112 with a Prone series of 384 (95 95 95 99)plus 353 in the Standing (84 90 88 91 and 375 in the Kneeling discipline (95 90 96 94).
Want to know more detailed scores? Click here.
Neil Stirton may have got the better of Warren Potent in the Australian Cup but the World No 1 got his revenge in the World Cup in Sydney. Shooting on his own range, he matched the world record of 600 out of 600. To find out more about how he, as well as Stirton and Graham Rudd, got on, click on the ISSF icon at the top of this page.
The team to contest the annual postal match against North Island, New Zealand has been announced by SSRA coach Sinclair Bruce:
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The match will be staged at Balerno & Currie's range on Sunday 28 March
The SSRA Air Rifle Championships were held at Tulliallan Police College near Kincardine at the weekend and the main winners were:
Open
Championship: 1. Robin Law, 2. Das Devproteek, 3. James Paterson
Confined Championship: 1. Robin Law, 2. James Paterson,3.
Andrew Ross
Ladies Championship: 1 Jen McIntosh, 2. Sian Corish, 3. Emma
Cole-Hamilton.
Confined Ladies Championship: 1. Jen McIntosh, 2. Emma Cole-Hamilton, 3.
Kay Copland.
Junior Championship: Women: Jen McIntosh. Men: Fraser Cheetham
Competition 1: A Class: Sian Corish 588, Jen McIntosh 583, Robin Law 579. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 571, Andrew Ross 567, Mike Lewis 564 C Class: Fiona Park 559, Kathryn Williamson 556, Jamie Hodgson 530. D Class: Callum Seale 498, Sarah Brown 475, Gordon Buchan 459.
Competition 2: A Class: Sian Corish 586, Robin Law 582, Jen McIntosh 581. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 574, Mark Joyce 563, Andrew Ross 560. C Class: Kathryn Williamson, 555, Jamie Hodgson 544, Fiona Park 543. D Class: Callum Seale 531, Gordon Buchan 458, Cyril De Jonckheere 458.
Competition 3: A Class, Sian Corish 1174, Jen McIntosh 1164, Robin Law 1161. B Class: Shirley McIntosh 1145, Andrew Ross 1127, Mike Lewis 1124. C Class: Kathryn Williamson 1111, Fiona Park 1102, Jamie Hodgson 1074. D Class: Callum Seale 1029, Sarah Brown 923, Gordon Buchan 921.
"In spite of everything there were a goodly number of personal bests coming in and the relaxed atmosphere was helping," commented the SSRA's Jim McIntosh. "Bruce [McIntosh] arrived back from his shopping expedition with the sandwiches for lunch bringing with him those chocolate creme eggs. The eggs were used to great effect as a prize for PBs with some persons managing at least two... must try and repeat this amongst the squads somehow, then it was onto Sunday, once more the scores were good and the pressure was beginning to show.
"The qualifying events ran well, the results indicated that things were going to be interesting in the finals. This did prove to be the case with Robin Law's unique level of experience carrying him to another win. The big fun was in the Ladies final though, with Jen and Sian trading places with every round and we all thought that Jen had blown it on her 9th shot, but she proved us all wrong again with her 10th shot taking the championship with 0.8 of a difference."
Detailed results are available here for the competitions and here for the finals.
Some of the winners receive their prizes from SSRA treasurer Willie Allan. From left: Jen McIntosh, Robin Law and Sian Corish. Pictures courtesy of Bruce McIntosh.
The additional, if unofficial, prizes of a creme egg for achieving a personal best were awarded by Bruce McIntosh to, among many others, Kathryn Williamson, right.
Does what it says on the tin. Results for Round 8 to be found on Domestic Results page.
Aberdeen won the British University Indoor Championship (British University Colleges and Sport) staged in Sheffield at the weekend. The team of Kay Copland, Oliver Barron, Harry Ball, Andrew Laurie, Thomas Gale and Abeer Rehan saw off Cardiff in the final with a score of 1174 to the Welsh team's 1136. James Paterson won the Individual event in the colours of Southampton University with 398 including three strings of 100 on the trot, one point clear of Aberdeen's Ball with 397. And Copland finished second in the Ladies equivalent with 390.
For those shooters who will not be travelling to international events this season, perhaps they should jot down the date of Sunday 20th June, at The Rifle Range, Tullygarth Farm, Clackmannan. Here is a reminder of Alloa & District's new "Triple Dewar" competition, with course of fire of 60 shots at 50 metres and 60 shots at 100 yards + aggregate. A further competition has now been agreed, in the "English Match" style, ie 60 shots at 50 metres, will be staged on 1 August 2010. Entry forms will be sent out to members and anyone interested in taking part should contact club secretary William McAulay either by e-mail on mcaulay8580@talktalk.net or by telephone 01259 723598 at 51 Hillcrest Drive, Alloa, FK10 1SD.
