A good representation in the GB Junior Team for the Drew Match against the USA. Isabel Stark, Neasa O’Connell, Sam Coates and Bertie Galloway being presented with their representative medals. They were joined by Robin Shand, James Galloway, Angus Strudwick, Rory Donaldson, Johnnie Dodds, Lucy Richards and Frankie Beard for the JI Week.
In the sauna of the 10M range (28 degrees outside) Isabel was best place in the Women’s Air Rifle GP with 606.5 putting her in Silver medal position. In the Main Match Isabel qualified for the final in 3rd place with 600.6 and retained her 3rd place in the final. She also picked up a Team medal with Neasa and Lucy.
In the Mens Air Rifle GP Bertie won the Silver medal with 582.3 and in the Main Match qualified for the final in 3rd place with 579.6. He dropped one place to finish 4th.
3P was re-introduced this year after a long absence. The entries were low but will build up over the next couple of years. In the usual tricky conditions in the Cooper range Robin shot 1082 and had the 2nd equal score. He was awarded 3rd place on countback. Since it is Robin’s last JI he was asked to present some of the medals.
The day of the 50M GP’s the wind was horrific, switching quickly and very strong so scores were lower than expected. In the Women’s event Isabel had to overcome target issues but had an excellent recovery to win by 0.7 with 598.5 from Neasa.
In the Men’s GP Bertie finished on top with 608.6 which was a good score in the terrible conditions. His brother James was 2nd with 601.2.
The Women’s 50M Team, Isabel, Neasa and Lucy who beat Denmark by 0.3 to win the Gold Medals.
Isabel qualified for the final in 2nd place with 608.2 and retained her place just behind the Danish girl. She was joined in the final by Neasa and Lucy.
The 50M Mens Team (sorry for the bad photo) who had a convincing win in the Team event Sam 615.3, Robin 611.6 and Bertie 608.7 finished 20 points ahead of Northern Ireland who were ahead of Denmark.
The Team scores were taken from the Elimination rounds. In the Qualification round Robin, James and Sam progressed to the final. Unfortunately, no-one progressed to the medal positions.
New for this year was a Mixed Pairs event. In Air Rifle Isabel and Bertie picked up a Silver Medal. In the 50M Prone event Neasa and Bertie were top with Isabel and Robin close behind.
The JI Week is all about learning from new experiences. These included several of the Team qualifying for finals and everyone understanding ISSF rules. An added extra this year was dealing with target breakdowns. I have never had a breakdown in the past at JI Week, but this year made up for that. On a positive note the Team learned to deal with it and proved to themselves that they could recover and still win a medal. A real confidence boost. I complained to an NSRA Board member about the condition of the range and he told me the plan is to replace the targets early next year, so fingers crossed.
Thanks to the Team for an excellent and productive week.
Report and Photographs: Ian Thomson