Saturday 28th July – Lucky at last
Overnight, the heavens opened – it seemed the British summer had finally arrived! Thunder and heavy rain in the early hours made way for a sunny morning with passing cloud and a fresh, fast, wind from the left – enough to help dry one’s camping gear in the morning, but also to cause one or two problems as Stickledown Range became the stage for the closing chapter of the 2018 Imperial Meeting.
The St. George’s Final is usually, notoriously, a calm 8:30 detail with no chance for anyone not carrying through a 75 to win; however today it was anything but. A bracket of 9-13 minutes of wind [or 8-11, depending on where you were) at 900x challenged the shooter to find the middle amid buffeting and changeable light conditions across the range. After 45 minutes of frenetic competition, it was Rick Shouler’s combined 600x and 900x score that took first place by a clear 6v margin (148.21), chased by Brooking (2nd, 148.15) and Nice (3rd, 148.13), who has had a good Meeting.
In the Mackinnon, England took a 17 point lead at 900 yards over their nearest rivals, Ireland, in increasingly complex conditions. As each team finished, it had wait in limbo until they all had done so, at which point the captains got together and found out where in the match they stood and thus what targets they would be on at 1000 yards. Then followed a frenetic rush to be ready on the right firing points, with the leaders in the middle and the others fanning out on either side. The delay is one downside of that system; the other is that, for some teams, it exacerbates any disadvantage from the first range by placing some teams in a similar position on the range to the one they had started (badly) in. Simpler, and fairer, would be to have the far left team move to the far right and vice versa for all the other positions on the range. Maybe next year for that? Anyway, despite a late challenge from Wales, who top scored at 1000x, the English lead proved ultimately insurmountable: England finished ahead with 1085.74, followed by Wales (2nd, 1070.73) and Ireland (3rd, 1065.66). Even the best of thise scores was more than 100 points below the recors, giving an indication of the difficulty if the conditions, in which the wind ranged from 4 to 16 left. Eek!
Meanwhile, in the Universities Long Range, Exeter University topped a field of eight to beat Cambridge into second and Southampton into third.
The Parting Shot on Century at 500x saw Scoregasm dominate with an eight point victory, followed in second by Gresham’s Rifle Club, who taught the Old Greshamian Rifle Establishment a trick or two by pushing them into third!
The afternoon heralded the final stage of Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize, the coveted blue riband event of the meeting. In the most challenging 900x in the Queen’s final of recent memory, a 10 minute wind call was often shy; a 15 minute wind call “reasonable”! With notably low scores across the board, Ant Ringer capitalised with a 71.2 to put in the highest score at 900x, though Corbett was left in the lead with an aggregate of 218 points with Patel and Luckman hot on his heels, both one point behind, on 217.
At 1000x, the conditions were equally unforgiving. Range zero, famed for being more sheltered from blistering winds on Stickledown’s more temperamental days, required shooters to use around 16 minutes of wind, though the bracket fluctuated significantly around that point and an outer was not an uncommon sight across the targets. Quoting one esteemed shooter, it would have been easier to find the V Bull with a random number generator on the sights than by looking at the flags!
Australian Mark Buchanan, the top scorer at 1000x with 69.6, was unable to find the lead and finished in fourth. A late surge from Matt Button left him and Parag Patel tying for second place on 280.25, delighting eager spectators with a nail biting tie shoot to finish. As crowds looked on at targets 32 and 33, the suspense rose. Three shots in and both were equal, Button clawing back Patel’s early lead. Five shots down and the tie shoot complete, it was Button that had won the Silver Badge with a 20.1, versus Patel’s 19.1.
Gary Player once famously remarked “the more I practice, the luckier I get” and it is no coincidence that off the back of years of hard work and perseverance, David Luckman was able to claim an historic victory in the toughest of conditions. Holding out at 1000x, Luckman put in a 64.3 to surpass Corbett’s earlier lead and win Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize with a score of 281.29, adding to his success earlier this year with a Gold Medal in the Commonwealth Games. Congratulations David! This must be one of the most richly deserved victories ever.