The world's top shooters had to bow to Aberdeen's Neil Stirton in Sydney today as he won the Aus Cup prone final in impressive style.
Tying with Australia's Warren Potent in the qualifying round with 595, Stirton then shot a great final of 103.9 points to pip the World No 1 by 0.4 points with American Matthew Emmons shooting 594 and 103.0 in the final for third place. The result left the Aberdeen man with a great sense of satisfaction.
"Good day today ... felt like a 597 but was 595 and tied with Warren, "he said." The old Sius Ascor kit [computer scoring hardware] wasn’t set for Xs [inner bulls-eyes] but rather count-back so my name was at the top but then it turned out that Warren switched with me. So, funnily Warren was teasing me about firing point 1 in the finals hall being a real bitch because you couldn’t see any flags to the left due to the retractable door for the air finals. It was rather amusing when I told him that he actually had 43Xs to my 42 and we had to switch our kit around!"
Target shooting outdoors introduces another factor apart from some welcome fresh air and the sound of birds - wind and, potentially, mirage. Managing that wind is the key to victory in any event.
"It was a really tricky head wind that was flicking side-to-side and I had low 10s for the first five shots, with Matt drilling high 10s and was in first during the final but I finished strongly for the last five and the others tapered off," Stirton explained.
Not content to rest on their laurels after their exertions in Delhi, Stirton and Edinburgh's Graham Rudd had headed for Australia. Stirton is preparing for the ISSF World Cup event in the middle of this month but Rudd had taken the opportunity to sample the atmosphere.
In Friday's 3P event Rudd came third when, fighting very difficult wind conditions, he scored 1145, only to be overhauled by a Czech shooter who had 1144 in the final. Emmons won with 1176 and Stirton was fourth.
"It was a tough shoot," said Rudd. "I worked really hard for the whole match and was knackered by the end. Emmons is unreal - he shot 391 standing in a howling gale! I couldn't get sighted in for the final. For some reason my sights were out in the 6 ring and I couldn't get zeroed in the five minutes sighting time. I think my sight raisers are not clamping properly each time I screw them on. My first two shots were 10s, somehow. I then made a wee mistake and pulled the trigger in the wrong wind whilst swaying. 5 point something..."
A small mistake Emmons could surely identify with after his infamous error in Beijing cost him an Olympic medal.
"On the plus side, I knew I only had to shoot steady to gain a medal," Rudd added, who finished a creditable 13th in today's Prone event.
Thanks go to the Scots in question - proving once again that they can write as well as they shoot.
Pictured above: The line-up in the final today and at right the podium pals of Warren Potent, Neil Stirton and Matthew Emmons
Bon Accord came away with the honours in the NSRA's Scottish Cup final. The Aberdonian club's score of 1179 edged out Edinburgh's Watsonians 1174, making it the fourth year running that Bon Accord have won the Scottish Short Range Team Championships. For full scores click here. The news comes hard on the heels of Bon Accord's victory in the News of the World trophy, beating Chobham & District by 1177 to 1174. For more detailed scores, click here.
On 5th February Scottish shooters began the long journey down to Bisley for the British Airgun Championships. In a weekend of rain, rain, and a bit of sun (no snow unlike the rest of the country) there was a noticeable lack of the main squad shooters due to the CSFC games in Delhi. However the shooters that could attend warmed up and mostly had a good shoot with Robin Law qualifying for the men’s final in seventh, gaining two places to finish fifth in the British Mens championship. Andrew Ross placed 13th overall, with Jamie Hodgson 24th, shooting at his first major air championships. Fiona Park, another first-timer, finished eighth in the Ladies Championship and fifth in the British Universities championship. Fraser Cheetham qualified eighth for the junior Mens final, and maintained that position. Sadly the Home Countries team made up of Robin, Fraser and Andrew lost out in the team event, their 1683 third behind England’s 1721 and Wales’ 1685. The team scores can be seen here.
Fraser, who had a taxi booked on the Sunday, almost missed his flight as he made the final, which was running late.
Thanks to Fiona Park for this report
Want to know more? visit the NSRA website pages here.
Tom Hodgson was today celebrating victory in the SSRA's "Speedway" final as the Balerno & Currie range staged the second of two finals over the weekend. His win in the A/B class final, fending off the challege of David Simpson, Mike Ozmond and John Sinclair, the only competitor who scored a 200-point maximum in a single round. Sinclair won a special cash prize for this achievement, only to suffer the ignominy of being asked for change from event organiser and scorer Cyril de Jonckheere!
All this came after Stewart Dewar of Alloa & District won the C&D class final, his final card of 99 delivering four wins out of four. Winning the Boston Bowl caps a remarkable start in the sport for Dewar, who has only taken up target shooting in the last year. Second was Alloa's Willie Crawford and third was Lanark's Norrie Steele.
