|
Latest News
Results from SSRA 3P Grand Prix 1 and Prone Grand Prix 1 are now available on the Domestic Results page.
The SSRA is delighted to announce that RWS will continue to provide ammunition as prizes for the SSRA Grand Prix series as well as air weapon events for another year. Managing Director of RUAG Ammotec UK Ltd. Phil Unwin is also keen to enhance the relationship with Scottish target shooting and suggestions are welcome. Drop the SSRA webmaster a line with any thoughts.
Matthew Thomson won a bronze in the men's prone final at the ISCH in Hannover with a score of 104.2 to follow his 595 in qualification. And he moved up one step on the podium when the GB Men's Team took the silver in the Prone event along with James Huckle and Neil Stirton. In the Women's 3P Jen McIntosh scored 573, ahead of Jenny Corish on 561 and Sheree Cox with 556. Earlier in the competition, McIntosh also landed a bronze medal in the GB Women's Air Rifle team event with Jenny Corish and Sheree Cox. Neil Stirton had scored 1148 ex 1200 in the Men's 3P event along with James Huckle.
Entry forms for the Caithness SBRA Open (click here for entry forms 1, 2 and 3.) and SSRA GP3 2012 are now available. "Regulars to the CSBRA Open will know of the exceptional catering that has been offered each year by Elsie and Connie. Unfortunately both Elsie and Connie have retired from the tea tent, and it was with great doubt that they could ever be replaced," commented organiser Marty Simpson. "However, I am delighted to say that Murkle WRI have agreed to cater, and I'm sure that all competitors at Thurdistoft will have great memories (and thickened waists) of the vast delicacies offered." Any queries please contact martysimpson@tiscali.co.uk. Entry forms can also be found at www.csbra.org.uk
Entry forms are now available from organiser Willie McAulay for June's Triple Dewar competition at the Tullygarth range on 16-17 June. Drop him an email for more information on this event and for a form.
Scotland's team at the Grand Prix of Liberation in Pilsen
have had to contend with more than just the elements and their rivals. Both
Sheena Sharp and James Paterson found themselves without rifles after some of
their equipment failed to arrive by air in the Czech Republic.
When this failed to happen, he contacted the NSRA's
competition department and was informed that everything was in the post. "I gave
it another week then emailed the NSRA and was told that as in past years the
league had started earlier and earlier they have now brought it back in line
with previous years," revealed an exasperated McAulay."I had a go at them and
suggested that the NSRA, due to staff shortages, could not keep up to date with
their programme of events."
The long-awaited review of the events schedule for Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014 has, as expected, led to the expansion of the shooting programme. Women's Prone is back on the events listing, allowing the likes of Kay Copland and Jennifer McIntosh to take part in the event which brought Scotland so much success in Delhi in 2010. Speaking on http://www.cgcs.org.uk, McIntosh said: “This is fantastic news. I was really disappointed when I heard that the women’s prone event might be removed from the programme and with it the chance to defend my title at a home Games. It is also good news for women’s sport as a whole that consideration is being given to gender equity.” The pairs events will not be restored, but Women's skeet, Women's double trap and Women's 50m Pistol will be introduced to the programme at Barry Buddon near Carnoustie.
The SSRA is running a new 50 metre outdoor competition which can be shot at your home range. It will be run along the same lines as the SSRA 25yd indoor prone league. The competition organiser is council member Willie McAulay (click here to email him for more info). The competition rules will be made available here shortly and if you wish to enter this new and exciting event throughout the summer months, please register your interest with Willie McAulay no later than Monday 7 May .
