The BFRC 50 Metre Open Meeting was held on the Malcolm Cooper Range in Lord Roberts Centre, Bisley on 22nd & 23rd of March2014. The entries for the prone matches were, as usual, heavily oversubscribed & I had to close the entries for both months before the official closing date. It pays to get entries in very early as this is a popular meeting, being the first one in the year in the UK.

The message remains the same, BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.

This year, for the first time, we had  6 entries from the GB squad of International Paralympic Shooting (IPC) who were shooting alongside in their own concurrent competitions.

As always I was hoping for reasonable weather as cold &/or windy conditions are no fun for the competitors or the range staff at any meeting. Due to the meeting being held in late March we were reasonably lucky with the temperature (helped by having the range heating on). Hopefully next year it will be a bit warmer outside as well, as the meeting will again revert to mid-late April (provisionally booked for 18-19 April 2015). I have also asked for 10 lanes at 10 metres so we can hold an air rifle competition as well, if there is sufficient interest.

English Match 1 had 40 entries. Rachel Glover came out on top with a score of 587 (32x) with David Binney second, also 587 (31x) and Louise Aitken third on 586. The finals were run according to the new ISSF rules for finals which allow 8 minutes for preparation & sighting shots followed by a break when the finalists are announced to the spectators. They then go straight into the match (no more sighting shots) which starts with 2 series of 3 shots in 100 seconds. Then  series of single shots in 30 seconds are fired and after each pair of single shots the lowest scoring competitor is eliminated. This continues until 20 shots have been fired in total by the top 2 shots, when all the placings will have been determined. As always this was an exciting, unpredictable, final with Dave Phelps taking top place with a final score of 203.0, followed by Louise Aitken in silver medal position on 200.9 and bronze going to David Binney with 181.7. The IPC competition was won by Ben Jessons, 578, second was Lorraine Lambert, 570 and third Lesley Baldwin, 569.

IPC winners

English Match 2 had 43 entries & this time Richard Wilson was top score with 585, Louise Aitken second again with 583 and Harry Creevy was third with on 580. The final for EM 2 was run under the same format as that for EM 1. This time Richard Wilson retained his top spot to take the gold medal in the final with a score of 204.1. Louise Aitken  took the the silver medal again with a score of 202.3 and Mel (Mexican) Mutch  took the bronze medal on 182.1. The IPC results were James Bevis first on 586, Matt Skelhon second on 581 and Lorraine Lambert third on 579.

EM 2 Finalists

IPC winners

The windy conditions on the day clearly had contributed to the lower scores this year, it was quite gusty and variable. The conditions were not much better on the Sunday and this again had an influence on the 3P scores.

Sunday morning saw our normal set-up with a 3x40 match with 14 men shooting running concurrently with a 3x20 with 14 entries for the women. This is one of the best entries for 3P that we have had, but there is still space for more.

Top score in the 3x40 was by Dean Bale with 1114 (39x), beating his brother Jack Bale on 1114 (27x) and Alex Macdonald was 3^rd with 1105. The winner of B&C class was Lee Rousel on 1100. There were no IPC men shooting in this event.

3x40 winners

The winner of the women’s 3x20 was Joanne Pullen  with a score of 560 against 559 shot by Gabrielle Buckley and 3rd place went to Katie Gleeson on 558. The C Class winner (no B Class)) was Angi Sowerby on 526. Lorraine Lambert was the only lady IPC 3P shooter and scored 546.

3x20 winners

As in previous years, to decide the top shooter of the day we held an Olympic final taking the top 8 scores from the 1^st 20 shots aggregate from the 3x40 & 3x20 matches.This gave a mix of 3 men and 5 ladies being, in qualifying score order, Joanne Pullen, Gabrielle Buckley, Katie Gleeson, Jack Bale, Alex Macdonald, Karen Butler and Gemma Kermode. This final was also shot under the new rules. The format is, after preparation and sighting time, 15 shots kneeling in 3 sets of 5 shots, followed by 15 shots prone in 3 sets of 5, with only 7 minutes change over and sighting time in between kneeling and prone. Then there is a further 9 minutes change over and sighting time before the standing phase. This is made up of of 2 series of 5 shots, after which the 2 lowest scorers are eliminated. Then there are 5 single shots series with one shooter being eliminated after each shot.

Dean Bale again came out on top with some excellent shooting in the standing phase, scoring 441.2. Karen Butler took the silver medal position with a score of 425.4 and Gemma Kermode was third with 417.2 The format for the 3P final is quite demanding and the shooters have to be on their toes to make the change over between positions to leave enough time for sighting back in. It also taxes the brain of the Chief Range Officer who has to keep on top of the timing.

3P finalists

The BFRC is indebted to all those who helped to run the range over the 2 days. As organiser and Chief Range Officer I was ably assisted by a number of other range officers who used the meeting to gain experience for their future use. The ROs were Peter Clark (who kept me right in the 3P final and ran the second prone final), Howard Lee and Mo Morrish, Dave Poxon, Gail Rees.  My thanks also go to Pam and Karen Webber (who presented all the prizes) for doing the stats and keeping the spreadsheets working in the finals!