Detailed reports can be found here.
Balerno & Currie's Alasdair Horne has won the LSSA "World Cup" style event on his home range - the fifth time in eight years.
For a full report, visit http://www.lssa.org.uk.
Results and updated averages are now available on the Domestic Results page.
Robin Law won the final Air GP of the season in Glenrothes today. His final score of 102.6 was bested by Steve Watterson's 103.1, but that was not enough to overhaul the man from Alloa who won Class A with 575 (aggregate 677.6), ahead of Watterson's 573 (aggregate 676.1). The six rifle shooters were sent on their way in the final with the comment: "May the best woman win" from Cyril de Jonckheere.
Third place went to Balerno & Currie's Andrew Ross with 653.4, just ahead of Lockerbie's Kathryn Williamson with 653.2.This takes Law to 36 points in the overall Grand Prix table and the title, with Watterson on 24.
In the Pistol event, Bill Hamilton won the final, and there were class wins for Bill Pow in B, Hamilton in Class C and Class D was won by Jim McIntosh.
Full results for the event are available here.
Report and stats compiled by Colin Watson, Jim McIntosh, Cyril de Jonckheere with additional help from Sarah Brown
Despite a brave charge from 8th to 4th in the Men's 50m Prone by Neil Stirton there were no more medals for Scotland as Warren Potent reasserted himself to win.
Reporting by Donald McIntosh. Pictures, from left: Neil Stirton's charge in the final; the line-up commence battle; Warren Potent tops the list
There were positives to take from both the 50m rifle and Skeet ranges, though. Over at Skeet, Drew Christie was unable to capitalise on his excellent form yesterday, and fell away to finish in 7th – one target off the final. Nonetheless, it was good experience for the young shooter from Auchterhouse.
In the Men’s Prone Individual Dave Caughey shot an excellent 594 to enter the final in fifth place, just two points off the lead. Dave has had to wait a for a long time in Delhi to finally compete, and unfortunately succumbed to some stomach problems over the last 24 hours, so his performance was remarkable given how well he felt. Neil Stirton’s route to the final was a little harder – 592 in the qualification round put him into a three way shoot-off for the last two places in the final, but he qualified comfortably. In the final ten shots, while the lead changed hands between Gagan Narang of India, the Australians of Thomas Versace and Potent, Stirton made a charge from the eighth slot, producing a world class final of 104.6 to move to fourth place, a frustrating 0.6 off the bronze. Dave held his own for the first half of the final, but made a tactical error when a round misfired, which left him out of contention (and the coach very embarrassed that Dave didn’t know what his options were at that point).
Scotland finished the event with seven medals: Gold - Jen McIntosh/Sheena Sharp, Women's Prone Pairs. Gold - Jen McIntosh/Kay Copland, Women's 3P Pairs. Silver - Kay Copland, Women's Prone Individual. Silver - Sian Bruce, Women's Skeet Individual. Bronze - Graham Rudd/Neil Stirton, Men's 3P Pairs. Bronze - Shona Marshall/Linda Pearson, Women's Trap Pairs. Bronze - Shona Marshall, Women's Trap Individual
The team set new Championship records in two team events, and four new Scottish records in the pairs as well, and it's worth noting the age of many of the medal winners – Sian Bruce is 16, Jen McIntosh is 18 and Kay Copland is 19 - and their results in a senior championship were excellent.(For full results from this event, click here or go to the International Results page.
The first results from this league are now available here.
There were two more silver medals for Scotland today on the penultimate day of the Commonwealth Championships in Delhi. Kay Copland (GIS) bounced back from the frustrations of watching her team mates stand on top of the podium yesterday to produce a first-class performance of 593 in the Women's Prone Individual. In tricky wind conditions, Kay took almost the whole allotted time of 75 minutes to fire her 60 competition shots, waiting patiently for the wind to blow in the right direction and at the correct strength time after time. She lost out on the gold by one point, behind the highly-experienced Johanne Brekke of Wales - a medallist at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2009 European Championships, with Robyn Van Nus of Australia one further point behind in the bronze medal position.
Over on the Skeet range, Sian Bruce (TFIS) recorded a qualification round of 67 to enter the final in second place - just one target behind Wales' 2008 Olympian Elena Allen. While Elena remained out of reach, Sian shot very steadily to extend her lead over the remaining four finalists, taking the silver medal with relative ease.
Back on the 50m range, the Men's Prone pair of Neil Stirton and Dave Caughey missed out on a medal by one point. A win by the Indian pair - their first ever in this event - was followed by Australia in second, with England third. While neither man was happy with his score, they were not alone - Warren Potent, Australia's Olympic bronze medallist and the most consistent athlete in the world in this event for the last four years - also struggled somewhat in the conditions and Alloa & District's Mike Ozmond, in tenth place, passed him as well - but just by two inner bulls. All of the men are back on tomorrow for the Individual event, and it will be a hard fight with some world class competitors on the firing point.