The ISSF World Cup in London came to a close with a thumbs-up for the temporary ranges at Woolwich Barracks but disappointment that Britain could not land a medal in the small bore and air weapons events. Scotland's Jon Hammond came closest, a blistering 400 ex 400, finishing with a 10.9 shot, in his prone section of the men's 3P event on Saturday. That set him up nicely for a tilt at the final but he fell agonisingly short and supporters in the crowd could only watch as Germany's Maik Eckhardt inexorably closed in on his total of 1165 in the blustery wind and chill (well, it was April) to claim the eighth and last berth in the final by a single point on 1166. The final itself threw up some excitement for silver and bronze but the gold was always in the grasp of Italy's Niccolo Campriani ("the man's a machine", quipped one coach) who won with a score of 1179 +99.2 in the final, ahead of the United States' Matt Emmons on 1173+95.7 for 1268.7. Earlier in the World Cup, Jen McIntosh came up short in her bid to reach the final of the women's 3x20 event, her 565 not proving enough on a day when the gold medal went to Germany's Barbara Engleder with 586 + 100.1 in the final for a total of 686.1, silver to Stephanie Obermoser of Austria with 583 + 102.1 for 685.1 and bronze to Li Du of China with 584 +100.2 for a total of 684.2. Fellow GB team-mates Sheree Cox of England scored 567 and Jenny Corish of Wales 555 in the qualification round. All three Britons had made it out of the elimination phase the day before with McIntosh scoring 568, Corish 576, equalling her personal best, and Cox 575, a new personal best. There had been an earlier disappointment for Hammond and Scotland's hopes in the men's 50m prone rifle event. Hammond scored 591 in the qualifying and finished 11th overall. He therefore missed out on a spot in the final which was won by Sergei Martynov of Belarus, the current world No1. Fellow Scots Neil Stirton and Matthew Thomson had been knocked out in the previous day's elimination, Thomson agonisingly on the countback method after a 591. So the World Cup is over .... but Scotland will hope its athletes will get another chance in London, this time in the Olympics. Meanwhile, a team will travel to Pilzen in the Czech Republic for the Grand Prix of Liberation event. The team will comprise James Paterson, Sheena Sharp, Dave Caughey and Andrew Ozmond.
The annual All Ranges competition at Denwood on 15 April was the curtain-raiser for the forthcoming 2012 SSRA Grand Prix season and was keenly contested by some brave souls who endured wind, rain and near blizzard conditions on the outdoor range and, by comparison, tropical conditions on the indoor range. Ian Henderson Summary of results: Inter Regional Matches: 25 yards: Southern Counties (won on countback); Dewar (Bob Norman Trophy): Highland Club Team: 25 Yards: Larbert; Dewar: Clachnacuddin; Aggregate: Clachnacuddin Handicap Pairs: 25 Yards: Cole-Hamilton/Stofberg (Bon Accord); Dewar: S Bates/J Henderson (Watten) Aggregate S Bates/J Henderson (Watten) Class A: 25 yards Cole-Hamilton (Bon Accord); Dewar: J Henderson (Watten); Aggregate: J Henderson (Watten) Class B: 25 yards N Macdonald (Bearsden); Dewar: M Bexley (Clachnacuddin); Aggregate: M Bexley (Clachnacuddin) Class C: 25 yards: A Taylor (Strathearn); Dewar: C Seale (Watsonians); Aggregate: C Seale (Watsonians) Womens: S Bates (Watten) U21: J Barron (Bon Accord) U18: D Brown (Selkirk) Veterans: J Cole-Hamilton (Bon Accord) Full results available on the Domestic Results page.
On the first day of events at the ISSF World Cup in London, which double as a test event for this summer's Olympics, Jen McIntosh scored 394 in the Women's Air Rifle event. It was not enough to make the final, however, on a day of fiendish competition in which a play-off was needed to decided the final line-up, with no score less than 397 ex 400 being enough. The event was won by left-handed shooter Sonja Pfeilschifter from Germany who overhauled China's Siling Yi - who had notched a perfect 400 in qualifying - in the last shot. "Nice strong finish," said McIntosh, clearly undeterred. "Could have been better but still, a solid start to the World Cup season."
The NSRA Scottish Meeting will be held in Dumfries this year and the organisers are keen to get as many shooters to attend this event, the biggest held north of the Border. Increased attendance could have a big say on how the event is staged in future years. So if your club intends to send two shooters, why not make it three this year and help spread the word on the extra dimension that is outdoor target shooting? The NSRA now has entry forms available for the 2012 Scottish. It is understood that forms will be bundled with the next issue of the Rifleman and the forms can be found online here.
The final results for the SSRA Team Prone League and Individual Prone League are now available from the Domestic Results page.
The British team for the London World Cup team has been announced with Scots shooters Jon Hammond, Jen McIntosh, Neil Stirton and Matthew Thomson included in the rifle line-up.Full rifle team for ISSF World Cup (London, 17-28 April): 10m Air Rifle Men: Mike Bamsey, James Huckle, Kenny Parr. 50m Rifle Prone Men: Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matt Thomson. 50m Three Positions Men: Jon Hammond, James Huckle, Kenny Parr. 10m Air Rifle Women: Jenny Corish, Sheree Cox, Jen McIntosh. 50m Rifle Three Positions Women: Jenny Corish, Sheree Cox, Jen McIntosh. Coaches: Donald McIntosh, Ken Parr and Sinclair Bruce.
