This year the competition was held on the weekend 3rd to the 5th May. The competition is held at the Lord Roberts Centre, Bisley, Surrey. On Saturday Dean and Emily shot in the Air Rifle matches, Emily on first in the 10m Ladies Air Rifle competition. Emily shot well and earns a place in the Ladies Air Rifle final. In the ESSU competitions juniors compete with the seniors in one match, so Emily was in the top eight of the qualifying match overall. Emily’s qualifying score was 404.8 which actually saw Emily finish the qualifying match in third overall.
It was then Philippa’s turn to step up to the firing point. Philippa’s first match of the competition was 25m Sport Pistol. 25m Sport Pistol match is good to watch, as it is a mixture of 30 shots precision shooting and then 30 shots on turning targets. For this competition a five shot air pistol is used. Philippa shot a score of 530 with 8 inner tens (530-8x).
The next match for the Saturday was the 10m Men’s Air Rifle Competition in which Dean had entered. Dean shot 596.6 giving him a place in the final, but this score is a fairly low score for Dean. The main hurdle in a qualifying match under the new ISSF rules is to get into the final. In the final all scores are reset to zero, so any advantage you may have had in the qualifying match is lost.
Next, it was time for the Ladies Air Rifle Final. It had been a good qualifying match for the juniors, seeing four of the eight final places being filled by juniors. Emily excelled, finishing the final in third place with a bronze medal overall and second place in the juniors.
The final match for the day was Dean in the 10m Men’s Air Rifle Final. Once again the juniors had taken five of the eight final places. It was an exciting final, Dean was to shoot an excellent final taking the silver medal overall and first place in the juniors. This made him England Junior Air Rifle Champion for the second year running and seeing him retain the Ted Daw Junior Air Rifle Trophy.
Sunday’s first match was Philippa in the 10m Ladies Air Pistol Match. Philippa shot 327 in the qualifying match which was not enough to get her into the final.
Dean and Emily had their 50m Rifle Competitions on Sunday. This is a match in the prone position only. Prone matches are normally very well attended as many shooting athletes only shoot prone. In the ESSU competition this year saw the men have two elimination relays. Dean was in the second elimination relay, and he made it through to the qualifying match. Dean did very well in the qualifying match but unfortunately none of the juniors made it through to the final. Dean was the top junior score in the qualifying match and therefore took the England Junior Prone Rifle Champion title, with a score of 612.2. Emily had a very good shoot as she has only been shooting small-bore less than twelve months and she borrows a rifle from Braunton Target Shooting Club.
On the third and final day of the competition all pistol and air rifle competitions were over. The two matches left were 3P (three positions). The men’s match is 3 X 40 shots, first in the kneeling position then prone position and to finish in the standing position. Ladies 3P is a 3 X 20 match with the positions in the same order as the men’s. The Ladies and Men’s matches were shot concurrently.
Emily was lent another rifle from the GB Junior Rifle Squad. Martin Beard and Colin Sykes spent about two hours fitting Emily with the rifle on Sunday evening making it a long day for them. Emily would like to say once again a very big thank you to the both of them and to Larissa Sykes for coming back to help her. This made a great difference as she shot a personal best with a score of 536.
Dean shot well in the Men’s 3P match getting a score of 1114 making him fifth place in the qualifying match and a position in the final, along with two other juniors. Dean finishes the final in fourth place just outside the medals but as top junior. Dean was top junior in the ESSU Men’s 3 P match for the second year in a row. There is not a trophy for junior in the 3P match as this is only the second year that juniors have made it into the 3P finals. This obviously shows that our Great Britain Junior Rifle Squad is producing some top class athletes. Great to see all the hard work by both the juniors and the coaching staff paying off. Well done to you all.
Jack missed the competition as he has been in Romania for two weeks work experience, which is for his college course with Petroc.