Finally, Drew Christie is well placed after the first three rounds of the Men's Skeet and goes into tomorrow's last two rounds in second place.
Reporting by Donald McIntosh
Jen McIntosh and Sheena Sharp landed gold in the Women's 50m Prone Pairs event and took bronze in the badge match.
Coach Donald McIntosh reflects on a superb day's competition . . .
Another gold today in Delhi, this one for Jen McIntosh (Grampian Institute of Sport) and Sheena Sharp (Scottish Institute of Sport) in the Women's Prone Pairs. Jen was third highest score individually, with a very steady 592, and took the bronze medal in the concurrent 'badge' match despite a number of 'comfort' breaks required during the competition. Kay Copland (GIS) also performed well, with 590 and sixth place in the badge match - a good return to form after a difficult 2009 getting used to a new rifle.
Sheena Sharp, double Gold medallist in the 2006 Games, has also had a difficult time with a new rifle and jacket over the last 18 months, and after much debate we agreed less than three weeks ago that she should return to both the jacket and rifle that she used at the Games in Melbourne.Training here had gone well, but today she started poorly and things did not look good for the pair at first. However, using all her experience, she produced a first-class recovery and fought to the very end for every single point - and we beat England by one, with Wales third. I have to say that Sheena's refusal to give in, and subsequent recovery ranks right up there with her winning performances in Melbourne and I'm incredibly proud of her performance today.
The girls are back on tomorrow morning for the individual match, followed by the men in their prone pairs match.
In the Skeet events, we didn't have a pair in either of the men's or women's events, but in the badge matches Sian Bruce (TFIS) took third and Drew Christie was in a three-way shoot-off for silver and bronze, but ended up fourth. Both are on again tomorrow in their individual matches.
Want to know more? Visit http://results.sius.com/
The small bore team has had to deal with bouts of minor illnesses, but there was a third bronze for Scotland today, this one for Shona Marshall in the Women’s Trap - a great result for the two times World Championship medal winner and her second of the competition.
There were more Scottish medals today in Delhi: Bronze for Neil Stirton and Graham Rudd in the Men's 3P Pairs, and Bronze also for Shona Marshall and Linda Pearson in the Women's Trap Pairs.
Graham Rudd, left, and Neil Stirton insist on being the essence of cool in Delhi and, pictured right with Shona Marshall and Linda Pearson, show their true colours....
The first of these results are now available on the Domestic Results page
Jen McIntosh came fourth in the Women’s 3P event. A qualification round of 568, with good standing, took her into the final in fifth place. She moved up to third and stayed there through the middle of the final, only to be overhauled by England’s Sharon Lee in the last two shots. Emma Cole-Hamilton will be disappointed with her 560, and Kay Copland had to pull out of the event as she was feeling under the weather.
There were golds on the first day of the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships for Falkirk's Jen McIntosh and Aberdeen's Kay Copland as records tumbled.
Competing in the Women's Three-Position Pairs this morning, they set a new Championships record with 1136 - Jen 573, Kay 563 - the latter equalling her personal best. This result beat the old Scottish record for the pairs (set by Susan Jackson and Emma Cole-Hamilton in 2006) by 10 points. Jen top scored on the range as well and so won the badge match (individual with no final). In the Men's event there was also a solid shoot from Graham Rudd with 588 paired with 577 from Neil Stirton for 1165 - also a new Scottish record, overtaking the mark of Robin Law and David Rattray set at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998.
Want to know more? Click here or, for results data, visit http://results.sius.com/.
In Saturday's Men’s Air Rifle event, Graham Rudd missed out on the final after a shoot-off for eighth place and a score of 586.
Reporting by Sinclair Bruce with his texting fingers, and Donald McIntosh from India.
Picture: Jen, left, and Kay with their medals
11.43pm, 27th Feb: The site editor feels he should round off this diary with an excerpt from the battle of the McIntoshes. The official result was, of course, a draw. . .
The face-off on Facebook started when Donald posted a series of photographs from Delhi headed "with a little help from Jen". Seconds away....
12pm, 19th Feb: Dave Caughey will have to wait until next week to take the stage but that gave him more time to reflect on some of the trip's light-hearted moments.
"I should have got a few hours practice yesterday, but had a mishap which meant I only got 50 minutes. The helpful customs people at the airport helped me by closing my case and putting it on my trolley. Unfortunately the keys to the padlock were in it."
