All four Bale athletes entered the Geoff Partridge in January 2013 held at Aldersley. We travelled through snow for a second year running but it was certainly worth it. They all did well, Philippa winning the junior pistol trophy for a second year running.
Emily had only changed from Sporter Rifle to Precision Rifle two months before the competition and her performance was extremely good. Her performance was so good, that she was approached by TENS Academy Head Coach Steve Downs and asked if she would like to join the Academy. She said she would be pleased to join TENS Academy, so she is now a member of both the GB Junior Refile Squad and the TENS Academy Squad. Dean won silver medal in Class B Air Rifle.
Dean wins first in Class B in the Eley 3P Final
Dean entered the Eley 3P postal competition early in 2013, and made it through each round to get in to the final held at Bisley. The Final took place on 11th August 2013.
Dean had a good shoot and won 1st in Class B. The presentation of the awards was held in the afternoon. He was pleased to find that it was not only an medal, but also included a 1000 rounds of batch tested Eley Tenex ammunition . Dean is going to Eley's range to have his rifle tested and to collect his Tenex ammunition.
Dean, Jack and Emily are planning to enter the competition again in 2014, so hopefully they will do well.
Surrey Airgun Open 2013
The Surrey Airgun Open completion 2013 was held on the weekend of 23rd and 24th November. This year was the centenary of the Surrey County Small Bore Rifle Association. The meeting is held at the NSRA Lord Roberts Centre at Bisley. On the Saturday the competitions were all ISSF disciplines with Olympic Finals. Sunday the competitions were NSRA competitions without finals.
All four Bale athletes entered into both the ISSF and the NSRA competitions. Jack and Dean shot first on Saturday in the detail at 12pm whilst their sisters Philippa and Emily shot at 2pm.
In the Surrey Open there is not a junior category so they all shot with the seniors. Though the competition is ISSF rules the scoring was not decimal scoring.
Jack scored 586 ex600 and Dean 577 ex600, placing them both in the final. With the amount competitors in the completion rifle finals were not until after 7pm making a long day. The final was very exciting and it was close right to the end. Jack came second and Dean came third.
Philippa was shooting pistol and Emily rifle, they both had a good competition but neither made the finals.
Junior International 2013
In early August it was the 21st Junior International (JI) Shooting Competition held at Bisley. Attended by Great Britain, England, USA, Denmark, Germany, South Africa and others. The standard of shooting was very high with new match records and Personal Best (PB) being shot in nearly every match.
Jack Bale shot a PB of 1119 in 3 Position (3P) .22 small bore (kneeling, prone and standing) and got into the final in 3rd place, a challenging final with the only other GB shooter being Dean Bale against the USA. However Jack maintained his composure and achieved 3rd with Dean close behind in 4th and they got team Bronze for this event. Jack also got into the final for 3P 10 metre Air Rifle and ended with 3rd place and another team Bronze with Dean.
In 10 metre Air Rifle Men’s Dean has a new PB with 577 and got into the final in 1st place with Jack in 4th. Dean was up against strong competitors and ended the final in 3rd with Jack in 6th. They both got team silver for this event.
The Bale girls also had a very good JI with Emily the youngest getting through to the final in 50 metre Rifle 3P Woman’s match, she has only competed in this disciple once before and achieved a new PB with 529 and ended the final in 8th place. She also had a new PB in 10m 3P Air Rifle with a score of 566. Emily helped her team to Bronze medal with a score of 370 in 10m Air Rifle standing.
Then a change of discipline to Air Pistol and Philippa had two PB’s, 352 in 10m Air Pistol and 522 in 25m Sport Pistol which helped her team to achieve a Bronze medal. Philippa shot in the England team in the JI with the other England juniors.
Overall the Bales came home with 10 medals and gained great experience to help with future international competitions.
