Monday 28th August, the final day of the Welsh RA Open Meeting, and the Lord Swansea; the Match Rifle competition representing the culmination of both the Meeting and, for most, fun for the Bank Holiday weekend.
From the off competitors were treated to bearable temperatures, transient sunshine and mildly annoying winds, a mild but fickle breeze fishtailing its way along the length of the range. As a result, even 1000yds, normally a turkey shoot by MR standards, saw only three 75s, two with an impressive 11 Vs (Tim Brooking and Angus McLeod) and the other on a perfectly tidy 7 (Hannah Fisher). First distance down and a decidedly Anglo-Scottish lead.
Unsurprisingly, conditions at 1100 yards didn’t let up. This time barely half of competitors broke the 70 mark, led by early performers Hannah (73.9) and Tim (73.8), split at this distance by Charles Dickenson (73.9). This saw Tim hold the lead on 148.19, with Hannah leapfrogging Angus to sit second with a mere 3 Vs behind as all fell back to 1200yds.
As Match Rifle shooters (and regular readers here) will know, absolutely nothing is certain until 1200 is done. However, it turns out that things were fairly sure. Ian Brown was the master here, his impressive 71.4 in increasingly interesting conditions being one of only two scores to break the 70 mark. However, sadly too little, too late; the other was Hannah on 70.6. They were followed by to 68.7s, one from Rob Bogie and the other from Claire Halleran, finishing the weekend nicely after an excellent performance in the earlier TR part of the Meeting. Tim was close behind, also on 68 but with a not-unusual 2 Vs; good, but not quite enough to stop Hannah from taking the gold badge on 218.22, with Tim the silver (216.21) and steady shooting (plus a strong V count) from Nick Tremlett to sneak up on the bronze with the best of the 213s (22V). Top Welsh shooter was captain Lou-Lou Brister, leading by example on 212 with a spectacular 25 Vs.
As always, thanks go to the organisers from the Welsh RA. Other than that, watch this space for the English equivalent at the end of September.