As is tradition, Luckman took his place in the winner’s chair by target 50, and was carried off the range by close friends and family (including Andy Luckman GM) and was cheered by the delighted crowds. Prize giving wrapped up the meeting and, while the competitive proceedings may be concluded, we are assured that the celebrations most definitely are not!
Imperial Meeting 2018, message 10, with compliments.
Friday 27th July – a close shave
After a cooler night, Friday morning was warm enough to force out of bed quite a number of people who had no good reason to be up, resulting in Bisleyites running into each other at the laundromat or over breakfast in Woking. There were some who had every reason to be out and about on the range however – those involved in the Vizianagram, Musketeers, Chancellors, Under 25 and Kolapore matches.
In hot conditions with fickle winds coming mostly over the left shoulder but with occasional flicks in the other direction, Southampton University won the Musketeers with 574.52 from Exeter on 572.51. In the big varsity match of the day, Cambridge won the Chancellors with a decent 1155.116 points but an indecent margin from Oxford. The Lords and Commons did battle again in the Vizianagram; I think the Commons won with the higher average score, but the Lords did have more team members…
The excitement, however, was in the Kolapore Match, which is a rarity. Charles Brooks had selected an extremely strong Great Britain team; but others had noted at the BCRC reception that the Canadians had brought a strong squad. And so it proved; after 300 yards, Canada led by four points, having dropped only six. GB had dropped a surprising ten points, which led to a less than enjoyable morning – for the most part – for their Captain. He expressed his disappointment to the team, required an improvement, and got it… to an extent. GB pulled back two points on Canada at 500, leaving them still two behind going into 600 yards. Then a three point favourable margin at the last distance led to a nail biting single point win for Great Britain, on 1179.130. Canada scored 1178.98 and Australia 1165.107. Kenya, Germany and each of the big Channel Islands also took part. GB’s top score was 149.21 by David Luckman, by a V-bull from Parag Patel. Kelvin Ramsey and Paul Sykes acquitted themselves well as new caps, with the latter completing his Big Five.
Normandy won the Junior Kolapore with 559.46 from the West Indies on 554.42. This is a great match for countries or regions that bring over groups of shooters but cannot get a full team of eight together – I would encourage lots of them to consider coming over next year for the 150th Imperial.
The Chairman’s Prize was held over the hill at the same time as those team matches on Century, with a disappointing number of competitors turning out for the Final, possibly because of the heat that appeared also to have deprived the bars of a lot of business the previous evening. The winner of O Class was Cdt T.Little from Gresham’s with 143.13; the T Class champion was B.Digby (Tugela Commando Club) with 143.6.
Queen’s II was less challenging than last year but still presented its difficulties, not least for those affected by heat – it involved three consecutive shoots on Century with some long walks in between for some – and for those drawn in Magpie Alley, which very much lived up to its name; multiple magpies were scored by all members of your correspondent’s target at 300 yards, whether to wind or elevation! Goodness knows what happened further back. Lots of competitors at 600 yards increased their rate of fire as the rumbles indicated approaching thunder, and a couple of flashes of lightning lit up the sky. Perhaps their extra haste was for self-preservation purposes; or maybe they thought they might qualify by virtue of having fired more shots in the event of a halt being called! Shooting continued though, and there was only one 150 scored, with 13 Vs by Simon Whitby (Hopton Supper Club). Paul Sykes (Bedfordians) and David Luckman (Sedgemoor) led the list of five 149s. The cut-off was 144.18, the only 144 to qualify for the Final (Keith Pugh).
There were three tie shoots today: for Queen’s I (won by Jim Paton with 25.4), the Prince of Wales (Chloe Evans 25.5) and the Lovell (Jamie Allum 25.3). Presumably the Marjorie Keir Agg will be settled by a duel, as there are no more 600 yard shoots that the joint winners can shoot off in – David Luckman and Paul Sykes on 259.35.
The day ended with a change in conditions for the Donaldson Memorial Final. Rain(! In England in the summer!) was forecast for the start time of 6pm, which caused some competitors not to turn out, but most of those who had qualified were there and enjoyed only a few droplets. Jon Underwood finished third on 74.11, Kelvin Ramsey (the last person to settle onto the firing point, who was watching the flags throughout his descent) second on 75.9, and the winning score of 75.10 was made by someone who hadn’t filled his name in on the scorecard. His index number was 667 – we think it was JP Nice of the Army.
