Category: Competitions

Rugeley members make mark at Bisley 100

by RichHin Club News, Competitions

Rugeley members made their mark at the Centenary edition of the NSRA’s Bisley Rifle Meeting, which returned after a two year hiatus. A strong contingent, the club sent 10 shooters down, competing over the weekend and full week.

Rich Hemingway places third in
the Weekend Aggregate
photo: Martyn Buttery

Richard Hemingway finally broke his run of middling Bisley performances to earn promotion to X-Class, joining Martyn Buttery and Ryan Williams in the top tier. Finishing third in the Weekend Aggregate and equal-fourth in the Grand Aggregate, either result was sufficient for promotion. Rich also won the incidental Prince William of Wales match and placed third in the Centenary Competition.

Vic Tyne placed third in Class for Competition 10 – the 100Yard portion of the Weekend Aggregate.

The meeting was opened by Michael More-Molyneux (Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey), on behalf of the Queen, who is patron of the NSRA. Lord Lieutenants represent the monarch in their county. The week included a number of 1922-inspired competitions, including deliberate and rapid-fire matches using targets from the period.

Michael More-Molyneux at the Bisley 100 Opening Shot Ceremony

Michael More-Molyneux DL, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey at the Bisley 100 Opening Shot Ceremony with NSRA President Geoff Doe (left) and Chief Range Officer Jon Leech (centre).

credit: Hemmers, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Medals at County Championships

by RichHin Competitions

Rugeley shooters dominated at the first Staffordshire County Championship since 2019.

Rich Hemingway renewed his claim as Staffordshire County Champion on Sunday, retaining the Association Cup from the most recent County Championship in 2019. Scoring 780/800 over a Double Dewar, Richard also won the Open Championship for the first time, earning the “Come Day-Go Day” Salver. In winning the County Championship, he was also leading scorer in A-Class and went on to win the County 50Metre title with a score of 593/600 at that distance.

Paul Baron won B-Class and the Swynnerton Cup.

Helen Robinson won Class C, and was the top scoring junior in the Open meeting.

Rugeley shooter takes Silver at Welsh Championship

by RichHin Club News, Competitions

Rich Hemingway – Rugeley member and Staffordshire County Captain – was runner up in the Welsh Confined 50Metre Championship on Sunday.

Shooting at Tondu Shooting Club near Bridgend, Richard qualified for the Confined after placing 5th in the Welsh Open Championship on Saturday. Improving on his score from Saturday, he was pipped to the win by Alun Evans. Dave Phelps placed third. Conditions were bright, with the tricky light but gusting winds that Tondu is known for.

Friend of the club, Liam Webster placed fifth in the Confined. Liam shot with distinction at Rugeley for many years before moving away from the West Midlands.

Gold in Cairo for Victoria

by RichHin Club News, Competitions

Rugeley member Victoria Bradbury won Gold in the individual Junior Women’s event at the ISSF Target Sprint Grand Prix in Cairo. Victoria was joined on the podium by GB teammate Emily Sawyer who won silver.

Victoria went on to win another gold in the Mixed Pairs event with Isaac Steele. Teammates Emily and Arno Turner won Bronze.

Bradbury’s athletics coach, Keith Holt, said: “Victoria has put in a tremendous amount of work into her training. She’s such a dedicated talented athlete, with a lot more improvement to come.”

image of the GB target sprint team

Victoria (l) with GB Target Sprint team in Cairo

The team in Egypt were supported by the British Shooting Team Leader, Craig Dower, who said: “Having Target Sprint alongside the ISSF Cairo World Cup allowed a wider audience to view and support this exciting sport.

“The athletes should be proud of their achievements and we look forward to many more competitions where the greater British Shooting family can come together in promoting this challenging discipline. Target Sprint is providing us with a superb platform where we can engage far wider in advertising our sport to all.”

Gold for Megan at British Airgun Championships

by RichHin Competitions

Rugeley shooter Megan Bamsey became the 2022 British Junior Women’s Air Rifle Champion this weekend. Competing at the NSRA British Open Airgun Championship, Megan placed fifth in qualifying before working her way to the top during the final.

