SCOTLAND TR: a fine end to 2014!
Scotland’s final two matches of 2014 saw contrasting fortunes for the squad.
SCOTTISH RA vs. LMRA, Blair Atholl, 4-5 October Full scores
With the captain otherwise engaged at a family wedding, Richard Scott (vice-captain from the California tour) kindly agreed to lead the team at Blair Atholl against the LMRA’s star-studded visiting line-up, featuring the likes of Messrs Brasier, Wilde, Stangroom and Winney.
The lack of a Dollar contingent and a few withdrawals from the team left the Scottish team with just eight firing members in addition to coach Hamish Hunter, so the match conditions were adjusted such that the best eight scores at each range would count – eight from eleven in the LMRA’s case, but all eight shooters in our case.
Notwithstanding some excellent shooting at short range from Claire Halleran, Richard Scott and, in particular, Kenny Macdonald with 224.30, the LMRA opened a 14 point lead at 400 yards before extending it to 40 points at 500 yards and 52 points by the end of Saturday’s shooting.
In Sunday’s shooting at long range, the LMRA gained a further 22 points at 900 yards but only another 5 at 1000 yards, which was clearly the Scots’ strongest range. Our scoring there was higher than at 900 and almost as high as at 500 yards – both Richard and Pete scored 74 at 1000, and the margin at long was barely half that at short range.
Overall, the match result was a win for the LMRA by 2921.317 to 2842.246. Richard Scott was our highest scorer at long range but Kenny Macdonald was overall top scorer in the match with an excellent 370.49, edging out Nick Brasier by ten V bulls.
EUROPEAN LONG RANGE CHAMPIONSHIP, Bisley, 11-12 October Full Results
A week later, quite a strong Scotland team (most of whom had shot in the National or Mackinnon earlier this year) competed for the European Long Range Championship at Bisley. Illness and work had deprived the team of three members in the preceding days, but they had been very ably replaced by Messrs Maclean, Seebohm and Gill.
After a team practice of 10 rounds at 900 yards on Saturday morning, Scotland dropped 11 points (over 2ss + 15s) at 800 yards to lead by 7 points from Ireland and 8 from Wales, with an England team containing several of the summer’s Great Britain team in 4th place. After lunch, Scotland took a further point from Wales and three from England at 900 yards, before opening a huge lead at 1000 yards. Margins of 20 over Ireland, 32 over England and 44 over Wales just at that distance meant that we had won every range while the others’ performances had been inconsistent, leading to a 53 point overnight lead over England and Wales and 61 points over Ireland. The Channel Islands and Germany lay fifth and sixth, with the latter’s performance much improved over previous years. Wind conditions had been interesting at times, and both firers and coaches had played their part in generating Scotland’s big lead.
Much as we would happily have taken on any conditions on Sunday, we hoped for easy ones so as to minimise risk and facilitate the preservation of our lead. As Sunday dawned, however, the team realised that nobody would be shooting for a while – thick fog enveloped Stickledown, and even at 10 o’clock we could barely see the 900 yard firing point from the 1000 yard one. The teams were called forward for 10:30 though, and the fog lifted exactly when the range officers (and Farnborough Airport) had predicted, allowing for a truncated contest over 2ss+10 at 900 and 1000 yards to complete the Championship before trying to fit in the individual Final.
Scotland’s job in the circumstances was to shoot without mishap and take advantage of the relatively easy wind by getting all our shots away before conditions had a chance to become harder (and indeed before time ran out!). At both ranges, we finished substantially ahead of the op, just as we had the day before. England and Wales both performed better in the easier conditions, taking 16 and 6 points respectively out of our lead. However, Scotland’s overnight advantage had been far too great.
Top scorers for Scotland were Euan Maclean, Peter Seebohm, Jon Sweet and Sandy Gill – the late additions to the team had had a very positive influence on the result. Euan’s 316.38 was the second highest total among all the teams, and his V-bull total was the highest of all by a clear eight!
Euan, Peter and Jon all shot in the rather hurried individual Final over 2ss+10 at 1000 yards, with Euan’s 48.8 being our highest score. If only one of his shots hadn’t escaped into the magpie, he might have won! As it was, he took home the Silver Medal.
European Long Range Championship Winners Medal
European Long Range Championship Winning Team - Scotland
And of course he, and the rest of the team, capped a season of strong performances with a result that was worthy of them, as they were crowned European Long Range Champions and took home the team Gold Medals. Well done all!
I hope everyone enjoys the break from fullbore shooting over the coming months. I look forward to finding out the identity of and supporting our new captain in due course, and to seeing you all in April/May if not before!
Regards,