Talking of the Army, their cocktail evening is tonight so there have been lots of black tie outfits wafting around camp and the usual road block so that the band may have somewhere to play. That’s not the only nocturnal fun going on; I get the impression some of the schoolchildren whose wet tops suggest they have been crawling in the grass, may be heading out to Century to make some acquisitions. Which reminds me, I have been informed of a lead on where peg 69 from 600 yards may be found if anyone from the NRA is interested…
Thursday 26th July – PoW, National and George’s II.
Bisley never fails to deliver drama in the Grand Aggregate, be it the battle for the top, the in/out of placing on the top 50 board or the number of places one can move up or down based on one shoot further down the listings. To have GC leaders tied on gun score going into their last shoot and to see a changing warm wind at 600 yards almost guaranteed an exciting finish today. Conditions for the Prince of Wales started relatively benign but with scope for error as the heat came on. Paton laid down a score of 74.8, opening the door just a fraction to Walker and Corbett. The Australian contender worked well to find 75.7, putting him in GC position by two vees. Sandy Walker had the difficult position of knowing he needed 75 points to win and also facing a tough detail – one whose heat frankly had your correspondent coming out in the shajes. Sandy shot very well but his 14th caught an inner on a wind change and he finished third. The top 50 shooters went down to 27 off, a rare low score.
The afternoon brought team shoots including the National Match, the Overseas, the Junior Overseas and the AG Bell. Conditions were not conducive to record scores and all teams across the ranges were tested right from 300 yards back to 500 and 600. The National Match showed potential for upset when word on the range was that all the Celtic nations led England after 500 yards. England had a weak 500 compared to Ireland, and to Scotland, who led by four after that range, but at 600 it was clear that words had been said and a strong finish in very tricky wind secured England the match. Wales fell last by a point to Scotland and Ireland were unable to hold off England’s 2023.201.
Top individuals in the National aim to receive the Hossack Salver. England had the top three scores in the match (Paul Wheeler 104.14, Lauren Crowson 105.13 and top gun Tom Drysdale 105.15).
The Overseas was won with 1212.125 from Guernsey on 1198.101, the Junior Overseas fell to the West Indies with 391.25 to BDMP Germany’s 389.33. And the UK Cadets won the AG Bell from the Canadians, ahead of a smaller but very welcome South African contingent.
The George’s II was a surprising affair with the combination of some busy wind changes (albeit not too dramatic in scale) paired with tired shooters. Top performances (150s) came from J Underwood (17v), C Kiptarus of Kenya (18v), J Taylor (19v), GR Jeal (20v) and finally a man continuing a great streak J Corbett (21v). There was a tie for the last two places at 146.17 between Andy Daw, Matt Millar, Christopher Crabtree, Jeremy Thompson and Simon Whitby. The tie saw a strong wind from the left throughout and dying light but, in the end, Millar took the penultimate place with 25.4, and young Irishman Crabtree A-classed himself with a 24.3.
Many aggregates finish today along with team concurrents and if the local electricity board don’t cut off camp on account of overloaded transformers (the vast supply of fans running to keep camp cool) then full details will be online shortly.
With there being no Dewdrop tonight in memory of John Chapman, camp was rather quiet for the most part. The weather has been taking its toll!
Photos show the final Grand leader board, the St. George’s progress board, and Cadet P. Wilkinson of RGS Guildford, who won the Cadet Imperial.
Wednesday 25th July – Lovell it or hate it?
A number of shooters will have had trouble focusing their scopes this morning after last night dozens of lenses were aimed skyward on the 1000yd firing point for an impromptu Sky At Night ‘live’. Directed by Bob Sampson, the otherwise suspicious gathering was guided brilliantly with a wealth of astrological information as they observed Saturn’s rings, three visible moons of Jupiter, the setting of Venus and rising of Mars as well as a fly by from the ISS and a shimmery view info the Andromeda galaxy. Come the morning, some adjustment of focal length would have been needed.
