NRA Journal - Summer 2004 - National Rifle Association

at 600 metres (104.13 and 26th). In the afternoon in theKings Norton there were several high scores with Debsrequired to tie shoot with a 50.5; she came second. Backat 900 metres Rich Stewart came in 17th with a very tidy49.1 in a detail with a wind bracket of 2½ right to 3 left.This left him just three off for the day (11th) and now theteam’s top firer in the Grand. Gallingly the second detailhad a much easier time of it. That evening the U19s andthe U25s went out for dinner before meeting up withsome of the RAF and England team members in Barba’sClub. Sunday was a day for rest and shopping.Monday, Kitty’s birthday, was the last day of the Grandand our last chance to impress before team selection.There were only two matches: the Jack Mitchley (2 & 10at 300m) and the President’s Cup (2 & 10 at 600m and800m). Paul Wheeler returned a 50.8 with four otherpossibles also posted at 300 metres. The generalconsensus decided that 600 metres was harder than 800metres with patchy cloud and fish tailing wind. PaulSykes shot very well at 600 metres for a 50.4 whilst backat 800 metres Henry Jeens shot an excellent 50.4 in thesecond, far steadier, detail. Rich S was again consistentlygood with a 49.3 to make himself top team member atfourteenth in the Grand Aggregate and third placedUnder 25 in the Grand.Tuesday provided the Second Stage of the StatePresident’s and the U25 Protea Match. Conditions didnot appear to be too difficult until 600 metres, but scoresappeared to be a little disappointing with Paul Sykes topscoring within the team on 147.9.For the U25 Match (2 & 10 at 300m, 600m and 900m) weagain entered two teams with the Red team unchangedand James replacing Deborah in the Blue team. After arelatively easy 300 metres, South Africa were just in frontwith three points dropped; GB Red were on four off. Itproved very tricky at 600 metres but some patientcoaching from GB Red secured a two point lead goinginto the final range. Despite some solid shooting fromAlex and Henry, GB Blue struggled with a disappointing300 metres and 600 metres which only realistically leftthem in touch with Australia. Calmer conditionsprevailed at 900 metres and all four U25 teams shot well.Unfortunately GB Blue had left themselves too much todo so finished fourth. GB Red, however, posted thesecond highest target score on the range with 590.69,finishing nine points clear of South Africa. This was ashigh as the South African Protea team average and betterthan any England target. Paul Sykes tied for the highestindividual score on the range.The match was an excellent occasion and was very tightall the way through. Afterwards hearty congratulationswere exchanged before a mass photograph of all theparticipants together. It was nice to see that six monthsof training (sometimes in the most difficult conditions)had paid off.The matches were followed by the official dinner atwhich all teams were present. Awards and thanks weremade to many but in particular to Anita at SABU, DeonBurger as International Liaison, Syd Gosling fromWestern Province and General Alexander, ever in controlof the ranges.The State President’s Final on Wednesday concluded theshooting. The team had eight of its members shootingwith the other four in support roles as the day threatenedto be the hottest day of the entire meeting. With a lowcut, some members felt that they were not really in therunning. It proved difficult at 800 metres with Henryand Erica scoring good 74s but with most other membersscoring solid 72s and 73s. Back to 900 metres the windsettled and both Paul Sykes and Rich Stewart shot 75s.Andries Moller eventually emerged the winner with avery impressive 299 with David Calvert one pointbehind. Closest was Erica in tenth place on 294.26.The British teams had booked out the Beef Baron in itsentirety for the night, and the team also used it for thepurpose of celebrating Deborah’s birthday. Dom Harveywas good to his word after his target was beaten by RichStewart’s and so the evening began with his alcoholicgenerosity. After the meal, the slightly less aged movedonto a late bar to continue the socialising.Thursday morning faltered slowly towards ourdeparture for the game reserves with Paul Wheelersleeping on the reception couch and Bob rubbing his ownsore neck - a product of having used Rich Stewart’s scopestand as a pillow the previous night. We moved out todrive to Pretoria, where Richard van Lingen kindlyagreed to store our rifles and kit before our flight home.Before moving on to Umlani Private Game Reserve onthe Friday afternoon in time for the evening game drive,Woody felt it prudent to leave his number ones for safekeeping at the Pretoria Holiday Inn.We spent the next 2½ days on game drives getting up at5:30am to see the vast array of wild animals includingelephants, white rhino, giraffes, wildebeest, zebra,hundreds of colourful birds and innumerable impala.The highlight of the drives must have been the sightingof the pair of dominant male lions out in the bush asthey awoke for a night’s hunting. Thanks to our guidesJoe and Shadrach, we were able to get 10 metres awayfrom these magnificent beasts. We also had thebreathtaking experience of seeing an entire breeding herdof elephants pass us as we stopped above the river. Oneregret was that we could not cap our “Big Five” with theelusive leopard. Still, one needs something as an excuseto come back!After our game drives we spent some time drivingthrough the Kruger before driving back to Johannesburg.Having talked our way out of £5000 of excess baggagecharges, we safely arrived back in the UK to reflect onan enjoyable and successful tour.Many thanks to Erica, Kitty and Paul for all their workand to the plethora of people who have helped,supported and sponsored us.46