Summer 2006 - National Rifle Association

Hotel where the team stayed. For the shooter,however, it offers a lovely range which drawscomparisons with the Jubilee Range in Blair Athollfor its picturesque setting.On the first day of our weekend we had a fairly relaxedshoot - effectively a Queens II with plenty of time forfettling rifles and enjoying regular hospitality fromour hosts. Although we were not using the tourammunition but SA produced factory ammunition theday’s shooting went reasonably well - there was no150 from the team but four scores of 149 (Nick Tremlett(17), Rupert Dix (16), Peter Griggs and Alistair Speirs(both on 12)). Top score of the day was gained bylocal man, Tim Valentine with 149.22. James Watsonwon the Queens I competition (first 7 of 10 counting)with 105.14 and the conjoining of the Club Chairman,Steve Berkemeyer, with Rupert Dix won the pairscompetition.The following day we had our first chance to operateas a team (or rather teams) on foreign soil. The teamwas split into two eight man teams, captained by theCaptain and Vice-Captain respectively, to competeagainst each other and a Nottingham Road team at300 metres, 600 yards and 1000 yards.At 300 metres some team members experienceddifficulty achieving good groups. The consensus wasthat the PNP ammunition which we were using wasa little ‘hot’ for 300 metres at altitude. After the firstrange the Captain’s team was leading the NottinghamRoad team and the Vice-Captain’s team (by 7 and 13points respectively). The Vice-Captain’s team pulledback somewhat and, indeed, won the 600 yards rangebut at the end of the day it was the Captain’s teamwhich had prevailed. The scores were:Captain’s team 1158.98Nick Tremlett 147.13Vice-Captain’s team 1143.90Peter Griggs 146.16Nottingham Road team 1117.68Clarry Hawthorne 146.12Team-building, rest and recreationAfter airing our rifles over the weekend we had a weekbefore the start of the SABU Championships atBloemfontein. The first part of this week we spent atBushlands Game Lodge, close to the Eastern coast,where we had the opportunity to observe animals atHluhluwe Game Reserve and also, during a slow boattrip, on the river delta by St Lucia. The middle of theweek was given over to visiting the battlefields of theZulu war, Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana. We finishedwith a couple of nights up in the heights of theDrakensburg mountains at the Little SwitzerlandHotel.The Freestate ChampionshipsShooting started on the Monday, for us, with thesecond day of the Free State Championships. Thisconstituted a pairs match in the morning and acompetition for teams of four in the afternoon. Thehighest GB pair’s score came from Richard Shoulerand Jeremy Langley with 203.20 which was not goodenough to displace the local pairing of D Steyn and SSteyn which achieved 205.16. In the foursomescompetition we were rather more successful, claimingthe top three places:1 The Dorn Tado Team 408.35(J Langley, R Shouler, A Speirs, J Holmes)2 The Cluster Lane Team 408.32(N Tremlett, R Dix, R Jeens, P Holden)3 The Vee See Ten Team 401.35(C Fitzpatrick, P Griggs, N Ball, A Woodward)The SABU ChampionshipsThe following day we had our first individualsuccesses in the very first match of the Championship,the Scottish Sword which is shot at 300 and 900 metres.Team members claimed six of the top ten places,headed by Nick Tremlett who won the match with99.8. Nick was able to claim a further success in theafternoon’s match, the Dewar Shield for teams of six,when he coached the winning North London RifleClub team (Griggs, Woodward, Deane, Jeens, Ball andLangley).The team’s run of success continued the following dayin the Hamilton Cup (teams of six over a Queens Icourse of fire). Again it was the Chief Coach whoshone, shepherding his team to a win with a combinedscore of 624.63. South African teams were alsoexcluded from second place - Stuart Colling’s teamclaimed this spot. We had a little less success in theafternoon’s long range match, the Rhodes Cup. Hereit was South African teams which occupied the topthree positions.On Thursday the Championship started in earnestwith the first counting match in the Grand Aggregate,the Orange Free State Cup, but for us the mainbusiness of the day was our first full internationalmatch - the RSA International, shot at 800 and 900metres. In the Free State Cup GB team membersacquitted themselves well, gaining six of the top tenplaces (David Calvert being highest placed at second).The RSA InternationalThe RSA International started well. In a very trickyquick-moving fishtail (something like 5 right to 1 left)the GB team surged ahead by three points at 800metres (878.68 against 875.70). At 900 metres,however, it was the South African team which pulledsignificantly ahead, by 25 points, giving them thematch with 1743.135 as against our 1721.118. If wehad had any illusions as to the difficulty of beating aSouth African team at Bloemfontein (and we did not)then this match would certainly have dispelled them.26