Today, proceedings opened at the earlier than advertised time of 08:15 for the Lovell, and 08:00 for the Queen’s Prize. Hopefully not too many shooters were caught out by the oversight in detail times. Those shooting the Lovell at the now earlier hour will likely have jumped at the opportunity to have an ‘easier’ go at this additional 1000yd shoot in the Grand. While many will bemoan the inclusion of more long range shoots as it causes them to ‘lose points’, one must be as objective with this as one would be with any proposed change to targetry; excellence will out and it would be hard to argue that it doesn’t make things fairer. On the plus side, the Lovell offers a fresh supply of “how was your shoot” yarn to be spun at a clubhouse bar near you.
This year’s Queen’s saw some 800 competitors battle it out at 300/500/600yds to progress in the heat towards the second stage. Aside from the conditions of the day (which were at times very challenging), Queens day offers an added opportunity for error purely because ‘it’s Queens!’. Each firer sweated it out throughout the day and many will be sweating it out tonight as they await the announcement of the cut after the ‘Umbrella Tent’ meeting. Behind-point chatter was of a 101 cut, though with a more settled set of details in the evening, perhaps a 102 cut may be more realistic. A glance back through previous years’ results reminds us that 103 is really very rare but 102 is the normal outcome. 101s do happen but we are unlikely to have had a day like 2005’s 99.5 cut! In the end, 101.8 finishing 33.4 was enough to earn a Friday afternoon of fun for the top 300 in Queens II. The Bronze Badge was put to a tie on 105.17 between a back on form Jim Paton, Canadian Cadet JC Voyer (who clearly saw the wind well) and previous winner Lauren Crowson.
Today’s Lovell saw only twelve scores of 50 and only twenty seven scores of 49 so the going was tough. Top of the pile was Paul Wheeler (Old Guildfordian RC), tying with J Allum (North London RC) on 50.7. In the tie shoots today, 18 year old Alfie Hellings of RGS Guildford beat Steve Thomas 25.4 to 25.1 for the Wimbledon TR.
Other aggregates concluding today were the Admiral Campbell (N Healey – ATSC), the Amazons (EJ Nuttall – ATSC), the Donaldson (JC Underwood – Old Guildfordians), the Elkington (WCP Richards – Gunroom Lizards), the Faunthorpe (M Horsnell – Australia), the Five Hundred Yards Agg (J Paton – DCRA), the Gunmakers Agg (made up of the Lovell and Corporation), the Loder (HJ Golaszewski – Welsh RA), the New Zealand (J Paton – DCRA), the Queens Veterans (GE Cann – Exonia & Tiverton), the OTF Short Range (J Paton – DCRA), the Palma Aggregate (ANR Walker – Old Framlinghamians) the Short Range Agg (JRW Postle – Old Epsomians), the Stickledown Range Agg (RHG Riley – ATSC), the Sudan (JP Bailey – Australia), and finally the Volunteer Force (HJ Golaszewski – Welsh RA).
Tomorrow the Grand will close with the Prince of Wales at 600yds. It’s tight at the top but will Paton’s 18 V-bull lead be enough to see off contention from a close and hungry pack of GC contenders led by Sandy Walker?
And in the afternoon, will the English National team be able to hold off the rapacious hordes from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, who have all won since 2000…?
Tuesday 24th July – for Surrey and St. George
Unsurprisingly, the weather today remained predictable, as has been somewhat characteristic of summer 2018: sunny with occasional overcast patches and challenging wind conditions to stretch the coach and shooter. Predictable unpredictability, other than the sunshine and heat…
While previous days of the meeting have focused primarily on individual shooting, today there was a single shoot in the Grand Aggregate, followed by an afternoon dedicated to team competitions. The individual front, however, still provided an abundance of entertainment.
St. George’s provided tricky wind conditions, combined with brutal heat and variable wind from the left, with an environment sufficiently changeable to catch out the unwary.