New forms allowing you to enter the All Ranges competition, Scottish ISSF 50m championships and other outdoor events online are now available by clicking here. Spaces are limited for the 50m championship on its new date of 9-10 June so early entry is advised. Entry forms can also be printed off.
ISSF World Cup, London, 19-28 April 2012There are a limited number of tickets available to members of the NSRA. If you would like to apply please email sarah.daly@britishshooting.org.uk by close of play today, Friday 30 March 2012. There is no charge for the tickets.
Results from Round 8 of the SSRA Team Prone League are now available.
An ISSF judges course, designed to give applicants a national British
Shooting C licence and put existing holders firmly on the road to a B
licence, will be held on the weekend of 29-30 September on the outskirts of
Edinburgh at the Balerno & Currie Rifle Club, with easy access to the
airport. While the course helps preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games
in Glasgow by qualifying officials to ISSF standards, the course will be
open to anyone in the UK. This two-day course will be run by experienced by
ISSF officials and for more information and to register your interest,
contact Jim McIntosh of the Scottish Smallbore Rifle Association at jimmack25@btinternet.com.
"I'm pretty happy with the weekend's results," she said. "Saturday was a mixed bag for me but Sunday was a vast improvement. A couple of stupid mistakes in my match cost me points but I was glad to be able to make up for them in the final. It was a good final - much better than anything I've ever shot, even in training, so that was pretty exciting." Fellow Olympic hopeful Neil Stirton won the Men's title after a nervous qualification - firing his last shot with just four seconds remaining - gave him the leading score of 580, equal with James Paterson and he held off his rivals in the final to take the title.
"It
came as quite a surprise to me to win the Scottish Air Rifle Champs on Sunday,
especially after having felt so awful on Saturday and since my focus in training
has primarily been towards .22," said Stirton. "Some of the standing
improvements I've made have definitely helped towards air rifle and I was
delighted to have won this title for the first time." Scores available from the Domestic Results page..
The British Schools Team competing in Dortmund next week
includes three members of the SSRA U21 Squad. Adam Dove , Emma Steeples and
William Stewart will shoot in the Junior event of the competition. Preparation
for the event has included a trip to the 50M Indoor Open Meeting in Wigan and
training at the outdoor range at Alloa.
The SSRA Scottish 10m Championships at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan by Kincardine (including Air GP5) will now go ahead as scheduled for March 17 and 18. The first detail will now take place at 11am. (see below for detail timings). Any and all volunteers to help assemble the range are very welcome from 8am on the Saturday. A commitment has been made that the original problem, a health and safety issue involving the gym hall, will now be resolved in time for the events to take place. Click here to mail organiser Jim McIntosh if you require any information. Details (subject to amendment): Saturday: 1100-1245 Aggregate; 1330-1515 Aggregate;1530-1715 Aggregate. Sunday: 0900-1045 Aggregate; 1100-1215 Women's Qualifying; 1330-1515 Men's Qualifying; 1545 Finals. Equipment Control will be run by John Buchanan, the range will be run by Colin Watson and Gavin Walker with Jim McIntosh as CRO. Air Rifle Grand Prix 5 will be run by Cyril De Jonckheere.
The SSRA Scottish 50m championships will now be staged on a new date, June 9 & 10 2012. This change has come about partly in response to the NSRA shifting the British 50m championships to September after the Lord Roberts Centre became unavailable on the original date. It is hope that this adjustment by the SSRA will be beneficial to many across the UK, including members of TeamGB who will be able to use the event as part of their Olympic preparations. Entry forms for the SSRA event will be adjusted and published as soon as possible. It is anticipated that that there will be increased demand and for more information or to ask questions (positive or negative), please click here to mail organiser Jim McIntosh.
Scores from Round 7 of the SSRA Team Prone League and the SSRA Prone League are now available via the Domestic Results page.
Banff shooter Lenny Thomson overcame powerful opposition to win the Bill
Dick trophy for the annual speedway competition.
