As the end of the season approaches, the English Eight Autumn Meeting 2021 is one of the final major competitions of the year. After a full season of practice, the competition is usually very tight and 2021 was no exception.
Day 1 (Saturday)
Like during the Hopton, it seems that the organisers forgot to order any wind for the Autumn Meeting. However they did at least manage to organise some warm weather (for September in the UK). These light winds led to some impressive scores and a very tight field. Competitors fired two sighters and twenty shots to count at 1000x to provide a stronger test than the usual 2+15 format. However, 14 competitors of a total of 47 still came through this with a possible (100 ex 100). The usual 2+15 format returned at 1100 yards for another 14 possibles, although not all by the same competitors.
After 6 possibles in a twenty shot shoot were recorded in the Hopton at 1200 yards, a further 3 were recorded on Saturday. This takes the total to 31 ever in recorded history of Match Rifle with 9 of those occurring this year. John Lindsay recorded his second ever with 100.13v, having also shot a 100 in The Edge. Jon Sweet (100.12v) and Zoe Woodroffe (100.11v) joined the exclusive 100 club. Congratulations to all of them. Despite the number of times it has occurred this year, it is still an incredible achievement.
Ken Willingale won the day having dropped only a single point and therefore took The Dram Trophy (Saturday aggregate). Angus McLeod and Rob Lygoe were in second and third just one point behind. They tied on 273.45v but Angus took second due to his 99.17v versus Rob’s 99.16v at 1200 yards. The top 20 were separated by just four points. Those who dropped more than 6 points out of 275 found them self in the bottom half of the field and therefore relegated to the early detail on Sunday.
Saturday finished with the usually drinks reception held at the English Eight Club house for a chance for everyone to unwind and catch up on events since the Hopton.
Day 2 (Sunday)
Sunday started at 1100 yards with similar wind conditions to Saturday so another set of high scores were recorded. This kept the competition at the top very tight going into the final range. However the conditions were to become a little more challenging for 1200 yards. A strengthening wind opened up the field a bit with five points separating the top 10. Rob Lygoe managed the conditions best of all, dropping only one point at 1200 yards. This meant he won the Irish Cup (Sunday aggregate) as the only competitor to drop just a single point on the day. Rob also took home the 1200 Salver (1200 yard aggregate) with a pair of 99s.
As is usual with the Autumn meeting, the shooting finished at lunchtime for a more relaxed prize giving and tidy-up before making the journey home, assuming that one had enough petrol to make it.
Overall Results
Rob’s impressive scoring left him just three points off during the Autumn Meeting 2021. He therefore won The Stamford Young Trophy (Weekend aggregate). Angus McLeod and Zoe Woodroffe came second and third, just one and two points behind respectively.
Despite starting the weekend with a broken rifle, Zoe Woodroffe wrapped up a good weekend by taking home The Ladies Trophy. Sophie Wentges and Fiona Day were second and third and all placed in the top 10 overall. Zoe also took The Donegall Badge which is awarded to the highest placed competitor not to have won it previously. John Lindsay and Sophie Wentges came second and third although you feel it is only a matter of time before both of these will be ineligible to win the Donegall badge.
It was a good weekend for Scotland with Thomas Nightingale taking home both Under 25 trophies.
As well as the aggregates for the shoots during the Autumn Meeting 2021, there are also aggregates across different competitions in 2021. Rob Lygoe’s performance throughout the season also resulted in The Pilcher Platter as the aggregate of the Spring and Autumn Meetings. Nick Tremlett and Mike Judge placed second and third respectively.
Rob also took The Auditors as the aggregate of the Hopton as well as the Spring and Autumn Meetings. He scored a very impressive 1707.247v out of a maximum of 1725. To put that another way, out of 345 shots across the three major meetings, Rob missed the bull only 18 times and hit the V-bull over 70% of the time! Nick Tremlett once again had to settle for second place with 1698.229v. John Lindsay was third with 1685.190v. Congratulations to all the winners.
Full Results of the Autumn Meeting 2021
As always our thanks go out to all the organisers. For full results please visit the English Eight Club website where you can also find the dates for next year’s Spring Meeting.
One final Match Rifle Open competition remains this season. The North London Championships takes place on October 9th and 10th. For more details, please visit The North London Rifle Club or contact the MR Captain, Hattie Mansell.