Undeterred, the Larbert shooter pressed on. "I had to break into my peli case yesterday before I could shoot," he explained. "The Indians helped me, but I had good locks, so we blunted two hacksaws, broke a hammer and cracked a table before we just broke one of the loops off the case. Most people saw the funny side of it. Donald, not so much, but he did laugh. At least I remembered all the bits of my rifle..."
The team may have been moved to the Claridges Hotel in Surajkund but it has not put Mike Ozmond off. "We had a practice on Thursday, but I am not competing until Friday & Saturday next week. The pool is just outside the room, so I shall make use of it. My ammunition is working well and once I was sighted in I didn't miss the bull once during practice. Weather 24C and sunny. Food great. Just don't get out other than hotel or range," he commented.
7.18am, 17th Feb: "India has been fairly dull so far," admits Rudd. "People were getting a bit jumpy in the hotel with the noise of explosions going off outside over the past few nights. It turned out to be fireworks! Anyway, no one has taken ill and we can't get to the range until tomorrow for Pre event training for air rifle."
1.25pm, 15th Feb: The Scotland squad's trip to Delhi has so far had to endure little more than inconvenience but the deadly bombing of a bakery frequented by foreigners in Pune at the weekend may explain the very cautious security approach they have encountered.
"It was a tiring trip over," explained Edinburgh's Graham Rudd. "The hotel we were meant to stay at got changed for an unknown reason. It was five minutes from the range but the one we were moved to is over an hour away!
"The food was good at lunch in the hotel. We'll have to get used to it because we've been told we cannot go out of the hotel because it's not a safe area."
Still, Rudd is using his sense of humour to see him through. "Oh well, another shooting trip with nothing to see apart from the range and the hotel," he said.
12.29am, 15th Feb: The Scotland team is currently bound for the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Delhi in February (right now they are languishing in an airport in Dubai, no doubt being waited on hand and foot). Look out for diary updates, pictures and info from the event here, which gets underway at the end of this week. Some of the world's top shooters will be there, including Australia's Warren Potent.
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Neil Stirton took time out between glasses of minted tea to write of his journey: "Back at Glasgow airport, four years on from the team's departure to Melbourne for the last Games. Some of the faces, I hadn't seen since then but everyone's looking well and with a glint in their eyes. There's always a buzz when Scotland head off to a big match, and today was no exception. All checked in, no excess baggage - thanks Emirates - and smooth all the way to the plane.
"For most, it will be the first time shooting in India ... So who knows what to expect. Best to expect the unexpected ;) A few days for acclimatisation and then training starts Thursday and followed by six competitions with only one day recovery in there. I'm really looking forward to it all kicking off."
Provisional results from the first stages of the SSRA Medal, CandDicap and Speedway competitions have been published. All competitors who requested printed results should have received them. Results may be subject to change due to challenges and correction of errata, for example if your name is Willie Crawford and you do not shoot for Orkney.... all such inquiries can be directed to Cyril De Jonckheere at c.dejonckheere@btinternet.com
A list of score data and those who made the finals can be found here. Medal and CanDicap cards to be shot by 22nd March and returned to the scorer by 27th March.
The results of the SSRA Team Prone League, Round 6, are now available.
Updated results can be found here for January Prone League cards. Scorer Bill Moonie would like to point out that results for the SSRA 3P League have been delayed to allow for some competitors being involved in international events.
Robin Law took the honours in the Carlisle Air GP yesterday with a 585+100.6 - and with the final grand prix in Glenrothes to come the Alloa man is in a strong position to win the series in three weeks' time.
Emma Cole-Hamilton from Bon Accord was second with 578+99.1 in an A Class field depleted by members of the Scotland squad, amongst others such as the Isle of Man's Gemma Kermode and Steven Watterson, being away on international duty in Holland for the InterShoot event.
Take nothing away from Law's achievements, though, as he remains on course to continue his amazing runs of wins in the Air GP series, having won every title to date. He saw his chance to consolidate his position in the GP table and did so with his best performance this winter steadily, improving during the shoot.
Mark Joyce shot well in B class, scoring 562 despite having little chance to train as the Forres range suffered roof damage in the recent snow storms while Fiona Park continued to make good progress with a new personal best of 553.
Jamie Hodgson won C class with 543 and continues to show steady improvement in a discipline he only took up recently.
In the pistol event, the final was a runoff between Mark Joyce and Bruce McIntosh. A poor final shot sealed McIntosh's fate and means it is likely Joyce will win that series as well.
Perth's annual Indoor Shoot will be staged on Sunday 14th March and organiser Ian Gray would like to inform potential competitors that the lighting in the range has been improved. Entries will be accepted by email and a copy of the form can be downloaded here. Entries can also be posted to I G Gray, 44 Balvaird Place, Perth. PH1 5DZ.
