The Spring Meeting, and the start of the Match Rifle season proper. One or two club events until now, plus of course the 2025 Woomera Match squad have been out training, but the first big event of the year. The sky was clear, the sun was warm, and the winds were never low, albeit they were relatively steady and fairly benign at 1000yds on day 1 (Saturday 10th May), with 63 70-somethings (ex 75) and no less than 13 75s, with Adam Leech & Derek Lowe leading with 13 (ex. 15) V-bulls.
1100yds saw a change in the wind’s temperament, not to mention several changes in angle over a short period of time. This resulted in several corresponding changes in performance and of the 78 competitors, only 14 returned a result starting with a 7. Chief amongst them was Rob Lygoe, securing the only 75 (8V) while early leaders Derek and Adam had to contend with (still very respectable) 72.1 and 71.7 respectively.
Conditions at 1200yds were perhaps less extreme than 1100, though that extra 100yds makes a big difference! Again, few (15) making it north of 70, with winds varying in both strength and angle. No 75s this time, in fact no 74s either, with Nick Tremlett’s 73.6 leading the way. Rob and Adam chased this in 2nd and 3rd places at this distance, 72.8 and 71.6 barely separating the top three, in fact the top 4 with Claire Halleran also on 71.6.
Unsurprisingly, a couple of top-3 performances saw Rob leading the day, being the only competitor to break the 220 mark on 220.26. Quiet & steady shooting saw John Lindsay appear into second place on 219.25, with Nick’s 1200yds performance helping him to 3rd (219.19). Derek (218.27) and Adam (217.26) completed the top 5.
Being Match Rifle, the day obviously finished with food! One reception at the English VIII clubhouse, followed by dinner at the North London Rifle Club.
Sunday saw day 2 and once again, 2 sighters and 15 shots to count at 1000, 1100 and 1200yds. A less forgiving start with both points and V counts down a little at 1000yds, though 9 75s suggested that it was there for the taking. A new set of top performers here: Nick Brasier lead the way on 75.12, with David Lindsay, Jon Sweet and Will Mott only a V behind on 75.11.
Steadier winds overall, at least for the morning, saw more typical 1100yds scores suggesting that competitors took considerably less of a hit compared to Saturday. No 75s mind; Angus McLeod managed one of two 74s (8V), the other being Sophie Wentges (1V). A handful of 73s followed in wind conditions that remained interesting enough to push Saturday’s leaders further down the pack.
That all changed at 1200 yards! The already angling winds began to fishtail left & right. Approaching from behind and with firers at the rear most point on the range, there was little to nothing available upwind to give an indication of what was about to happen next, other than listening out for gusts and making a judgement of approaching angle by deciding which side of your head was feeling it the most. Looking downrange, it was entirely possible to see two different flag directions, a totally different mirage visible and to need a setting for on the sights that didn’t totally agree with any of the above. Sometimes that setting was actually applied to the sights. Other times, not so… Results were therefore variable, but Rob retained his previously day’s form with the only 74 (6V) on the range. Si Whitby and Normal Clark returned the only 72s, with 8Vs and 6Vs respectively.
The other leaders were mixed up through the following 40 odd places, meaning Rob took top score for the day again on 219.25, with Sophie 2nd (219.24) and Nick Brasier 3rd (215.25).
However, ultimately, this resulted in more of a shake-up of the top 5 rather than a sweeping change. The result of this? Congratulations to Rob Lygoe (439.51), Adam Leech (432.48) and Derek Lowe (430.46) for 1st/2nd/3rd respectively in both the English & Welsh aggregates, wiht Nick Tremlett a close 4th (428.41). Angus McLeod’s 5th place (427.41) gave him the Scottish Eight Cup, Gareth James’ 8th (425.42) the Welsh Challenge Cup and Sophie Wentges 7th (426.37) the Powell Ladies’ Trophy. Emma Stratford took the OCRA (Under 25s) Trophy again with a 407.36 and Rob won pretty much everything else!
For full details of results, please go to the English Eight website:
https://www.englisheight.org.uk/Results/Spring2025.aspx
As always, thank you to the English VIII for hosting & running the weekend, most notably Si Whitby and Michael Hissey for managing the entries, planning, squadding, and results.
