Eight members of the Scottish Target Shooting Pistol Development Squad gained some very valuable competition experience at the NSRA meeting and were rewarded with one of the best ever haul of medals by a Scottish Team.
Leading the charge on the first day, Kyla Dodd with a 559 won Bronze individual in Sport Pistol and Katie Knowles 557, Kerstin Dodd 549 and Ciara Evans 500 took the Team Silver. The same day Aedan Evans shot 564 to take Gold in the 10m GP event.
The second day started with Aedan scoring 558 for the Individual Silver medal and, together with Hamish Barker on 541 and Conal Evans on 538, they won the Team Bronze. In the GP event for the Women the same day Katie scored a 362 for an equal first place but took the Silver medal on X ring count back.
The third day saw Aedan make a great start with a 567 for a final place, with Hamish joining him with 541. Conal did not make the final, but his 532 helped the team to the Gold medal. In the women’s event it was a thrill to see Katie qualify for the final with a 370, Kerstin with a 364 and Daisy Foniciello, one of our youngest competitors, with a 355. Kyla had a team score of 351 and with Katie and Kerstin won the Gold.
The Finals
In a gripping blow-by-blow final, we saw Hamish miss a medal but Aedan held strong and emerged with the Gold.
In the line-up for the Women's final, it was so pleasing to see Katie on the left, next to her Kerstin and next to her Daisy. Three out of the eight qualifiers. Daisy had not planned time for the final, so an arrangement was made that at any point in the final she completed her part, she would immediately leave the firing point and run to transport waiting to rush her to Gatwick. Her pistol to be left and recovered by the team!
Katie just missed out on the Bronze and sat down in 4th place. Daisy held for another few shots and then was eliminated. She put her pistol down and started her run for home.
Kerstin moved around in the pecking order but moved in to the last three. She shot well and caused excitement with a gap narrowing 10-7 before she secured the Silver medal.
The total was ten medals, including four golds, from a young team with a great spirit!
A full set of results can be found here:
Report by Hugh Hunter