Winter 2002 - National Rifle Association

to my right seemed to be dropping points, but GinnyMeasures shooting with me was holding the V well, andI was quite prepared to steal wind from anyone. Werattled the shots down, and I was lucky that all but oneof my dodgy wind calls stayed in. With the last nineshots filling the doughnut, I got up feeling happy, butsure that with only four Vs I would be off the lead.The scoreboard showed two scores of 225 and eightscores of 224 as we lay down at 1000. I found myselfpaired with Andy Luckman, who was ahead of me byone V bull. At this stage I was back to the “fun shoot”mentality – pulling back a whole point on both DaveAllen and Nick Brasier was a tall order, but it would begreat to try. Meanwhile Andy and I could shoot againsteach other just for the hell of it.The shoot started well, with a V bull sighter convertedand a row of bulls to follow, chasing the right-hand sideas the wind dropped from about 2½ towards zero. Andydropped a point round about his fifth shot. With six orseven in the bull, quite suddenly I realized that thingswere going really rather well. With that realization camethe adrenaline. The wind was swinging rapidly throughabout 30 degrees and needed careful watching. As itchanged sides Andy was caught for a magpie, and downthe range were lots of solid inners. With that cue I madethe two-minute change needed. Suddenly I had ninebulls in less than straightforward conditions – there wasa good chance I had made up the point. As the tenthbull came up I was really struggling mentally. Load,windage, shoot, plot had become automatic, and theconscious part of my brain was filling with “stay calm,don’t hyperventilate, do it right, don’t crossfire, don’tscrew this up.” Subconsciously I was aware of the buzzof the crowd behind, but the mental focus was so intensethat I was no longer processing sound.The eleventh shot went down on autopilot, and thenthere was another big wind shift. I put my guess on thegun, wanted to get it away quickly, but tensed over thetrigger release. Forcing the shot was an error, and thewind call was out anyway as it ended up high right inthe inner. 298 might still be enough – ignore it, go on.With the wind now running from the other side, andhaving run out of ideas, I lifted the correction from theplot. The shot went away smoothly for another V. Twoto go – do it right. Wind changing sides, put zero on thegun, look for trends, still zero, go on, little breeze – checkagain.The wind was flicking from the right. I guessed andadded a half from zero. Reading the plot would havebeen a better idea, as it indicated 1 to 2 requiredwhenever right wind had showed. With elevation nearthe bottom of the group, and short 1 on the wind, thefourteenth sneaked out low left. Add ¾, go again andit’s done. Was that hard work or what?With a huge sense of relief I put my rifle down andlooked behind. I was faced by a crowd several ranksdeep and a TV camera at eye level. How had theysneaked up without me noticing? Looked down thescope, to find the last shot central in the V bull. Gavemyself a pat on the back, which turned to a great surgeof satisfaction – Iain, that was a cracking goodafternoon’s shooting! But was 297 enough? The V countwas a bit thin and expecting eight others to drop two,three or maybe even four points was a tall order; on theother hand I must have been doing well if the camerawas here, and there’s Martin Farnan looking busy andchecking things – maybe I have done enough? Roundabout shot 11 I had missed one of Andy’s shots, and Iwas confused about how many he had left to fire, buteventually, with a silly grin developing, I could leavethe firing point.Range officer first, to hand in my card. Martinapproaches. “Iain, without prejudice, we may need youat the top of the hill”. Shake hands. Marvellous. Sillygrin firmly in place. TV man asking for interview. Mustpack my kit so someone can look after it. Take sling offarm and do up sling loop – don’t want Gold Badge fallingoff on the way down the hill. Martin next to me talkingin radio. “That’s it then it can’t be beaten”. Karenstanding behind gesticulating. Hug Karen. Whisper inmy ear. “Martin’s wrong. Glyn Barnett’s got one moreV than you.” Karen doesn’t make mistakes. Don’t care.Bloody marvellous. Second in the Queen’s! TV manasking how it feels. About five minute interview inwhich I very quickly realize that TV man thinks I havewon. This could be fun! Describe size of V bull andexplain how close it was. “So, then you could say youwon by inches?” “No I lost by inches – the guy who wonis down that way”. Cameraman and sound man fallabout laughing. TV man terminates interview forthwith.Bloody marvellous. Martin apologises profusely. Noworries (though I will take the mickey later). Walk uphill to scoreboard and apologise to all in RAFTRC whowere savouring a night of celebration. Neil Moxon hassomething alcoholic in his hand. Take it and empty it inone. Glyn turns up. Bloody well done mate. Marvellous.SECOND IN THE QUEEN’S!Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize was won by Glyn Barnettof OGRE with a score of 297.38, from Iain Robertson ofthe RAFTRC with 297.37 and Gary Rasmussen of theUnited States with 297.36. In the concurrent events, theFreddy Payne Memorial Trophy went to Ken Westlingof Canada, eleventh overall with 295.31. With the samegun score, Jane Messer finished twelfth on countback totake the Ambala Goblet. The George Twine Memorialtrophy went to Cdt Sgt George Williams of GreshamsRC, 23 rd with 294.34. Would first in the Grand and eighthin the Queens beat first in the Queens and third in theGrand? Yes it would by a single point and so NickBrasier ended up as the British Open Target RifleChampion closely followed by Glyn with Jane Messeronly needing eighth in the Grand and twelfth in theQueens to pick up third place.Another successful Meeting was over and whilst themajority packed up their kit and set off for home, manystaff, competitors and volunteers remained at Bisley forthe next big event - the XVII Commonwealth Games.49