Going into the last set of matches it looked like a three-way competition
between Lenny, Hugh Simpson and Sinclair Bruce. Lenny successfully saw off
Bruce beating him 197 to 196, gained the vital six points to give him an
unassailable lead. This is his first appearance in the event; no doubt it is
the first of many. He can now look forward to shooting in the annual postal
match against North Island, New Zealand.
Lenny, right, is presented with his prize by Cyril De Jonckheere.
Watsonians Rifle Club are delighted to announce their annual Open competition
will take place on Saturday March 10 and Sunday March 11 2012 at George Watsons
School ranges. The course of fire is six ten-bull cards, with two cards
being shot in each detail. There are five classes with separate competitions for
Veterans, Ladies, U21, U18, U15, club pairs and teams of three. Food is
available throughout the day from the "Bun Room" with entries being accepted on
the day, although early entry helps secure desirable shooting times. For further
information and entry forms please contact
beverleyburnside@hotmail.com
Latest scores, from round 6 of the SSRA Prone Team league and the SSRA Air Rifle league, are now available on the Domestic Results page.
Scores from last weekend's Air Grand Prix 4 at Carlisle are now available on the Domestic Results page. In addition, the latest rounds from the SSRA Prone League are also to be found there as well as the SSRA Team Prone League.
The new selection policy for athletes to aim for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 is now available here.
“These
are exciting times for Scottish Target Shooting, with an
unprecedented number of athletes on contention for Olympic selection
later this year following on from the best ever performance by our
team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games," said Donald McIntosh,
Performance Programme manager. "The 2014 Games are not really very
far away now, and we will continue to focus the majority of our
efforts into those who are most likely to be in contention for
medals in Glasgow, while keeping an eye on the 2016 Olympic and 2018
Commonwealth Games, and this selection policy reflects those
priorities.”
Glasgow 2014 is now advertising for Sport Competition Managers. If you think you have what is needed to make the shooting events at the next Commonwealth Games go smoothly click here for application details. And for further information, visit the Glasgow 2014 site here.
A Scottish team of James Paterson, pictured left, Andrew Ross, Jamie Hodgson and Graham Rudd entered the 10m Men's 60-shot event, with Sarah Bates entering the Women's 40-shot competition and Kathryn Williamson in the junior 40-shot match. Sinclair Bruce was also in attendance as the team manager and coach while Colin Watson was there developing his knowledge and experience on the Jury. There were a number of impressive performances from the Scottish shooters and everyone took a lot of positives away from the match as well as things which require more training or advice from overseas shooters, who have a vast wealth of experience to tap into. The first day saw Graham Rudd make the men's final with an impressive 587+98.6 for 8th place, after a break from competitive shooting. James was 12th with Jamie edging out Andrew for 16th and 17th places respectively. Sarah was 12th and Kathryn 23rd in their respective events. The second day saw a new personal best from Sarah Bates of 384 for 11th place while Graham narrowly missed out on the men's final finishing 9th in a high standard event where England's James Huckle broke the British record with 598 ex600. The final day of competition saw more good performances from the Scottish team with Graham missing out on the final again following a 5 shot shoot off finishing 9th and James close behind in tenth place and Andrew Ross finished with a 99 string for 13th place and Kathryn was 15th with a creditable 381. Attending and competing at high level competitions benefits all the squad as athletes and coaches alike learn from the international standard shooters competing. Form here many of the squad will continue their development and training on the electronic Megalink targets ahead of the rest of the season and forthcoming domestic matches and major championships in Dortmund, Hannover and Plzen. James Paterson
Lasswade's Jonty Barron, 18, has been awarded a £1000 grant from Comet and SportsAid. As part of Comet’s charity partnership with SportsAid, the electrical specialist will back 20 young talented sports people around the UK with training grants, giving them a vital boost during the defining early years of their sporting careers. Click here to read more.
Results from the Air Rifle Winter League are now available here on the Domestic Results page. Also, results from the fourth round of the SSRA Prone Team League have now been published and can also be viewed from the Domestic Results page.
