Clay Shooting November 2020

This month it’s been great to see competitions getting back under way, as we come to the end of a season that had begun to look like it would be a write-off. The highlight for me, and many others I’m sure, was the British Open Sporting at Garlands at the beginning of September. It was a great competition with a terrific atmosphere, everyone delighted to be out competing again. It brought some real drama too, with a closely-fought super-final and a worthy winner in our cover star Dave Ferriman narrowly beating some of the discipline’s top names to lift the historic trophy. A week later British Shooting held their own spectacular at East Yorkshire for the Olympic disciplines – the British Shooting Grand Festival. This took the place of their…

The British Schools & Young Shots Championship returns on Saturday 24 April 2021, after the 2020 event had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 'BSYS' is the UK's national championships for under-18s – the big one for individual young shots and school teams from around the country. The 2021 championship will be held at Orston Shooting Ground in Nottinghamshire, and will see the country's finest young talent competing over three courses of varying difficulty – Red, Blue and Black. More than just a competition, it has become renowned for highlighting emerging talent in the world of clay shooting, with previous winners including Brody Woollard, Ronnie Green and Alfie Tibbles. In 2020 the trophy went to Joshua Bennion, who shot a perfect 50-straight around the course at Atkin…

David Gooding from Kings Lynn in Norfolk won the Churchill Cup at EJ Churchill at the end of August. He won with 144 ex-150 on the two courses combined, ahead of Martin Myers and James Bradley-Day who tied in second place on 142. D King won Colts with 123, D McBride Juniors with 127, N Gryspeerdt Ladies with 126, and S Brightwell veterans with 139. Class prizes went to N Hales in A, P Galton in B and P Moore in C. “I’ve found a bit of form just recently,” commented David, who has shot for England at home and abroad. “I love shooting competitions and I do travel all over the country shooting registered competitions on Sundays.” He used his Caesar Guerini Maxum with full and full choke. “The…

British Shooting has announced the athletes selected for the World Class Programme for the 2020/21 season. All athletes on the WCP had their selection maintained. Podium and Podium Potential level athletes will receive the same support from British Shooting and from UK Sport. Performance director Steven Seligmann said “We are pleased to confirm the Paralympic and Olympic WCP cohort for 2020/21. This will enable the athletes to continue to prepare for 2021. We are also excited to welcome new athletes to the BSNAP.” The National Academy Programme is designed to provide shooters with the opportunity to be supported in the development of the skills and behaviours required to thrive at a world class level. The shooters, from Wales, Scotland and England, will join existing BSNAP shooters, totalling 25 members for…

Most dangerous sport Shooting doesn’t even feature in a survey of dangerous sports, which shows that football is the most likely to result in injury with 71 per cent of those surveyed having been injured. Boxing and martial arts resulted in the most visits to a doctor or hospital, according to the survey carried out by www.golfsupport.com, closely followed by netball, skiing, gymnastics and table tennis. New Promatic trap Clay trap manufacturer Promatic has launched a new heavy duty Sporting machine aimed at clubs and grounds that need high clay capacity and target variety. The new trap, the Kodiak, will throw a clay up to 100m, with a maximum elevation of 70 degrees, and has up-rated components for extra durability. For details see www. promatic.co.uk. Game Fair 2021 After this…

Geoff Dale took the Co Down DTL championship title at Banbridge Gun Club at the end of August, but it was William Armstrong who took high gun on the day, beating Geoff’s score of 100/297. The grounds were looking well for the 50 shooters who came to compete over 100 DTL, a testament to much hard work. Conditions were good for shooting after a week of horrific wind and rain. The first top score of the day came from County Down’s Geoff Dale posting his 100/297 after losing two barrels on his final line. Then the in-form William Armstrong went one better shooting 100/298. The Banbridge Club Cup was up for grabs, with scores over the middle 50 targets counted for this. Only two shooters finished with a flawless middle…