Kelvin Ramsey (OERC) excelled with a 75.14 to take joint first place with Jim Corbett (City/Aus), and a victory in the Gurkha Appeal. As others fell foul of the tricky conditions, there were many tales of woe in the clubhouses around camp during the middle of the morning. The outcome was a Grand Aggregate leaderboard with five points separating the first 10 places (Paton remaining in first on 518.71, though with his lead cut from six points to one) and a notably lowish St. George’s cut of 72.9.
With St. George’s finished, Century range made way for further entertainment with tie shoots for the Times and Daily Mail. In the Mail at 500x, Jeffery put in a formidable score of 25.4 to beat David Armstrong for the trophy. In the Times at 300x, it was ultimately Alice Southall who prevailed from a pack of eight, defeating William Broad in his title defence during a sudden death round.
The afternoon was given over to the team shooting events, with about 30 different teams competing across a variety of competitions. In the Inter-Services, the Army were victorious against the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, while in the Counties matches, Surrey prevailed in both the Long (beating Sussex into second and Notts third) and the Short (defeating Hertfordshire with Norfolk third) to take the Victor Ludorum.
Tomorrow we welcome the addition of the Lovell at 1000x to the Grand Aggregate, as well as the usual Queen’s I. As ever here at Bisley, the clubhouse pavilions remain a constant but the scoreboards change; further challenges beckon.
Monday 23rd July – feeling hot, hot, hot!
Monday dawned and it was clearly destined to be a beautiful day. Indeed, there was a Met Office amber health warning telling Britons to stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm. So, naturally, the denizens of Bisley go out at those times to lie in a field for 45 minutes at a time in a leather jacket, hat, ear defenders etc. Today they would do so for the Times at 300 yards, the Wimbledon TR at 600 yards and what has often been known as a Grand-killer, the Corporation at 1000 yards. This year, of course, it is not the only 1000 yards shoot, with the Lovell having been added to Wednesday’s schedule to replace the Conan Doyle, which has already been shot on Saturday.
Your correspondent was on the first detail of the Times at 300
yards at 08:30, which might normally be expected to be cool and calm… but it was already getting fairly hot. For some reason we are all squadded from ranges 14 onwards, i.e. towards the right hand side, which means more walking in the sun for those not using car or golf buggy to get around camp. The 8:30 detail was followed, for many of us, by a 10am Corporation, meaning a long walk from the right hand side of Century all the way up to Stickledown straight from one shoot to another.
And the early indication, confirmed by our detail and the ones after it, was that the ‘Corp’ was living up (down?) to its reputation, with magpies galore and lots of scores in the low 40s and below. One Jersey shooter, realising that he might have missed a wind change, prayed while the target was down for it not to be a magpie. “Please don’t be a magpie, please don’t be a magpie.” He got his wish – a hit, scoring 1! Your correspondent was one of many who were well and truly ‘corped’ in winds that shifted between about 3 and 11 left.
The afternoon brought the Wimbledon TR at 600 yards, which followed today’s pattern of hot, sweltering weather and fast wind changes. Members of the GB Palma Team, along with the Veterans and Under 25s/21s, consider the current conditions, with their quick and frequent wind changes and sweaty weather, to be excellent training for the World Long Range Championship in New Zealand next year. For some of them, it’s a timely wake-up call! You needed to be on the ball today, and to try and shoot tight as well as read the wind well. Some people are better at one of those, some are better at the other, some struggle with both when on their own, and then there are those who put it all together quite nicely.
Among those people are the two who have to tie shoot for yesterday’s Daily Mail: David Armstrong (Old Guildfordians) and Jim Jeffrey (Lyndhurst RC, Australia) both scored 75.13, ahead of half a dozen 75.12s.
In the Times today, there were sixty-two scores of 50 on the list, with eight of them going through to the tie-shoot with 50.9: Don Pitcairn (Canada), Will Broad (OERC), Jim Jeffrey (Lyndhurst), Jack Alexander (Dungannon), Chris Haley (OCRA), Alice Southall (again! – Rolls Royce Derby), Jonny Ahrens (Peninsula RC in SA) and Judy Scott Langley (LMRA).
In the Wimbledon, there were only 17 possibles scored, much fewer than in previous years, which helps reinforce the view that it was extremely difficult – there were recent Commonwealth Games medallists scoring in the mid-40s.