It has been decided to reschedule the final air grand prix of the 2011-12 season from 26 February to Sunday 18 March. This will avoid clashing with the British Airgun Championships at Bisley. The new date for Air GP5 also means a new venue, and it will now take place during the Scottish ISSF 10m Championships at Tulliallan rather than at Glenrothes. The competition organisers are happy to run the GP cards concurrently with the Championship series if competitors prefer. For more details please contact Jim McIntosh. Air Rifle GP3 was held at Denwood and was won by Andrew Ross with a qualifying score of 574 ex 600 and then 94.0 in the final for a total of 668, coming in ahead of Robin Law who scored 566 +99.4 for 665.4 and Sarah Bates who scored 567 +98.3 for a total of 665.3. The Pistol event was won by D Robertson of Bon Accord with a score of 521 ex 600 plus 91.6 in the final for a total of 612.6 with B McIntosh in second with 514 plus 94.6 for a total of 608.6 and C McGregor on 515 plus 89.4 for 604.4. Detailed results are available on the Domestic Results page. "There was no ice inside the range but it would not have been a surprise to find some, the range was set up so we were able to start on time and schedule," reports Jim McIntosh. "We had in all three details a full house, this was nice. The shooting was also nice with a number finding the cold on the first detail a problem. Looking at the scores and results make for interesting reading, the qualifying scores were close resulting in very competitive finals, a number of PBs were set and an enjoyable day all round. The next one at Carlisle will find that our numbers a bit depleted as this will clash with Intershoot in Holland where some of our stalwart will be keeping the Saltire flying."
After an appeal for sponsors to help the SSRA add to its Megalink electronic targets (30 August 2011), the association is pleased to announce that four units have been obtained and are now in use with the Scotland squads. With a total of ten Megalinks available it will now be possible to hold the finals at the 10m & 50m Championships and the Grand Prix matches with them, providing a much better experience for athletes and spectators alike as well the opportunity for athletes to use them for day-to-day training on their home ranges. Many thanks to all involved for providing invaluable support to Scottish target shooting.
Results from rounds 1-3 of this team competition are available on the Domestic Results page.
The first sets of results are now available on the Domestic Results page.
“The last three years have been amazing and I have met a lot of great people along the way. I would like to thank everyone who helped me and everyone who sent in a nomination for this award,” said Darren. Click here to read more.
The SSRA would like to take the opportunity to wish all of its members, and target shooters across the globe, a merry Christmas and all the best for 2012. Don't forget to enter the SSRA postal competitions: CanDicap, Speedway and Medal. There is still time to enter online and entries will be accepted until 1 January 2012. Click here to enter or visit the Enter Domestic Competitions online page to find out more.
The SSRA is keen to promote target shooting for all, and to
that end will set out to assist with the Scottish Air Rifle Blind Shooting
Championships held at Denwood in 2012. For more information on the sport and how you can help
promote it, contact Jim Hammond.
An ISSF judges course, designed to give applicants a national British Shooting C licence and put existing holders firmly on the road to a B licence, is set to be held in the autumn of 2012 in central Scotland, potentially Edinburgh, with easy access to the airport. While the course helps preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow by qualifying officials to ISSF standards, the course will be open to anyone in the UK. This two-day course will be run by experienced by ISSF officials and for more information or to register your interest, contact Jim McIntosh
The SSRA has announced that it will stage its 10m Air Rifle Championships at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan by Kincardine-on-Forth on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18 of 2012. The competition will be run along ISSF guidelines and some accommodation is hoped to be available on site. For more information and to arrange for an entry form by mail or for download, contact Ian Henderson at executive@ssra.co.uk. Online entering will also be made available.
After an exciting and tense final, Robin Law narrowly held off Sarah Bates in Callander to win the first SSRA Air GP of the 2011-12 season with Kathryn Williamson in third. Earlier, Sarah Bates won A class, B class went to Mark Joyce, Maria Bexley took the honours in C class and early bird Bill Vaughan won D class. Detailed scores can be found here for Rifle and Pistol here.
The decision by the Commonwealth Games Federation to vote for Gold Coast to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games overshadowed another important series of decisions made at the CGF meeting on St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. After lobbying by the Commonwealth Games Federation (European Division) members the federation voted to resurrect a number of events to the CG programme, including Women's Prone Rifle. While this decision does not automatically mean that the event will be added to the 2014 Games in Glasgow, the CG2014 organisation will review the decisions and rule on this by March 2012. Despite this caveat it would seem highly likely that Jen McIntosh will be given the chance to defend her title on her own soil in three years' time and indeed offer her compatriots the opportunity to add to Scotland's superb gold haul in target shooting. We await developments eagerly . . .
Click here to read more:
www.cgcs.org.uk
http://www.cgcs.org.uk/news-an
The date for SSRA Air Grand Prix 3 at Denwood has been moved to 22 January 2012. The change from the original date of 15 January was requested by Denwood for logistical reasons.