Proof positive that taking part in big competitions helps shooters raise their game came from the Hague today. There was a big jump in Kathryn Williamson's personal best score as she went from 374 on Thursday to 383 on Saturday. Jen McIntosh couldn't quite match her achievements from Day 2, recording a 387 while Kay Copland hit 382. In the Men's Air Rifle, Graham Rudd scored 581 but missed out on the final.
Jennifer McIntosh flew the flag for Scotland - and the McIntosh target shooting dynasty - with a bronze medal on Day 2 of InterShoot in Holland.
Jen, 18, is the daughter of Shirley and Donald McIntosh from Falkirk whose reputation needs little introduction (they are both in the SSRA Hall of Fame), and her rapid rise in Scottish and international target shooting shows little sign of abating. After Thursday's 385, she came back out and scored 390 on Friday. Her quest to reach the final was more successful than on Day 1 but also rather more dramatic, as it took a tie-shoot to squeeze her in. Jen was joined in the ten-shot play-off by Kay Copland who had recorded an excellent 391. Jen then notched 101.8 to take bronze with 491.8. Unfortunately Kay slipped back a little to finish with 489.9 and seventh place.
Meanwhile, in the Men's Air Rifle event, Graham Rudd just missed out on a place in the final when his 586 - two points better than Thursday's score - was a single point shy of a chance at medal glory.
Want to find out more detailed scores? Visit www.intershoot.nl and watch the action unfold.
Jen McIntosh, right, takes her bow at the medal presentation with, from left, Lotten Johansson of Sweden who won silver with her compatriot and gold medal winner Hanna Saker. Pictured right: Jen, second from right, in action during the Junior Female Air Rifle event
The results of the SSRA Team Prone League, Rounds 4 and 5, are now available. Please note that Round 4's results have been revised after the re-shoots for Bearsden, Selkirk and Inverurie & Oldmeldrum.
The Scottish contingent were much in evidence on Day 1 of InterShoot in the Hague. Edinburgh's Graham Rudd reached the Men's Air Rifle final with 584 and finished sixth overall after 104.1 in the final for a total of 688.1.
Kay Copland also reached a final, the Junior Women's Air Rifle, racking up a personal best of 389 before running out with 488.2 - and she came so close to being in the medals, but her final shot of 8.6 just edged her out, leaving her in 7th. Jen McIntosh missed out on the final by just two points after a 385. And Kathryn Williamson was another to hit a PB, with a score of 374.
There was drama in the Women's Air Rifle event where Belgians Stephanie Vercrusse and Daisy de Bock were tied on 490.0 after the final ten shots. If you have not seen the Intershoot software scoring in action, it really is impressive to watch from the comfort of your chaise longue. A tie-break shot was fired and Vercrusse's 10.6 edged out De Bock's 10.2.Bon-Accord's 2006 Commonwealth Games double champion Sheena Sharp just missed out a place in the final with 382.
Aberdeen's Neil Stirton has recently been accepted into the latest draft of the World Class Programme by governing body British Shooting, and with all eyes on the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games, he took the time to give ssra.co.uk his thoughts on what the support of the programme means for him . . .
"I am delighted to now be supported in such a positive way by UKSport, Scottish Institute for Sport and of course British Shooting. Each play a key role in my overall fitness, strength, well-being but most importantly, performance ," said Stirton, 28.
"After being made redundant back in 2008, I realised what could be achieved through hard but also 'smarter' training on a more full-time basis, reaching an all-time career high of sixth in the world rankings after winning silver at the Munich World Cup. I then went back into a six-month contract job to earn enough to see me through for the rest of 2009. Back to full-time work hindered my progression on the newly taken up air rifle and 3P.
"It was then I knew I'd have to find a better way of allowing me to train on a full-time basis. Through careful financial planning and with the support from UKSport, it is possible for me to concentrate on what I love doing ... Shooting!
"Training has been going according to plan, and I just hope it continues to do so ," he went on. "The next two years are extremely packed with training camps and competitions, which I'm thoroughly looking forward to. The plan is not to go out and win everything now but rather use the experience and training to build the solid foundations needed to try and win a quota for London, peaking just at the right time!"
Falkirk's Jen McIntosh gained more valuable international experience in Munich after being called up to the Great Britain team for the annual IWK Air Rifle & Pistol international match from 26-31 January She took part in the Junior Women's Air Rifle event, staged at the venue used for the 1972 Olympics.
More than 500 shooters were involved. James Huckle and Vicki Mullin fared best in what was a terrifyingly high standard of world-class competition.
Great Britain team: 10m Air Pistol Women: Gorgs Geikie, Geri Buckley; 10m Air Pistol Junior Women: Danielle Jones, Hannah Polak, Vicki Mullin; 10m Air Rifle Women: Michelle Smith; 10m Air Rifle Junior Women: Sheree Cox, Jen McIntosh; 10m Air Rifle Men: Ken Parr; 10m Air Rifle Junior Men: James Huckle
Pistol Coach: Peter Flippant. Rifle Coach: Donald McIntosh
With the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Delhi less than a month away, the Scotland squad beat the bad weather here and gained some vital acclimatisation into the bargain at a winter training camp in South Africa.