The three who will be tie-shooting later in the week are Steve Thomas (Central Bankers), Jim Paton (Canada) and Alfie Hellings, a schoolboy Tyro from RGS Guildford.
And in the all-important Corporation, only five people scored ‘possibles’ – Messrs Riley (ATSC), Golaszewski (Welsh RA), Woodger and Compton (both of Lancing College), but the winner was Jim Paton of Canada on 50.8.
The aggregates completed today were the Monday Aggregate (won by Jim Paton on 149.20 from Ollie Spencer and Bruce Logan), the Stock Exchange Agg (won by returning shot Paul Sykes with 175.21 from David Armstrong of OGRC, Ollie Spencer of Manchester RC and Bruce Logan of Wandsworth on 174.25, the Howcroft Newspaper Agg (won by Don Thompson of Natives RC, Australia, with 200.30 from the only other shooters to go ‘clean’ Will Broad and Bruce Logan) and the Young Rifleman’s Agg (won by Alfie Hellings of RGS Guildford on 173.20 from LCpl Keates of ATSC on 172.21 and Sam Cherry of RGS Guildford on 172.20). The Brigadier Aggregate, composed of the first three long range competitions, was won by the only clean score, 150.21 by Jon Underwood, from Jane Messer (NLRC) and Sandy Walker (Old Framlinghamians).
And in the Grand so far, Jim Paton’s great shooting today means he now leads by six whole points, on two off! He is on 448.62, with the rest of the top ten comprising Bruce Logan (442.54), Sandy Walker (442.51), Chris Haley (442.46), Jim Corbett (440.61), Paul Sykes (440.49), Matt Millar (440.48), Oli Russell (439.59), Tom Drysdale (435.45) and Matt Button (439.42). The board, amazingly, goes down to 17 off already.
Sunday 22nd July – phew…?
Sunday started off a bit cooler, with rather more cloud cover than there has been most of the time so far. It was still a bit sweaty on the range though, and that increased through the day.
Order of proceedings for today was the Alexandra at 600 yards, the Duke of Cambridge at 900 yards and the Daily Mail, another of those annoying 15 shot matches at 500 yards! Not everyone gets to start with the Alexandra though – many of us opened today’s account with the Duke of Cambridge such that most of our Grand so far had been shot at that distance.
Over the hill (i.e. on Stickledown), there seemed to be a bit of a disconnect between the amount of wind needed and the amount that could be seen on mirage and flags; but at least that disconnect was broadly constant, so it was possible to work out how much to use. Later it became harder at times, such that yesterday’s leader of the Grand, who dropped one point at short range today, gave up six more in the DoC.
He must have been shooting at a similar time to your correspondent’s Alexandra detail at 600 yards – that may have been fairly simple early on, but by late morning it was fairly fiendish, with changes occurring quickly enough that even a good number of decent shots were hit with magpies (3 out of 5 – not an ideal occurrence!).
Well done to Jeremy Thompson (Central Bankers) who won the Alexandra with the only perfect score of 50.10, from Tim Kidner (West Atholl), Nigel Cole-Hawkins (NLRC) and Jim Corbett (City RC’s Australian) who all scored 50.9.
The Alexandra brought to a close the Clementi Smith Aggregate, which was a triumph for this year’s GB team to Canada, with its captain John Warburton (Huddersfield) winning on 174.26 from team-mate Simon Osmond (Manchester) on 174.25 and Steve Thomas(Central Bankers) also on 174.25.
This afternoon brought the Daily Mail at 500 yards – another fifteen round shoot that offered the potential for hot sweatiness, but luckily conditions were not quite as toasty as on previous days so its effects were reduced, although there were other things going on… I wonder if they are the reason that the Mail results are not on the board this evening? They are, however, included in the various aggregates.
The Duke of Cambridge was won by Alex Hunter(NLRC)’s excellent 50.9, from Parag Patel (Old Epsomians), Danny Coleman (Surrey) and Kelvin Ramsey (Old Epsomians), all on 50.8.