Balerno & Currie Rifle Club will hold their annual Open event on the weekend of 19 and 20 November. An entry form can be downloaded here Email inquiries can be made here.
A range of new functions has now become available at http://forms.ssra.co.uk. for everyone to use. Now, entering competitions and paying for fees; joining and/or renewing SSRA membership; and downloading entry forms for a range of SSRA events throughout the year can be done by a simple process. By now existing SSRA members should have received an email giving them a "get you started" link into the new membership pages. If you are a member and have not received such an email click here and provide your name, SSRA membership number and your current email address.
Mel Mutch had to contend with bitingly cold conditions as the sole Scottish representative in the UK Police team at the European Championships at Vingsted in Denmark. He came 13th with a score of 585 and 30x in a field of 31 competitors."Three shooters were on 587 for a shoot-off for 7th and 8th place," explained Mutch. "Chris Brown of Leicester was in a shoot-off and went into final 7th and finished 6th. "My finger kept on getting cold so lost all feeling in it. - stopped three times to get sensation back into hand," he went on. "Others had prepped for this by bringing heat packs that they kept near them in a bag so they could defrost their hands between shots. A duvet in evidence too - heaven knows how much that cost in excess baggage..."
Mel Mutch will fly out to Vingsted in Denmark as the sole Scottish representative in the UK Police team at the European Championships. The standard of the competition is high and the UK team is made up of two men in the prone, two in the men's 3P and air. The ladies have two for prone and are also competing in 3P and air. Mutch will look to improve on his 13th place from last year.
Bobby Spence made the final of the Men's Prone at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (ED) event held at Bisley but could not stop James Huckle taking the title. Mel Mutch had delivered a superb 595 in the elimination round but came up short in qualifying. Spence faced a whole new experience by making the final:
Having a big audience! For detailed results from the CSF programme of events, visit the ESSU site.
The Scotland team won the annual ATSC match against the Army at the Ash Ranges. Scores of 1154 from Bill Brown, 1164 from Bill Baird, 1149 from Lenny Thomson and 1145 from Ian Henderson secured victory.
John Harris has been unveiled as the first independent chair of British Shooting. With considerable experience in the fields of engineering and commerce, he takes the post for an initial term of two years and will be present for a busy period in the sport, with the 2012 Olympics followed by the Paralympics and of course the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. Harris will head a board consisting of the following members: David Wathen: British International Clay Target Shoot Federation (BICTSF); David Parish: National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA); Robin Pizer: National Rifle Association (NRA); Trevor Budgen: Disabled Target Shooting Great Britain (DTSGB); Nick Fellows: Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA); Peter Underhill: Accountable Officer.
Scotland's score of 5903 was agonisingly not enough to see off the New Zealanders of North Island in the annual postal match, with the Kiwi side scoring 5907. The Scots junior side scored 1944 to North Island's 1957. Click here for detailed Scottish scores and here for North Island's.
The NSRA has announced that the 2012 Scottish Meeting will be held at Dumfries. After a lengthy consultation period in which competitors at The Scottish in Caithness were asked for their opinions and during which Huntly and indeed a meeting held in the north of England were mooted, it was decided that the meeting will return to Dumfries for the first time since 2008, on 23-28 June 2012.
Entry forms will shortly be made available for the SSRA Winter postal competitions such as the Speedway, Medal and CanDicap. In addition, it will also be possible to download entry forms, enter the competitions, pay for competition fees and indeed SSRA membership using a secure online system via this site. Check back with www.ssra.co.uk regularly for updates on this development.
The Scotland team for this week's Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) event at Bisley has been unveiled and the line-up is...
(Yes, that's right, four Bs from the B-squad plus Bobby and a.... bobby.) Thanks to Willie McAulay at Alloa RC, the Tullygarth 50m range was made available for Sarah Bates (pictured top) and Sarah Brown to get some final practice in before heading south...
Into the ISSF style ten-shot final then, and McIntosh added to his qualification score of 593 with 101.7 for a total of 694.7. Tom Hodgson, starting the final with 594, scored 100.6 for a total of 694.6. Jonty Barron came third with the highest score, 103.7, for a final total of 693.7 after his qualifying 590. Donald accepts a dose of cough syrup from Jim McIntosh, left, while Sheena Sharp was rewarded for her century of Scotland caps with the presentation of a trophy from SSRA chairman Ian Thomson. The previous day at Denwood saw the fifth and final 3P grand prix of the season. Iain Malone won the men's 3x40 event and Sheena Sharp the women's 3x20. The inaugural SSRA C&D Prone League reached its conclusion and congratulations go to Nick Brown for taking the title. Full results for all the above competitions are available on the Domestic Results page.