Training took place at the Eagle Eye shooting centre in the Magaliesburg Meander near Gauteng, a venue whose elevation is 1450m, higher than Ben Nevis, so the air is noticably thinner - which tested all of the shooters.
“The conditions were what we needed to prepare for India. Temperature and wind both increased during the week and we were able to get through a lot of training,” said Mike Ozmond. “Overall it was a very worthwhile exercise and we will see the benefits in Delhi.”
'A' Squad Coach Donald McIntosh commented: "From my perspective, the Eagle Eye centre is a first-class facility offering warm weather training in our winter, and without the massive time-zone changes that going to Australia would involve. It combines the same excellent Meyton targets that we use when training in Hannover, and with good quality accommodation right on the doorstep.
"Getting away from the grind of training winter in the cold and wet is a great lift to the spirits, and although the temperature and altitude provide challenging conditions for the athletes, we can expect to see the benefits in the next few weeks and months.With only a few weeks to go until we depart for the Commonwealth Championships in Delhi, it’s great for the shooters to get outside again and get their tactical skills honed before entering the international arena in what is a very early competition for us this year."
The Eagle Eye centre is run with the help of Martin Senore, an South African small-bore rifle shooter at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Want to know more? Click here.
An Eagle Eye on Eagle Eye: Top picture: Neil Stirton breaks in his new Kustermann Fusion jacket. Above, from left: A little RnR at Sun City after a hard few days work; All the squad hard at work in a Prone match; Graham Rudd shooting some excellent kneeling on the third day.
With the SSRA Air Rifle Championships, which incorporate the Home Countries Internationals, taking place at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan on 20-21 March on the horizon, entry forms for this competition are now available from the SSRA, including details on how to arrange accommodation in the area. Contact executive@ssra.co.uk to receive these forms.
The latest scores from Round Four of the Team Prone League are now available on the Domestic Results page
There was victory for Scotland in the NSRA/Eley Inter Regional Match held at Aldersley (and satellite venues such as Denwood) at the weekend with the pairing of Kathryn Williamson from Lockerbie and Aberdeen's Fiona Park winning the women's team event.
The competition, staged at the national indoor shooting centre near Wolverhampton on 17 January, brought together air rifle and pistol competitors from all over GB, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Edinburgh athletes Andrew Ross and Fraser Cheetham came fifth in the men's pairs while all four had creditable results in the individual competitions.
The detailed scores can be found here.
Steve Watterson came away from Denwood with his second Air Rifle Grand Prix win of the season after the Watsonians club's Manxman held off Alloa's Robin Law in the ISSF final by 683.6 to Law's 676.7. Watterson's compatriot Gemma Kermode was third with 666.8.
Turn-out is usually good at Denwood because so many shooters are based in the Granite City. However, this year it was lower because the Scottish squad were in South Africa for some warm weather training ahead of the CSF championships in Delhi next month.
"Qualifying was hard work," Watterson admitted. "My hold wasn't quite there and there were plenty of 9.9s and 10.0s. Due to the low turn-out, there was a bit of a spread between first, second and third, but Robin shot another strong final. Gemma (Kermode) was the real star though, hitting a good portion of heavy tens to finish with an excellent final."
The line-up for the Grand Prix was bolstered by Andy Ross, Fraser Cheetham and Jamie Hodgson who made the trip up from Edinburgh. Hodgson is new to air weapon events but with the help of some intensive training and his shiny new Feinwerkbau P700 the Heriot-Watt microbiology student's performances are on an upward curve.
"Not bad at all, training is paying off," he commented. "There was a bit of a balls-up with firing points which shook my nerves a bit but I felt I could have given more."
Mark Joyce, Fiona Park and Cheetham had a good battle through the final and Park did very well to move up a place.
Under-25 coach Sinclair Bruce found some time to take part in one detail and revealed that the discovery that one target changer was missing when the range was put together meant the competition started with seven lanes and initially caused problems for the organisers.
"With Cyril [de Jonckheere] and myself tinkering we did manage to get the competitors through to the end," explained the SSRA's Jim McIntosh.
"There were a number of decent performances, particularly from the female pairing of Fiona Park & Kathryn Williamson - encouraging for the future," Bruce said.
In the air pistol final Bruce McIntosh from St Andrews won the event with an aggregate of 631, fending off Mark Joyce from Forres with 620.6. Bill Hamilton of Balerno & Currie came third with 600.8.
"It was a return to my old form," said Bruce McIntosh. "I don't think I've shot a match like that in three years. Only a couple of stray shots, in the middle of the match, kept me below the 540 mark.
