Ed Vickers attended the Benchrest UK National Open at Portishead Shooting Club in Somerset this weekend, where he faced off against some of the UK’s top Benchrest shooters, including Trevor Eling – who recently ran a workshop at Rugeley. Shooting at 50metres, the matches were shot to International WRABF rather than NSRA rules, allowing the use of a rear rest under the butt of the rifle, in addition to the front rest.
In the “Light” Air Rifle (<10.5lb) event on Saturday, Ed fought tricky conditions to finish 38th of 40. On Sunday, Ed rallied in the “Heavy” Air Rifle (<15lb) to place 14th/35, edging Trevor into 15th place by three points!
Shot over three days, athletes contest three matches – the Cardiff Grand Prix and AiroShoot Qualification are contested over Friday and Saturday in Senior and Junior classes, with the Welsh Open Championship contested on Sunday as one class. WIAC is part of the AiroShoot circuit, alongside the InterShoot match in the Netherlands, RIAC in Luxembourg and other matches in Scotland, Denmark and Belgium. As a result, it attracts international shooters in addition to the predominantly British entry.
Paul Watkiss placed 13th and 12th in his Air Pistol matches, finishing 21st in the Open Match with a series of very steady shoots.
Pippa Watterson placed 7th and 17th in her Junior AP matches, and 25th in the Welsh Open.
In the Air Rifle, Megan Bamsey placed 5th and 8th in her Senior matches, and 25th in the Open.
Izzy Ward placed 23rd and 24th in the Junior Women’s Air Rifle, and 22rd in the Open.
Bill Clark placed 16th and 15th in his Men’s Air Rifle events.
Fourteen young shooters took aim at Rugeley Rifle Club’s Young Guns competition this week. With two days of training over Wednesday and Thurday, final practice and competition took place on Friday. Shooting Air Rifle, Air Pistol and .22 Rifle, the young shooters worked through more than two and a half thousand air pellets, and a thousand rounds of .22 ammunition. The competition marks a continuing partnership with Vysions Youth Service.
Each discipline competition saw the top 3 shoot a final to establish medal placings. Medallists received a Rugeley Rifle Club patch, along with gold and silver medals and a patch for third. The Overall competition was a close-run fight, with only 27 points separating the top 5 shooters and a tie for the lead between Phoebe Haughton and James Hallam, which had to be broken on countback of Air Rifle scores, with James gracious in defeat. Connie O’Brien placed third, having had a mishap in the Air Rifle shoot which cost her as many as 17 points – enough to have put her in the lead overall.
Air Pistol
Air Rifle
Smallbore Rifle
Overall
1
James Hallam
Aiden Coghlan
Connie O’Brien
Phoebe Haughton
2
Phoebe Haughton
Phoebe Haughton
James Hallam
James Hallam
3
Joel Sherratt
Connie O’Brien
Phoebe Haughton
Bogdan Dubita
Congratulations to overall champion Phoebe, who wins a years free membership, along with free ammunition and targets.
Izzy Ward and Bill Clark competed at Aldersley this weekend in the NSRA West Midlands Airgun Open. In the B-Class Air Rifle Championship, Izzy took Gold and Bill Silver. Bill shot two days and also claimed Gold in the B-Class Aggregate.
Rugeley Rifle Club members supported the West Midlands leg of British Shooting’s Target Sprint Series today. Martyn, Mick and Michelle were on hand as stewards and range officers. The event took place on the outdoor ranges at the NSRA’s Aldersley Shooting Centre at the Aldersley Leisure Village.
Rugeley have been a huge supporter of British Shooting events in the Midlands, with members also volunteering at the British Schools Championship Finals.
Rugeley member Abbigael Beech took Gold at the British Shooting Schools Rifle & Pistol Championships this week, winning the Junior 6yd Air Rifle event. The 6yd event is shot with “Sporter” air rifles which are lighter than full precision air rifles, and does not allow special shooting jackets or trousers.
The Championships took place over the 6th and 7th of February at Cannock Leisure Centre, and were supported by volunteers from Rugeley Rifle Club.
Paul Watkiss had a stand-up weekend, finishing fourth in the open Air Pistol event at the third installment of British Shooting’s Air Series at Aldersley, near Wolverhampton.
Shooting on Saturday, Paul managed 561, topping Relay 2. On Sunday morning he improved on that with a 562 in Relay 4. Both these scores were good enough to qualify Paul for the 8-athlete final. Starting with a wobble he placed 6th after the first string. Regrouping however, he climbed to fifth after the second string and fourth after his 12th shot. Further steady shooting saw him climb in to bronze medal position, but a robust response from Charlotte Hicks over her last four shots saw her climb past Paul and Ayush Chauhan into silver medal position, pushing Ayush in Bronze and Paul just out the medals.
In the Air Rifle, Bill Clark, Izzy Ward and Nathan Clark all put in strong performances. Bill managed third and 5th in his two relays, Izzy placed 5th and 3rd, whilst Nathan placed 6th in his relay. Their best results put Bill 13th overall, Izzy 15th and Nathan 19th. Congratulations to all.
Paul Watkiss on aim in the Air Pistol Final at the British Shooting Air Series.
Shooters from Rugeley Rifle Club collected medals in Cardiff this weekend at the Welsh Airgun Championships. Held at the Sport Wales centre in Sophia Gardens, the meeting rolls in three days of shooting with three matches. Competitors participate in the Cardiff Grand Prix; an AirOShoot qualification match (in which top scorers can qualify for the Super Final in Belgium) and finish with the Welsh Open Championship.
Shooting Air Pistol, Pavelas Voitiukevicius placed 2nd in the Cardiff GP on Friday, before placing 3rd in the AirOShoot qualification match on Saturday – climbing in the final to win silver. On Sunday, he qualified for the final in the Welsh Open Championship match, narrowly missing a medal to place 4th.
Paul Watkiss placed eighth in the Cardiff GP and qualified for the Bronze medal match in the Mixed Pairs, where he finished 4th with randomly-allocated partner Ina Gulowsen Knudsen. Paul finished 12th in the AiroShoot match and 17th in the Welsh Championship.
Kiril Voitiukevicius placed 5th in the Cardiff GP, and qualified for the final of the AirOShoot match, finishing 7th. He placed 23rd in the Championship.
On Air Rifle, Zoe Perkin placed 12th in the Cardiff GP and 10th in the AirOShoot match, finishing 25th in the Championship.
Megan Bamsey claimed silver in her AirOShoot and Cardiff GP matches, whilst Mike Bamsey placed fourth in the Cardiff GP and won silver in the Welsh Championship.
Pavelas takes silver at the Welsh AirgunPaul and Ina in the Mixed Pairs final.Pavelas in finals actionZoe on aim
Rugeley Rifle Club is delighted to announce it’s Youth Shooting Camp 2023.
Running from August 19-22, and on August 26th this is a tented camp at Target Sprint Burntwood.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights will be spent under canvas. Airgun shooting will take place at Burntwood with .22lr shooting at Rugeley Rifle Club. There will also be team activities and camp fires.
On August 26th, the campers will be invited back to Rugeley Rifle Club with parents and guardians to see the progress made and have an end-of-camp shooting competition including air rifle, air pistol and .22 rimfire rifle. The young person showing the most promise will earnt he Young Gun Trophy and a years club membership, with free ammunition sponsored by Eley!
Apply to Lee Featherstone (RRC Secretary) at rugeleyrc (at) outlook (dot) com.
