Winter 2002 - National Rifle Association

For many today was all-change in the Grand Aggregate,but despite Brasier dropping four points on the day tofinish on five off, Pugsley had also dropped four, so thetwo point margin remained. Tom Rylands gained apoint, on seven off, whilst Sherri Gallagher, whose 153.20helped her to the Amazons and the Sudan along the way,rocketed into fourth position.Thursday 11 JulyA moderate breeze was ready for the first detail of thePrince of Wales. As the morning progressed it becamemore variable, making conditions generally tricky,resulting in only 25 possibles with an average 8 V bullseach. Lindsey Golland won outright with a score of 75.12but most interest was focused on the outcome of theGrand Aggregate. Brasier’s 73.6 gave Pugsley, Rylandsand Gallagher a chance to take the Gold Cross; Rylands’74.10 came closest but it just wasn’t enough. Nick Brasierwon the Grand Aggregate with of 698.87 ex 705 withTom Rylands in second place on 697.88. Glyn Barnettand Alwyn McLean made 74 each for third and fourthplace respectively on 696, whilst Sherri Gallagher in fifthplace took the Olle Beckett for top under-23 and the Altonfor top lady. The Admiral Hutton Tyro Trophy went toChris Cotillard from Jersey with 687.69, seven pointsahead of the rest of the pack, whilst the Conwey FentonMemorial for top UK Cadet went to James Headon ofDollar Academy with 687.67An excellent example of team selection could be foundin the Bank of England as OGRE A beat OGRE B intosecond place by just a few V bulls. What’s so specialabout that you might ask? Well when the competitionis based on four Grand Aggregate scores and both teamsscore 2756 points then that’s a bit special! There werethe usual strange names in the Fulton Pairs, which thisyear was won by the subtly, but not very aptly, namedNorfolk ‘n’ Chance, whereas ninth placed “2 NRA GoldMedals and £500” either needed to work on their nameor their score!Simon Cane, Parag Patel and Susie Kent all managed toset their sights accurately for the TWP SightersAggregate - only two of their sighters in the Grand failedto hit the middle for scores of 128 ex 130. Simon hadslightly more V bulls and so took the pot. The new VBull Aggregate resulted in two competitors with 92 Vbulls in the Grand Aggregate; counting back on theirCorporation scores gave David Calvert the edge overAdam Jory by six Vs to three.Glyn Barnett’s 74.10 in the Prince of Wales meant thathe picked up the LVA Communications Aggregate(previously the rather strangely named 1400 YardsAggregate) as well as the All Comers Aggregate, butadding the scores from the Donegall and the Lovell stillmeant that Nick Brasier came out on top in the Toye,Kenning and Spencer Aggregate. The Century RangeAggregate went to Tom Rylands on 701.97, two pointsclear of John Webster in second. There was a closelyfought tie between Martin Millar of Comber and AdamJory of Guernsey both on 180.24 for the Northland;Martin remembered V bulls mean prizes and scored 25.3in the tie to Adam’s 25.2. Back in fourth place Julie Cane’s179.26 gave her the Imp. Adam made up for hisdisappointment by winning the Lord Tedder with ascore of 393.54. The Berryman had two scores of 199from Richard Stewart on 199.25 and Ed Wood on 199.21and the OTF Long Range Aggregate went to Doug Gassof Newcastle with 173.18.In the individual squadded competitions comprising theGrand Aggregate, 21 X class competitors appeared on aprize list without making the HPS for the event (14 inthe Corporation and 7 in the Prince of Wales). For Aclass the total was 22 (Daily Mail 7, PoW 4, Corporation11 including three scores of 48!). O class broadly neededone off with a good V count, except for the Alexandrawhere only HPSs were enough, and the Prince of Walesand the Corporation where two off might do. And Tclass? Four off made the list in the Corporation, threeoff in a couple of others, but mostly two off was needed.With the rocketing standard of competition over the lastfew years has come serious consideration of whether tocut a “cooking” bull sighter. It seems unlikely thatanyone would yet be willing to take the risk with a placeon the leader board in the equation. Even in the outsidecompetitions, one might surmise that such factors as thesmall bull at 300 and the ever-present possibility of adifficult wind on Stickledown combine to limit the risktakersto the Century. Certainly that was where boldnessdid dramatically affect this year’s result. In the 500 yardselement, Ross McQuillan accepted V5 for 50.9 to tie on100.18. David Luckman cut two 5s to make 50.9 for hisplace in the tie-shoot, and went on to win. Joining Davidand Ross, Dick Horrocks had cut one 5 to make 50.10,while Tom Rylands accepted 5V for a 50.8, missing thetie-shoot by one V. It is, of course, relativelystraightforward to find those who, with hindsight, mighthave won by going for the extra one or two Vs. The listincludes Peter Bysshe, Steve East and Simon Belither inthe Donegall, David Calvert and Iryna Reder in theTimes, James Lewis and Deon Burger in the Alexandra,Jonathan Kent, Toby Raincock, David Rowland andGRH Smith in the Hutton, and Nigel Cole-Hawkins,Dave Dyson, Paul Gray, Parag Patel and Nick Tremlettin the Duke of Cambridge. In the Conan Doyle, eitherJulian Gould or Angus McLeod had the potential for anoutright win (both with 50.9 converting a 5), whileDorothy Hume and Roy Jobson could have joined Julianand Angus in the tie-shoot. What is more difficult toidentify (if only because most of the prize lists excludescores of 49) are the shooters who decide to cut a bullsighter and finish 49.9 dropping the last - although their“friends” will usually relate the full details later at theclubhouse bar!Bright sunlight between scattered clouds gave changingwind and light for the afternoon matches on Century;the Universities National went to England whilst theOverseas went to Jersey. There was disappointmentfor the UK Cadets in the AG Bell where the Canadiansgot the better of them by five points. On Butt 19 the PWRichardson went to Mike Cosway with 50.9 but the majorexcitement of the afternoon was happening at the otherend of Century where the National was taking place . . .43