We switched the venue from Denwood to Balerno & Currie this year, and it was good to get more of the top Edinburgh shooters to accept selections this time around. I am however afraid to report that we have been comprehensively beaten in both matches.
In the seniors, our losing streak now extends to five matches, and we are 28-19 behind in the series. NI shot really well this year, their best score since 2015, and we haven’t shot a score that could beat that since 2016. We seem to have really struggled in recent years, although this is our highest score post-COVID so perhaps we are on a slow and painful upward trend? We really need to be finding another 30 points or so - an average of two points a person - which could mostly come from fewer scores in the 380s (and I’m the most guilty once more this year!) and more scores in the mid 390s. We have the shooters capable of this, but how do we improve things to get the best out of them on the day? I’d be really keen to hear any feedback from team members over the last few years.
In the juniors, we haven’t won since 2014, and then before that we’re back to 2007 for another win. In general our juniors are shooting much lower scores then they were 15 - 20 years ago, and we are now behind 16-7 in the series. Identifying the best juniors to be in the team is really hard with so few of the Scottish juniors shooting in either the STS or NSRA individual competitions, and I would be really keen to hear from any juniors (Under-21 on the day of the match) who would like to make themselves available for selection.
The top scorers in both the Scotland and North Island teams were GBR and NZ Olympians Seonaid McIntosh and Ryan Taylor, both with 399. Seonaid therefore holds the Waka Huia for a year, and is pictured being presented with this by Sinclair Bruce. Three shooters tied for the top score in the Scottish Junior Team, Kirsty Scott leading the way on countback. The trophy for the highest scoring junior remains missing, believed to be somewhere within George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, but still not tracked down yet.
My thanks to everyone who came to B&C to shoot this year, and especially to Sinclair Bruce for running the electronic targets all day.
The 2025 match will be shot at Balerno & Currie on 23rd March, and will be the 50th time the match has been held. According to our records some 166 people have shot in the senior team, and 63 in the junior team (and there is of course some overlap between the two), and a number of those are no longer with us, but in order to mark this anniversary I’d like to invite anyone who has shot in either team over these years to attend a small celebration in Edinburgh after the 2025 match has been shot. I don’t quite know what form it would take - will very much depend on numbers - so would be delighted to get any indications from those who might like to attend sooner rather than later.
All the very best for a great winter season, and look forward to seeing the 2025 team at B&C next year.
Donald McIntosh