ROBBIE’S THE MAN THAT CAN

Northampton Shooting ground hosted this year’s Skeet Championship on a day better suited for ducks and kite flying as many shooters hopes were dashed by the rollercoaster effect caused by gusting wind and the torrential rain.

52 shooters braved the conditions and on the whole most coped very well, Northants shooter Neil Faulkner led the way with a 99 with just the high 7 target escaping the gun. Neil was soon joined by a wealth of regional talent on 99, Alan Bott shooting out of vets, Darren Parsons, Steve Smith and Mike Bradley but on the same squad as Darren and Mike was Robbie Manning who recorded the only ton of the day to take the Senior title.

A five man shoot off ensued that saw Alan and Mike soon dropped in the race for silver and bronze, Steve Smith made light work of the alternate pair in the next round with Neil and Darren dropping one target each to claim the silver. Another round finally saw Neil break Darren’s resolve and he was rewarded with the bronze medal.

With Alan Bott already decided as vets champ the minor honours were left to Alan Clarke and Peter Maguire.

The ladies title was once again dominated by Northants girls Rose Palmer and Mo Sentance with Rose doing enough to win gold and retain the trophy and Mo having to settle for silver, Janet Maguire made it a family double by taking the bronze.

The junior title was a hard fought affair with a high standard of scores despite the conditions, Sam Pearson last year’s winner was in no mood to give up his title and was pressed all the way by home talent Ashley Sharman but in the end he had to give Sam best as his 97 fell one clay short of Sam’s total, Kyle Woodhall Cross from Norfolk took the bronze medal despite a certain AA shooter having a day he wanted to forget being on the same squad, well done Kyle.

Thanks go to Martine, Pete and Roy at NSG for a great day despite the bad conditions.