The British Free Rifle Club, holds prone and three positional competitions at Lord Roberts Centre at Bisley. This year the meet was on Saturday and Sunday 22nd-23rd March. The completion is a 50 metre small-bore match under ISSF Rules. Saturday is the prone matches and Sunday is the 3P matches.
Jack, Dean and Emily entered into the 3P matches this year, this is the first time they have entered this completion. The weather made it a challenging match; there was bright sunshine, wind, hail and rain.
The 3P match is 3 x 40 for men and 3 x 20 for ladies in the qualifying match, then a mixed Olympic Final. Unlike other disciplines in small-bore competitions, 3P matches are not decimal scoring. The competitors start with 15 minutes preparation and sighting time for kneeling but when they change positions to prone and standing there in no limit. The sighting time for the change from kneeling to prone and then prone to standing is in the match time.
Emily scored 517 from a possible 600 for her 3 x 20 qualifying match; this was only her third 50 metre 3P competition.
Jack and Dean had a good shoot, both finishing on 1114 in their 3 x 40 match. Dean beating his brother by winning on inner 10’s, Jack having 27 and Dean having 39. Dean was 1st and Jack 2nd in the qualifying match giving both of them a place in the Olympic final.
Both Jack and Dean had a good Olympic final with Jack finishing 5th and Dean in 1st place wining gold. Dean led the final from the start and maintained the lead throughout.
This year the Great Britain Junior Rifle Squad entered ten of the squad in Intershoot 2014. Jack, Dean and Emily went to Intershoot for the first time. They said that they thoroughly enjoyed it.
Philippa went as part of the England Small-bore Shooting Union (ESSU). Philippa was the first to compete on the first day with her first match at 8am. Philippa shot well as she has made such a major change to her shooting, changing from left handed to right handed.
Emily was next to compete in Intershoot in the Junior Female Rifle match, Emily shot a score of 402.2 which made her tenth narrowly missing the final by 0.4. Jack and Dean were next up in the Junior Men Rifle Match. Dean shot a score of 595.4 placing him in sixteenth place, this was below his average. Jack also shooting in the same detail shot 612.5 placing him in fourth place in the match, giving him a place in the final.
Jack took his place in the final along with the other seven finalists one of which was a fellow team mate Finn. Jack made fifth place before being eliminated.
On the second day of the competition (Friday) it was Emily’s turn for an early start. The Junior Female Rifle match started at 8am. Emily finished in twelfth position with a score of 399.9.
Next it was the turn of Jack and Dean in the second Junior Men Rifle competition. Dean shot 595.4 again but it placed him thirteenth this time. Jack was slightly down on his previous match the day before shooting 609.3 placing him seventh. The main thing is that it placed him in another final. As the scores are now reset in the Olympic Finals the main objective is that you get into the top eight of the qualifying match.
With parents watching on the live feed of results at home, Jack took his place in the final once again as the only British Junior athlete in the final. All his team and the manager watched on. Jack had a really strong start putting him in first place and after the eight shot he had a 3.4 point lead. Jack at this point had a higher score than any athlete shooting in the junior or senior final that was running concurrently, this included two former gold medal Olympians. Then Jack put us all on edge as he shot 8.2 cutting his lead in half. With everyone looking on, Jack held it together and finished first with the gold medal and a score of 203.1. This was the best win for GB Juniors abroad for many years. Well done Jack!
Jack was in a team with fellow team mates Finn and Jack R and they also took gold in the team medals. Well done to them all.
In the afternoon Philippa shot her second competition which went well, she improved on the previous day scoring 339 placing her fourteenth.
On to the last day of the competition (Saturday) there are only individuals and no team events. Philippa was on first again in her third and final match of the competition. Again she had a good result of 326. When she returns home she can train further on improving her scores shooting right handed, having competed well in a large international match.
Emily was next on for her third and final qualifying match which went very well. She shot a score of 405.2 placing her in seventh and in the Junior Female Final. The finals were held in the afternoon.
First it would be Emily in the Junior Female Rifle Final to take her position. She shot well and remained in to finish seventh.
