In the hottest Imperial meeting on record, 765 people sweated and struggled in the heat whilst competing in the Grand Aggregate and Queens Prize, as well as in several team matches. Apart from the heat, the winds were some of the most capricious ever seen, with even the shooters who thought themselves lucky to be shooting early in the morning or late in the afternoon being exposed to far from calm conditions. All of this led to much more separation in scores than in previous years and more stress for the leaders, as it was very easy to drop a lot of points very quickly.
On the final Saturday, with the day starting with the final of the St Georges, followed by the Mackinnon international long range team match and culminating in the final stage of the Queen’s prize, the weather had changed from light rapidly changing winds of the previous week to very strong, rapidly changing, winds. This resulted in a very open competition for the final of the St Georges, as there were no 75’s ex 75 and half the field scoring under 70, a most unusual outcome. This was a foretaste of the carnage to come, with extremely low scores in the coached team shoot (the Mackinnon) and even lower scores in the Queen’s, an individual shoot self-coached. Many of the Queen’s competitors had a miss, blown off the edge of the target, such was the variability and unreadability of the heavy wind. The winning score was the lowest recorded since 1971, in days when the ammunition was of poorer quality.
The Grand Aggregate was very exciting from a Scottish standpoint with Sandy Walker lying 2nd and Bruce Logan 3rd at a stage 2/3 of the way through. Sandy eventually finished joint top on score but was counted back on centrals (V’s) to 3rd. He scored an excellent 74 ex 75 in the midday detail (the hottest and most difficult) knowing he had to make a 75 to win, but it was still one of the top scores from his detail of around 150 firers. Bruce finished 7th, 4 behind. Sandy set a new British record for the Grand Aggregate, as the course of fire had been expanded to include a further 1000 yard competition and the winner was Australian and 2nd was a Canadian.
The highlights of Scottish Performances during the meeting are outlined below (with apologies to anyone inadvertently missed off the list)
1. Individual Results
Grand Aggregate
· Sandy Walker 3rd
· Bruce Logan 7th
· Angus McLeod 22nd
· Rory MacLeod 37th
· James Lawrie 47th
· Sorcha Anderson 87th
· Alex Stewart 93rd
Queen’s Prize 1st Stage
· Alex Hunter 9th
· Bruce Logan 11th
Queen’s Prize 2nd Stage
· Sandy Walker 4th
· Angus McLeod 19th
· Lindsay Peden 27th
Queen’s Prize 3rd Stage
· Sandy Walker 13th
· James Lawrie 21st
St Georges 1st Stage
· Sarah Rennie 9th
· Rory MacLeod 11th
St Georges 2nd Stage
· James Lawrie 13th
St Georges 3rd Stage
· Sandy Gill 16th
Prince of Wales
· Alex Hunter 2nd (after Tie shoot for 1st)
· Alice Ogilvie 3rd (after Tie shoot for 1st)
· James Mehta 19th
· Lindsey McKerrell 22nd
Alexandra
· Tim Kidner 2nd
Century
· Ian Shaw 4th
· Sandy Walker 10th
Conan Doyle
· Tim Kidner 9th
Daily Mail
· James Lawrie 5th
· Sandy Walker 11th
Donegall
· Ian Brechin 12th
Donaldson Memorial 1st Stage
· Sandy Walker 3rd
Donaldson Memorial Stage 2
· Bruce Logan 14th
Duke of Cambridge
· Alex Hunter 1st
· Sandy Walker 5th
Lovell
· Matthew Charlton 7th
· Sarah Rennie 9th
Wimbledon TR
· Lindsey McKerrell 17th
Aggregates
Palma Aggregate – Sandy Walker 1st
Weekend Aggregate – Sandy Walker 3rd, Bruce Logan 5th
British Open Championship – Sandy Walker 2nd
Saturday Aggregate – Bruce Logan 2nd
2. Major Team Matches
National (teams of 20 firers against England, Wales, Ireland at 300/500/600 yards)
In a very low scoring match, due to the fickleness of the wind, Scotland were leading by 7 points after 2 of the 3 ranges, but shot poorly at 600 yards to lose to both England and Ireland, losing 29 points to England at this range. Top score for Scotland was Rory MacLeod with 103-15v.
Mackinnon (team of 12 firers against home countries, Guernsey, Jersey, Australia, Canada and Kenya)
In the most challenging of conditions for the coaches, the scoring was particularly low, with all teams posting multiple magpies on their scoreboards as well as the occasional outer. Scotland had a poor day despite having a good team on paper and finished 6th out of 9 teams and 47 points behind the winners, England. Top score for Scotland was Sarah Rennie with 90-8v.
Kolapore (teams of 8 firers, GB v Canada, Australia, Kenya, Jersey and Guernsey)
This match is for the elite of the GB shooters. Sandy Walker shot in his second consecutive match and Bruce Logan was unlucky to be only a reserve yet again for the second consecutive year. However, selection for this match is in itself a great accolade and honour. Sandy shot very well in scorching heat to score 149-15v and GB won the match by a margin of just 1 point ahead of Canada. Sandy then went on to repeat that score in the afternoon in Queen’s 2, an indicator of his level of fitness and ability to cope with the heat.
Report : Lindsay Peden