ROSIE SKITTLES OUT THE OPPOSITION

It was pleasing to see so many East Midlands shooters had made the marathon trip down to Southern Counties Shooting Ground in Dorset to shoot the English Open Sporting.

The event shot over three days was not squadded allowing shooters to pick and choose how they wanted to shoot it, there was also no perceived advantage as the conditions were virtually identical for all three days.

A clash with a European FITASC in Spain did mean there were a few big named absentees, George Digweed & Ben Husthwaite to name just two but the old adage goes; “You have to be in it to win it”, so all the winners etc should be justifiably proud of what they achieved.

Phillip Thorrold from Suffolk was just overtaken on the last day by Welshman John Kendall who recorded a 93/100 to take the English title. Phillip though won out a three way shoot off with Chris Childerhouse and local man Richard King to take the runners up berth.

Rosie Brumby from Lincolnshire continued her winning ways taking the Ladies title from a good field of 34 entrants, although Rosie was a bit disappointed with her score as she felt she had let a good start get away from her, history shows that her shooting of the final stand a pair of nasty simultaneous battues was the defining factor, as she was the only lady to score seven or better, her nearest rival Nicola Gryspeerdt scoring just one and finishing two clays behind Rosie.

One down side for Rosie was the Ladies Trophy had sadly not been returned for presentation but the East Mids shooters tried to make light of the situation and presented Rosie with a wooden skittle so she could pose for photos.

You can just about guarantee in a Sporting Championship that Brian Dunbavin from Cambridgeshire is not going to be far away from a top finish in Veterans and today was no different with Brian overcoming nearly 100 vets to take the title on a score of 84.

In juniors we were as always well represented with Phil Gray from Cambridgeshire rising to the top of the pile with a superb 90 to take the title, just three clays behind the overall winner and Toby Reed from Leicestershire overcame a nail biting shoot off to take the runners up spot with a score of 86.

In Colts J Moore from Norfolk took the honours finishing on 74, rising star Taylor Hedgecock from Cambridgeshire completed the days placings by taking third.

Congratulations to all the East Mids shooters who either won cups, medals or the occasional skittle, not forgetting those that managed to get amongst the class prize money. I had a very enjoyable two days in Dorset thanks to the endless banter and endless one liners that kept us all laughing whatever the days result – thanks to you all.