"The Olympic-style final brings on slightly different pressures, with each shot value being called out, and an awareness that there's an audience watching. I enjoy shooting in finals, and have shot some pretty good ones in the past, but it's been a while since I went into a final in the lead, so thoughts of winning began to intrude towards the end, and I had to work quite hard to retain focus on my technique. A good day out!"
"The results really speak for themselves," said Jim McIntosh. "There was some good shooting and efforts by all who took part. Once more the pistol shooters, by the numbers who turned up, saved the day,as the rifle numbers would not have made the event worthwhile."
All the scores are available here and the next stop on the Grand Prix circuit is Carlisle on Sunday 7 February.
Watsonian Rifle Club are hosting their annual Open Meeting shortly. Not only is this a new time of year to hold this popular competition which draws competitors from all over Scotland, but the format has changed to a two-day event on the 6th and 7th February 2010. The open consists of 60 shots at 25 yards shot in ten-minute timed details. There are 5 classes A-E with additional prizes for Under 21, Under 18 and Under 15's, there are also Veterans, Ladies and Team competitions.
The Bun Room will be well stocked to keep your strength up...
Entry forms are available from beverleyburnside@hotmail.com.The first few rounds of scores for 2009/2010 have just come in and can now be found in Domestic Results
The Scotland team has been announced for the InterShoot annual international match to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands from 4-6 February:
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First staged in 1977, the three-day ISSF-style competition provides an ideal training environment for air rifle and pistol shooters.
Sinclair Bruce has the coaching reins as Scotland travel to Dortmund for the 25th ISAS (International Season Start for Sport Shooters) match from 16-22 March:
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The heat is on for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 – already. Looking beyond the headline acts of those shooters who are training hard with this ultimate goal on the horizon, there are a great number of types of supporting role to be filled including judges, recorders, technical officials and event managers without whom the shooting events will simply not work – and the SSRA is keen to enlist your help in recruiting and preparing those key people.
You won't get a medal but you could lend your experience to ensure that the Games go smoothly and the sense of satisfaction in doing that will be as good as a podium place. It is hugely important that the shooting events within the Games demonstrates a professionalism and dedication to getting it right that goes beyond the competitors - how the events are staged will have a significant bearing on the perception of whether this nation can stage future international events as well as help promote and nurture the sport on these shores. According to SSRA Council member Jim McIntosh, the Games organisers would like Scotland, as the host nation, to provide more than 50 per cent of all officials. It may be four years until the event but that time will be required to prepare personnel. Based on the model of the 2002 Games in Manchester, in excess of 127 officials may be required for the categories of Juries, Appeal, Full Bore, ISSF, Pistol, Shotgun and Classification. At this moment McIntosh admits he only knows of two residents in Scotland with current qualifications which he believes would enable them to participate.
Jim has kicked things off by getting the ISSF to agree to provisionally agree to run an ISSF Judges qualifying course in Scotland – provided sufficient numbers can be found to attend it. This would be a weekend course with date and location arranged depending on the level of interest. There is a wide range of categories of officials needed for Glasgow, so get in touch with Jim at jim@mack25.freeserve.co.uk for more information.
Perhaps you already have a level of experience in ministering over shooting events, or perhaps you would like to step up to the plate and gain it. Either way, your help and enthusiasm will be needed. If you would like to make a note of your interest in applying for a judging course visit British Shooting and open a Judges Licence application form, which can be filled in and submitted online.
Colin Watson has taken over the task of keeping ssra.co.uk up to date and he knows he has a hard act to to follow....
"This will be something of a new experience for me as I am more used to running a busy daily newspaper sports section so I hope visitors to ssra.co.uk will bear with me.
In addition to news coverage of what will be a busy year for small bore target shooters, I welcome any suggestions for articles and, as many members already know, their help in crafting accurate reports and providing insight into the sport recently has been crucial. I am hopeful we can continue that in the months ahead with more reports - from Dortmund to Denwood and Delhi.
The more information you can provide the better and it is my intention to continue the work of promoting this site as a reliable resource for anyone seeking information on our sport.
Donald McIntosh has now stepped away from running this site after ten years of sterling work but his continued advice and experience will help me through the transitional period.
"I have been involved in publishing since 1984 and have worked across a wide spectrum of the industry, from television, radio and comic scriptwriting, theatre, book writing to syndication and newspaper production. I hope I can bring the same level of professional enthusiasm to ssra.co.uk and intend to use all the technology available to us to promote target shooting and those who take part in it. You will find me on facebook as well as stirton.com and messages are welcome."
It is our policy to correct errors and omissions as soon as they are reported and published material will be updated promptly where necessary.
Colin Watson is a member of Balerno & Currie Rifle Club and Alloa & District as well as a member of Fife Centrefire full bore club.