More than 80 visitors from the local community tried their hand at Rugeley Rifle Club’s Open Day on Saturday. Despite drizzly weather, young and old received a tour of the club’s facilities and tried their hand at air rifle and air pistol, before enjoying the barbecue on the outdoor range.
Local councillor Olivia Lyons formally opened the new range wall on the 100yard range. The club successfully crowdfunded to replace the old wall, which had been in place 51 years.
Rugeley shooter Paul Watkiss claimed a Bronze medal at the Swadlincote Open Airgun Meeting on Sunday. Shooting Air Pistol in A-Class, Paul scored 548, tying for Silver but losing on inner-tens to Lucy Evans of the West Midlands Regional Squad (and just selected by GB for the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl later this year).
Mick Chaganis placed 10th in B-Class for Air Pistol, and 3rd in Air Rifle B-Class. Congratulations to both.
Members of Rugeley Rifle Club were on hand to assist with British Shooting’s 2023 Schools Championship. Held over two days at Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock, 159 air pistol shooters and 107 air rifle shooters competed across Junior, Intermediate and Senior classes after qualifying through regional shoots around the UK. Congratulations to all the participants and medallists on a fantastic two days of competition.
The event was sponsored by Steyr Sport and Hill Pumps. A number of world class and Paralympic athletes on hand to award medals and inspire the next generation of target shooters. More photos at British Shooting’s Facebook Page.
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.