Jack and Dean then shot their last qualifying match of the competition which went well. Dean scored 594.9 placing him in sixteenth. Jack scored 611.7 putting him in sixth place and in the Junior Men’s Olympic Final again. He joined his team mate Finn in the final which would be the last event of Intershoot 2014.
Jack then took his position at the firing point for his third and last Olympic Final of the competition. Jack made it into all of the junior men finals of Intershoot 2014 and this time finished with a bronze medal missing silver by 0.1. So the medal tally he bought home was three medals two gold and one bronze.
Once they have completed a packed year of competitions they will be back to see Intershoot 2015 February next year.
The Great Britain Junior Rifle Team had a good competition and brought home a good number of medals. It was well deserved with all the hard work put in by the athletes and the coaches, you should all be very proud.
Well done to all that took part in Intershoot 2014, especially to the members of the Great Britain Junior Rifle Team and all of the England Small-Bore Shooting Union (ESSU) athletes.
Jack, Dean and Emily again shot as part of the Great Britain Rifle Squad and Philippa shot with the South East Regional Pistol Squad (SERPS). They would all normally compete as juniors in the junior matches. This year the NSRA have removed the junior matches from this competition, so the juniors have had to compete in the same matches as the seniors.
Emily was first to compete on Saturday with athletes call to the line at 7:45am. Emily was entered into a 60 shot match, the first 40 shots for the Women’s Air Rifle Championship competition and all 60 shots going to the Aggregate match. Despite the early start to the day Emily was on form and shot 405.4 in the British Championship and 609.7 in the Aggregate match. The top score in the Woman’s British Championship was 411.9. This meant Emily qualified for the Olympic Final to be held at 11am on the Saturday.
When athletes were called to the line for the final three out of the eight places were filled by the GB Junior Rifle Squad. Emily finished sixth overall. Well done Emily and to all the finalists.
Next up was Jack and Dean in the rifle Men’s Air Rifle Championship and Philippa into her first 60 shot Aggregate match.
Jack and Dean had a good match, Dean scoring 601.5 placing him in eleventh and Jack scoring 609 making Jack in a qualifying position for the Olympic Final to be held a 5:00pm.
Philippa had another good shoot after her major change from left to right handed shooting, scoring 343. All scores can be found here at the NSRA website.
The British Men’s Air Rile Championship Final started a 5:00pm and was to be an exciting final. The final again had three GB Junior Rifle Squad members in it. The senior team had some major Great Britain athletes in the final so Jack was going to have to concentrate and hold his head if he was going to get in the medals. That was exactly what he did to achieve second place and the silver medal. The audience clapped and cheered as the last shots were taken and the gold and silver medal was decided on the last shot. A great final to watch and thank you to all the finalist for a great end to the day.
Sunday Jack, Dean and Emily shot in their second aggregate matches doing well and Philippa shot in the Women Air Pistol Championships match and they all have an enjoyable weekend.
This year it was made a lot better for the spectators with the scores displayed during the matches live and the results live on the internet. A great improvement, well done to the organisers.
Geoff Partridge Competition 2014
Here they are at the start of another year and the competitions have started. The first of the year is the Geoff Partridge Memorial Competition held at Aldersley, Wolverhampton. This is a good match attended by many highly ranked shooting athletes from Great Britain. It is a match that is held under ISSF rules.
The match went very well for all four of the Bale athletes with the youngest Emily, back on form again shooting a new match personal best of 384 ex400. Philippa shot pistol, just changing hands form left to right only in December. For Philippa this is such a major change that her performance in this first competition shooting right handed was excellent.
Jack’s performance was outstanding; he won N.I.S.C top junior rifle shooter. He also won 1st place in Class A in the N.I.S.C. Open. His first match saw Jack get into the final and his second match he obtained a new match personal best of 589 ex600. Both matches saw Jack taking 1st place in Class A in the Aggregate as well.