The Sunday Aggregate was won by David Armstrong (Old Guildfordians) on 174.26, ahead of Jim Paton (Canada) and Sandy Walker (Old Framlinghamians) on 174.24. Hopefully that will compensate David for not having won the Century the other day after all – David Luckman (Sedgmoor) had scored 100.18.
The Weekend Aggregate went to Jim Paton on 348.49, ahead of David Armstrong 348.44 and Sandy Walker 347.43.
And the leading scores in the Grand Aggregate so far are those of Jim Paton, only 1 off on 299.42, followed by David Armstrong on 298.39, and Jim Corbett, Sandy Walker and Chris Weeden (NLRC), all on 3 off. Special mention for Jason Pepera-Hibbert’s excellent showing in 6th! The board (top 50) goes down to the highest scores of 8 off.
Saturday 21st July – Grand gets underway at long range
The Grand Aggregate starts today, but first a final warm-up at 300 yards – the Donegall. Even on the early details it was obvious that today was returning to sweltering heat. The mirage flicked around a little but wasn’t as challenging as it might have been; nevertheless there were no 50.10s. The nine people who dealt best with the conditions all scored 50.9 and will tie-shoot for the competition: Messrs Hallows, Brooking, Cann (G), Warburton, De Voil, Wong Shui, Kitson, Bullock (T) and Miss Southall (A).
The last warm-up shoot brought to an end the Tucker Aggregate, which was won by David Luckman with the only score of 200 (with 31 V-bulls). Second was Sandy Walker (Old Framlinghamians) on 199.19, ahead of a bunch on 198.
Then onto the Grand. Traditionally this has started with the Daily Telegraph, but for the first time today at least half the competitors began their Grand at 900 yards in the Conan Doyle. Conditions varied throughout the day and there were some details where watching flags exclusively led people to score outers and magpies; in others it was a little simpler. There were more than fifty 50s on the prize list, and there will be a tie-shoot by the two scorers of 50.10: Jon Kent (Old Epsomians) and Peter Chance (Club 25). One of those in joint third place was Cadet Voyer of the Canadian Cadets!
The Daily Telegraph was a sticky affair, with light albeit changeable wind and a rather high temperature. Some coped better than others – certainly better than I did! – and there were 42 scores of 75 on the board. The best of them was the only 75.15 by Kelvin Ramsey (Old Epsomians), beating Matthew Button (Old Oakhamians) on 75.14.
Kelvin’s performance also brought him a win in the Saturday Aggregate with 175.25, three V-bulls clear of Bruce Logan (Wandsworth). There was a 175.29 scored by a non-entrant (false economy!) who was also third in the Telegraph on 75.13 and, by virtue of his 50.9 in the Conan Doyle, was now leading the Grand. Modestly he declared that he was blessed on his Conan Doyle detail having witnessed some carnage in the previous one. But to lead the Grand, you have to be shooting very well – well done so far Oli Russell (Old Guildfordians)! He leads a group of 15 people who remain ‘clean’ after the first two shoots, with Jim Corbett (Australia), Jim Paton (Canada), Nigel Cole-Hawkins and Matthew Button filling out the top five.
Thankfully the evening has brought much cooler weather, but we can look forward to another hot day tomorrow and, according to the forecast, throughout the rest of the week. This evening brings various events for competitors, including the British Commonwealth RC’s reception for the overseas competitors, which is already well underway. Must get over there!
TR blog: Friday 20th July
As ever, First Friday saw the departure of many occasional shooters but the arrival of more of those intending to shoot the entire Grand Aggregate. For many it was a relaxed start to the day, but those involved in the Astor, United Hospitals and the junior (Cadet and Under 25) national matches, it was an 8 o’clock start on the range.
The Astor Final was closely fought once again, although there was a whole three point margin of victory this time. Old Epsomians, who had come through a tough Surrey heat to make the Final, started strongest at 300 yards but fell away at 600. The top two teams were consistent throughout the ranges, with Manydown’s 620.88 well beaten by Comber RC’s 623.71 – a rare victory for them in what amounts to the UK clubs championship, and one which they wholeheartedly celebrated.
