Winter 2002 - National Rifle Association

The world of cadet rifle shooting remains the nurseryfor the majority of future competitive shots; thetraining and experiences of cadets shape their futureenjoyment and success on the range. Coaches andinstructors want to expose their cadets to as muchmatch pressure as possible, to help them learn vitalmental strength and a determination not to buckle.The 2002 Schools Meeting gave a number of cadets ataste of shooting under the most intense individualpressure - only one GP individual prize was wonwithout going to a tie shoot. Some cadets had theirfirst taste of this highly competitive, stressful andnerve jangling experience – a great preparation forfuture adult and, indeed, international competition;testimony to the crucial role that the Schools andISCRM Meetings have for the future of rifle shooting.Combined with good team shooting and a healthycompetitive spirit, this was a very successful meeting.With no sign of the target rifles, the Schools Meetingwas again a GP affair. The Meeting also started a weekearlier than usual due to the Commonwealth Games,so for many schools this meant that rather than givingup a week of holiday, the last week of term was missedand the majority of staff and cadets seemed happy tomake this sacrifice! Unfortunately the weather, in thefirst week in July, was cool and at times wet andovercast, although not as bad as the Main Meeting (Ihave team shooting mats that still look like they have notdried out from St George’s I . . . ). It is to the credit of thecadets that they kept up their spirits and shot to a goodstandard despite the glum conditions.The Snap shooting, which took place over the firstthree days, saw some close competition betweenOratory, Sedbergh and Oundle. Oratory took firstblood winning the Marling with 325, ahead of Oundleon 300 and Campbell on 295, with Oakham fourth on285. Sedbergh took the honours in the Schools Snap,their 356 beating Oratory with 344 and Oundle 340.The Devonshire and Dorset Falling Plates saw OratoryA beat Sedbergh C in the final ahead of UppinghamC, with Old Sedberghians taking revenge by winningthe Simon Pattinson Open Challenge Cup. TheSchools Aggregate comprises two of the snapcompetitions and Oratory proved worthy winners, 32points ahead of Sedbergh, with Oundle in third.Interestingly, Ampleforth specialised in winning theindividual snap events – C/Sgt Reutter winning theMarlborough Cup in a tie shoot with seven otherswhilst his team mate, UO Hewitt won the FinancialTimes with a 50, again after a tie shoot.Target rifle shooting was occuring at 300 and 500 yardsfor those schools who preferred not to concentrate onthe GP. Wellington College won the Victoria CollegeSCHOOLSMEETINGby James PostleTeam Trophy ahead of Greshams A, with DollarAcademy in third and Marlborough in fourth. CadetFirman of Greshams and WO R Hinde of Wellingtonshared first place for the Silenta Individual trophy with70.8 apiece, whilst Sgt Adamson of Dollar won theVictoria College Individual Shield with 69.9 on countbackfrom Cadet N Hall of Marlborough. L/Cpl Noelof Victoria was third with 69.6.However, the majority of teams were plugging awayat the Wellington and Iveagh competitions for the firstthree days. The Cadet Rifle Aggregate trophy wassettled prior to the Thursday, won outright by theEpsom Captain, Sgt Matthew Read scoring a total of67 over the two ranges. The Wellington was settledin a tie shoot between ranges in the Ashburton – UOHeathcote of Ampleforth proving the victor(continuing to prove that this was the school full ofindividual stars!). The Iveagh tie was held at 300 afterthe Ashburton and won by Cpl Park of Epsom, aheadof seven others. The Devon went to Epsom with 325,ahead of Oratory on 320, whilst the Schools Staff waswon by Capt Craig Stewart of Dollar Academy – goodto see the Commandant of the UK Cadets showinghow it should be done!Ashburton day was bright with only a light breeze.The Reserve got the proceedings going with the threeleading competitors tying on 42, made all the moreamusing for CRO Tony Clayton when it was pointedout to him that Cadet Athkravisoonthorn of Epsomwas from Thailand, making this ‘Thai’ shoot veryappropriate. Cadet Goldsmith of Oratory was to beatthe aforementioned cadet to win the Reserve, CplDruce of Exeter came third. The Pairs Match was wonby Cadets Bond and Smith of Oundle, scoring 118 tobeat the duo of Taylor and Pimblett of Sedbergh on115 and Naumann and Rayner of Merchant Taylorson 113. The Fours match was just as close withUppingham showing they have plenty of good shotsfor the future, winning with 230 from Oratory on 227and Cheltenham on 225.In the Ashburton, the holders Uppingham looked ina strong position after the first distance. Theirimpressive 248 total won them the Kinder and theywere six points up on Epsom in second with 242, withOratory trailing in third with 235. Uppinghamcontinued to make good progress at 300 yards andthe runners between the scoreboards were reportingthat, after the first four firers, Uppingham still had sixpoints on Epsom. As the final four shot, the balancebegan to swing and Epsom pulled away to win thesecond stage with 244 and the Ashburton Shield witha total of 486, the second highest Ashburton winningscore with the GP rifle. Uppingham came second with37