JACK’S ALRIGHT AT ABT

After what has seemed the longest winter for many a year, the East Midlands 2018 Regional Championships got under way at the weekend, in fact even as late as last weekend the layouts at Nottingham were virtually unshootable to all bar the hardest few souls, venturing out into blizzard like conditions.

Wind free conditions with some spring sunshine was the order of the day, although conditions did change throughout the day as the breeze picked up, and temperatures dipped with some shooters questioning if Carl had turned the lights out at some stage.

A healthy turnout of 67 shooters graced the layouts with over 60 of those from the region, and the total entry fell just two short of the regional record achieved at Nottingham in 2006.

In one of the most technical disciplines in shooting, it was very much a case of one opportunity taken and many missed, as although we in the East Midlands have a personalised format of shooting this discipline, by shooting straight through with no breaks, it all comes down to the fact, that all the hard work done in the first three rounds, can easily go west in the final round, and for many so it proved.

In the overall competition many were in with a shout of taking the honours, but it was Jack Wilkinson of Lincolnshire who got over the winning line in emphatic style, clearing the final round to take the title on 96/100.

In the final reckoning John Winn of Lincolnshire and Russell Houghton of Norfolk were locked on 94/100 in joint second place and a shoot off was needed to resolve the placings. John blinked first missing his 8^th target and Russell made no mistake by recording the perfect round of 25 to give him the silver medal and John having to settle for the bronze.

John’s loss in the shoot off was though tempered in the knowledge that he already had the Veterans title safely under his belt, and he could relax and watch Mick Feather and Ken Rimington from Nottinghamshire scrap it out in another shoot off for the minor placings, both finishing one clay behind John on 93/100.

In the first round the pair were locked together on 21, and it took another round to separate the duo, Mick recording a narrow one clay victory and giving him the Veterans silver medal and Ken having to settle for bronze to add to his extensive collection of East Mids medals.

In Ladies Michele Conway made the journey up from Cambridgeshire despite suffering with a winter cold, and it made the effort worthwhile by narrowly beating Jackie Houghton from Lincolnshire by a single clay to take the title on 77/100 and despite a valiant attempt by Jackie in the final round she had to settle for the silver medal.

In third place we had a tie on 74/100 between Regional Chair Janet Stennett from Lincolnshire and Laura Shinn from Norfolk, sadly when the shoot off was called Laura had left the ground, giving Janet the bronze medal by default.

Sadly in juniors we only had one entry so there was nobody to test the skills of William Gilbert from Norfolk who finished on a superb 93/100, a score that gave him joint 4^th overall out of the total entry of 67 shooters, and we look forward to watching his progress in national competitions this year, where hopefully he can bring some silverware back to the region.

Once again, we would like to express our thanks to Carl and his team at NDGC for hosting this season opener, and a quick date for your diaries, we will be back next month for the Regional Skeet Championships on April 15^th.......don’t forget to book on !

PRIZE MONEY

1st A	Jack Wilkinson	96
2nd A	Jack Thompson	95
1st B	Mick Feather	93
2nd B	Brian Wilkinson	88
1st C	Andy Bowers	91
2nd C	Jason Matthewson	89
3rd C	Gary McCann	88
1st D	William Gilbert	93
2nd D	Jonathan McCann	82