Megan follows in the footsteps of older brother Mike who has represented GB at the World Championships and Wales at two Commonwealth Games.

Megan Bamsey becomes Junior Women’s Air Rifle Champion

Silver for Richard at National Championships

by RichHin Competitions

Rich Hemingway placed second in A-Class on Saturday at the NSRA National Long Range Rifle Championships. Qualifying via the North-West Regional Championship, Rich fended off finalists from five other regional heats at Sywell Ranges in Northamptonshire.

The Long Range Rifle Championship is a new competition for 2021. The NSRA introduced the contest to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the National Meeting, typically held every August at Bisley.

Meant as a stopgap, the Championships have been well supported, with praise for regional events. The NSRA have often been accused of a Bisley focus with all NSRA events and matches (other than the Scottish Meeting) taking place in Surrey. Making the Association more regionally relevant is a very welcome step and the NSRA have plans to expand the series in 2022 alongside the Centenary Bisley Meeting, first held on the Camp in 1922.

7 Rugeley shooters in winning County Team

by RichHin Competitions

Congratulations to the seven Rugeley members who helped Staffordshire to victory in Division 5 of the 2019/20 Inter-County Reserves League.

Although scores have been very slow to emerge as most of the NSRA’s Competitions Team were furloughed through lockdown, we now know that Staffordshire went undefeated with nine wins and one draw across the ten rounds.

Congratulations go to Graham Delaney; Vic Tyne; Jimmy Hibbert; Lee Featherstone; James Tyne; Shane Adams and John Kemp.

Also on the team were Richard Tilstone of Market Drayton RPC; Jeff Hickson of Crewe RPC and Gordon Abbotts of City of Stoke RPC.

Full results are on the NSRA website.

Rugeley teams Runners-Up in Air Pistol League

by RichHin Competitions

Final scores for competition 280 – the National 10m Air Pistol League – have arrived, with two Rugeley teams placing second in their respective divisions.

Rugeley A (P Voitiukevicius; K Voitiukevicius & J Craft) placed 4th in Division 1.

Rugeley B (M Buttery; R Hawkins & Ms J Smith) placed 2nd in Division 4, close behind Kilgetty .177 TSC.

Rugeley C (S Evans; D Glover & R Lloyd) placed 5th in Division 6.

Rugeley D (J Bradbury; P Evans & B Wiggett) tied in first place in Division 7 behind Burnham TSC with 18 points each, but were ranking second on aggregate (4,779 vs. 4,765).

The club’s Air Pistol section has come a long way in the past three years. In 2018 only two teams could be fielded, though the A-Team won Division 8. With four teams, our top athletes are now competing in the top domestic divisions.

Bamsey wins Scottish Championship

by RichHin Competitions

Congratulations to Rugeley member Mike Bamsey who won the STS Men’s 10m Air Rifle Championship at Napier University this weekend.

After qualifying with a six point lead, Mike led for much of the final. He briefly ceded the lead with a poor 11th shot, before stringing together a strong second half and climbing back past eventual runner up and Scottish Confined Champion James Paterson. Tom Diggle finished third.

Gold for Zoe in Cardiff

by RichHin Competitions

Rugeley’s Zoe Perkin found gold on day one of the Welsh Airgun Association Championships, held at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff.

Qualifying third, Zoe led the final from the start with two outstanding strings. Holding her nerve as Braunton’s Emily Bale drew level with her in the middle section, Zoe delivered a strong series of inner tens to finish, winning by a clear two points. Zoe also qualified for both her other finals, narrowly missing out on a medal with a fourth place finish in her Day 3 match.

Also from Rugeley, Megan Bamsey qualified for two finals from her three matches. Her brother Mike Bamsey won his day three match, becoming the confined Welsh Men’s 10m Air Rifle Champion.

The Welsh Airgun Championships are held as a series of three open matches – one per day – from Friday to Sunday, each independent and with its own final. One match is nominated as the confined “Welsh Championship”.