Scotland's success at last year's Commonwealth Games and our potential for more shooting sports achievements was recognised by the Scottish government when Minister for Commonwealth Games & Sport Shona Robison announced the launch of the sportscotland Athlete Personal Awards (SAPAs). Managed by the sportscotland institute of sport, this new three-year initiative offers an annual financial award of £3,000, £5,000 or £10,000 to individual athletes who are considered to have the potential to deliver a medal winning performance at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (and / or London 2012 Olympics). In the first of three, annual award announcements, forty-five athletes across 13 sports will receive awards totalling £204,000. And Scotland's shooters - Jen McIntosh, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Matt Thomson, Shona Marshall and John MacDonald - have all been awarded between £5000 and £10,000 each. Click here for more details of the awards.
Orkney's Bobby Spence survived target changers that blew open
in the gusts of Denwood to win SSRA grand prix IV and the Grampian Open title.
In the ISSF-style final his 101.4 added to his qualifying score of
591 for a total of 692.4 and kept Tom Hodgson at Sinclair Bruce at bay. Hodgson
scored an excellent 103.2 in the final and, added to his qualifying 587, gave
him a total of 690.2. Scotland coach Bruce, pictured right, who must have won
the award for best-dressed tartan rug wearer in the chilly conditions, scored
588+ 101.6 for a total of 689.6 and third place. The conditions tested the skills - and the patience - of the competitors after a series of power failures on the Saturday led to the cancellation of the finals for the 3P event. Mark Szymankiewicz won the men's 3X40 event with a score of 1132 and Sheena Sharp the women's 3X20 with 560. The inclement weather - well it was August in Scotland after all - meant that rain squalls and wind gusts led to a game of musical chairs over the whole weekend as a number of Gehmann target changers failed and shooters had to be shunted around for workable firing points. The event's apprentice range officers found themselves kept on their toes as they battled to beat the gremlins. In the end, though, it was Spence who came out on top. And thanks to some generous contributions of kit from fellow competitors, he will make his first venture into 3P at the final 3P GP on 3 September, also in Aberdeen. Of his preparations he commented: "Bobby's 3P challenge....starting to tweak things! Some for better some for worse! One day left to prepare.... challenge is definitely the right word!" on Facebook. For full class results from the weekend, go to the Domestic Results page.
One of the major steps
forward for the Scottish rifle shooters in the four years between the 2006 and
2010 Commonwealth Games was the increasing availability of electronic targets to There are currently insufficient for our whole squad to train on them at once, which leads to continued reliance on the ageing set of paper target changers at Denwood, and makes it much harder for the coaches to have good visibility of how the athletes are progressing within a training session.
The 4K300 units are the preferred option for these purposes, with the flexibility to use them for both Air Rifle and Smallbore events. With four additional units it would be possible to hold the finals at the 10m & 50m Championships and the Grand Prix matches with them, providing a much better experience for athletes and spectators alike. They are also relatively portable, providing the opportunity for athletes to use them for day to day training on their home ranges. We are seeking sponsors
to help with providing more of these targets in order to support the progress of
the current generation of rifle shooters who have done Scotland proud in recent
Commonwealth Games and other international competitions, along with the next
generation of young athletes who are inspired by the prospect of a home
Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. One target costs somewhere about the £3,700 mark – depending on the vagaries of the Pound/Euro exchange rate and shipping costs – with some additional infrastructure costs likely if we can progress beyond ten targets. We are happy to discuss all kinds of options with individuals, clubs, associations, businesses and anyone else who would be interested in supporting our ongoing programme. Please feel free to contact Donald McIntosh (donald@maccoach.co.uk) or Sinclair Bruce (performance@ssra.co.uk) for more details or if you have any questions. Visit http://www.megalink.no/defaultEN.htm for technical information about Megalink electronic targets. News Archive All of the news stories that appear here will be archived periodically. Follow the links to see each archive The current 2011 archive runs up to 22 January 2012.
News Archive 2009 News Archive 2010 News Archive 2011 |
|