The Scottish took place from 1-7 July at Lauder. We have had some very wet years for the Scottish at Lauder in the past, but this year was the complete opposite! Most days were blessed with bright sunshine, warm temperatures and of course a brisk to strong wind most of the time! This did however present a problem shooters previously hadn’t experienced at The Scottish – it became impossible to scope/see shots at 100 yards, certainly on the bottom diagram and often on the middle diagram! Clearing the cut grass away from the range part way through the week offered little respite from this problem, shooters having to complete their targets “by instinct” after leaving the sighting diagram.
The usual format was in place with competition starting on the Saturday afternoon and all squadded competitions finishing on the following Thursday afternoon. On the Friday we had the Home Countries International in the morning and the Final of the blue riband individual event, The Haig, on the Friday afternoon. A full listing of results can be found on the NSRA website at:-
http://nsra.co.uk/index.php/competitions-mainmenu-158/results/category/91-scottish-rifle-meeting-2018
Worthy of note if the huge number of trophies won by the sizeable contingent from George Watsons School who were ably shepherded by Ian Thomson, Rhona Dove, Adam Dove and no doubt others. Well done there!!
At the end of the week the top shooters available made up the Scotland teams for the Home Countries Internationals but we fell short in both the Main Team and the Ladies (no Junior Team this year sadly). Most notable in the Home International was Sheena Sharp winning an amazing 150th cap for Scotland, a fantastic achievement!! The Main Team lost by a mere 5 points and the Ladies by somewhat more.
Scotland Main Team
J Cole-Hamilton 196 196 392
J Paterson 194 196 390
K Greenaway 193 195 388
R Macleod 193 192 385
L Thomson 196 189 385
J Main 191 193 384
J Henderson 194 189 383
A S Bruce 191 189 380
R Law 188 190 378
W Vaughan 191 186 377
Total 3842
Scotland Ladies Team
S Sharp 192 192 384
K Copland 185 186 371
M Bexley 186 195 381
S Henderson 190 186 376
M Melvin 185 175 360
Total 1872
Jim Cole-Hamilton’s fantastic form demonstrated in the Home Countries International carried on through to the afternoon’s final of the Haig where he really was a class above the rest of the field. He shot extremely well and consistently to take the title, again. Ken Greenaway pushed hard for second place, 4 points behind and third was Susan Jackson.
Next year is the Centenary of The Scottish so please make plans to attend this landmark event as the future of the event is still very much in the balance. At the prize giving Ken Nash took the opportunity to ensure people were aware of the precarious financial position The Scottish (and Bisley Week apparently) were in due to various factors, the main one however being the lack of sufficient entrants and their entry fees. So please do consider entering next year. It is always a challenging week with a wealth of prizes on offer in every class so everyone has the opportunity to make their mark. Get your entry in!
Report Sinclair Bruce / Photographs Robin Thomson