New FITASC Rankings following the 150 GB Selection Shoot & UK Championship, held at Hickenham Farm (Hornet), 26th - 27th April 2008
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Results of the UK FITASC Sporting Championships - April 2008
Hickenham Farm FITASC Sporting Selection Shoot & UK Championships - April 26 &27 2008 - Technical Report
Technical
Hickenham Farm Shooting Ground a satellite of the Hornet shooting school was the venue for the 2008 UK Championships also the 1st GB Team FITASC Sporting selection for 2008. 162 competitors took part; there were 8 withdrawals.
The shoot manager and course designer was Mr Kevin Gray with administration support from Mrs Karen Gray.
The competition ran over layouts named, Orchard, Field and Park. These 3 layouts had changes made to them for the second days' competition; these changes were considered satisfactory producing a change that sufficiently altered the targets ensuring 2 full days competition.
The Orchard and Park layouts were of comparable difficulty with Field being the tougher of both days' competition. The Field targets were judged at completion to have been at least 2 targets more difficult than was required, thus said, there were a number of very good if not exceptional scores returned on this layout on both days.
Worthy of note was the effort put in by the grounds staff in preparation of the shooting arenas for this event, with long mown walkways and the shooting positions on firm level ground.
Target presentation was good with sunlight having a minimal effect on target visibility however, the 'C' target on stand 3 in the Park had visibility problems when the light became poor and the 'D' target day 2 on the Field layout stand 3 was exceptionally quick for a gun down discipline.
The Park layout suffered two major stoppages on day 1 and one on day 2 the day one stoppage resulted in the layout completing one and a half ours late on day 1 and 40 minutes late on day 2.
Hugh Smith assessed the targets on Friday the 25 April, all targets where of a high standard, they were visible with varying speeds, distance, colours and angles, it was necessary to make a number of minor changes during the inspection.
The facilities at Hickenham Farm were more than adequate with a open air kitchen operating and covered dinning and relaxing areas provided however, there were no toilette facilities provided on the Park layout that was approximately 1 mile from the HQ this would need rectification should we return in the future to this site for a GB selection event.
The scores were computed and maintained in a timely manner by Karen Gray.
There was little or no delay in displaying the results, score cards from the remote shooting positions were returned efficiently, any minor errors were corrected as soon as they were discovered; at the end of the event the presentation was delayed whilst 15 competitors completed various category shoot offs.
The presentations finally completed at 20:00.
Competition
The first day's results again indicated that the competitors skills were under test with Kevin Mayor, Martin Myers on 69 closely followed by Cheryl Hall and Kevin Jobling on 68
D Bolton was the lead Junior 65 with P Gray 64 and N Batchelor 61.
Ladies, Cheryl Hall 68 with Pet Easton 61 and S Clay 56.
Veterans J Pool 67, J Dyson, N Jay and J Price 65.
Super Vets had David Payne JPC Bland 61, D Payne 59 and R Ward 55.
Day two started in good weather conditions but at 9:30 the Chief Referee suspended shooting due to localised lightening, this lasted for no more than 20 min and the competition carried on under grey skies.
The 135 score of the event winner Steve Clark a relatively newcomer at the GB selections was an exceptionally good score given the degree of difficulty and poor second day weather conditions. The competition ran over time on day one, starting at 09:00 and finishing at 18:15.
The trap problems re-appeared on day two on the Park layout, resulting in a 40-min delay come the finish.
Final placings were:
Seniors Gold: S Clark 135. Silver: S Stacey 133 (SO) Bronze: L Riddington 133.
Ladies: Gold: C Hall 127. Silver P Easton 115. Bronze: S Hamburger (SO) 104.
Juniors: Gold: P Gray 127. Silver K Storey 124. (SO) Bronze: D Bolton 124.
Vets: Gold: J Dyson 131. Silver S Brightwell 130. Bronze: J Price 129.
S/Vets: Gold: JPC Bland 115. (SO) SIilver: D Payne 115. Bronze: W Joyce 109 (by default P Howe and T Thomas 109 did not stay for shoot off).
There was a very good atmosphere throughout the event assisted by good weather conditions on day one.
Nick Woodward ran another successful fund raising raffle netting over £400.
Express cartridges sponsored High Gun prizes of 250 cartridges on all the layouts for the competition.
As Chairman for FITASC Sporting GB and on behalf of all the competitors thank you for your generosity.
Hugh Smith.