At the same time, the Cadet National took place, won by the Channel Islands cadets with 814.89, and the Under 25 Home Countries Invitation Match was won by the England U25s with 619.76. The Scots didn’t drop a point, though…
… and in the day’s big grudge match, only five points separated four high quality performances. Frimley Health’s 415.54 triumphed in the United Hospitals over Guy’s, University College Hospital and Imperial Medics.
The afternoon and evening saw the start of the warm-up (as in preliminary – the weather was actually cooler today) individual shoots, reduced by one range this year because of the addition of an extra long range shoot into the Grand Aggregate. First up at short range was the Century, shot at 600 and then 500 yards. A total of 11 people managed to score possibles at both ranges and thus 100 overall. The best of them was by someone who had warily entered the Imperial because of recent back issues, but comfortably proved how well his works while lying on his front: David Armstrong (Old Guildfordians), the winner on 100.17 ahead of Don Pitcairn (Canada), David Luckman (Sedgmoor) and Ian Shaw (Old Epsomians) two V-bulls behind.
Simultaneously, competitors fired their sole long range warm-up, the Admiral Hutton at 900 yards. On a warmish evening that led to a cooler night, the angle of wind varied frequently and quite quickly. All very readable but you wouldn’t want to stay on aim for too long… There were 35 scores of 50 on the prize list, with the best ones being 50.9s by Guy Palmer (Wandsworth) and Jon Underwood (Old Guildfordians) who will tie-shoot for the trophy.
Finally, for those whose detail times allowed, there was a fond farewell at the Macdonald Stewart Pavilion for the late Jim Thompson, of Cambridge University and Canada (where he wrote excellent daily updates during the CFRC), with a good gathering of friends and family in attendance before a final adieu on Stickledown (see picture).
This correspondent has no doubt that the first “full” day of the meeting for many was greatly enjoyed by many in the clubhouses in the evening, but he was baby-minding (and asleep, under the weather, hence the late blog publication) while his wife was out for a team dinner, so he didn’t witness it!
TR Blog: Thursday 19th July
The TR Imperial is upon us once again – that time of year when we get to hang out with hundreds of our best friends without having to arrange for them all to be there. We have to do a bit of shooting too, but that’s just some extra shared fun.
Fun is normally the name of the game for the first of the TR team matches, the Opening Shot, for teams of four firing fifteen shots each at 900 and 1000 yards. Teams are limited to no more than two X Class shots, which doesn’t deter the likes of the Australian national team (recent winners) from entering. Winds were fairly light, but with movement interesting enough to keep the coaches busy/entertained at both ranges but particularly in the latter part of 1000 yards. There was a big field this year of 21 teams (22 if you counted the Palma target team shooting alongside with too many Xs and dropping just 6 points). Top of the pile were Army Green on 589.77, edging out Hogleasylikesundaymorningon 589.69.
The afternoon brought the conclusion of the schools shooting and, alongside, the Final of the KG V, which was won again by Surrey with a score of 1193.163. Simultaneously lots of shooters were out to support their old school teams. Although numbers of shooters per school were apparently down, there was still an impressive number of schools competing and occupying most of Century Range. Congratulations to Sedbergh School on winning the Kolapore with a score of 761.47 from Victoria College on 756.52 and Gresham’s on 753.44. Oops, did I say Kolapore? It was of course the Ashburton that they had won – the culmination of a good year’s development – but I hope some of the cadets got photos of their prize list on the board while it said Kolapore!
As always, that match was followed by the Schools Veterans at 500 yards, which allows old schoolfriends to get together and compete, whether they are regular shooters or not. There are competitions for B and C teams to reward those schools that manage to get lots of shooters out. In a very close competition this year, OGRE’s 250.40 beat the Troubleshooters by a single ‘V’ to win the ‘A’ competition, Old Epsomians B’s 249.32 beat Old Guildfordians B by a point, and Old Guildfordians C’s 246.27 won the C teams competition by 4, leading to an excellent Old Guildfordian total of 743.94 which won the Schools Veterans Aggregate by seven points.
After the shooting, lots of school ‘old boy’ clubs held their AGMs and barbecues and reacquainted themselves in various establishments on camp. Welcome home, everyone!
