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East Midlands Intercounties ABT

EXCITING 3 WAY SHOOT OFF TO DECIDE SENIOR TITLE

Team Lincolnshire Flying the County Flag.

It’s been a number of years since we have had to have a shoot off to decide any team category, and the only Intercounties shoot I couldn’t attend this season throws up a three county tie in seniors, but more on that later.

The final round of the six Intercounties shoots, the ABT was held at Nottingham & District at the weekend and pitched together 5 of the regional county teams, with Northants, Bedfordshire and Leicestershire unable to field a side.

In Ladies it was once again the Lincolnshire girls that won a fairly comfortable victory over nearest rivals Suffolk for whom Pearl Butters top scored on 76/100. Jackie Houghton top scored for the Lincs quartet with 86/100 and was ably backed up by Janet Stennett 61, Tracey Bridge 79 and Alison Dupree 80 to give them yet another trap team victory, and I would love to know how many crystal wine glasses they have won over the years.

The Winning Lincolnshire Ladies Team

In juniors it was pleasing to see that we had 3 teams to battle it out and it was the youngsters from Suffolk that dominated the event winning by 21 targets over nearest rivals Nottinghamshire. Aaron Harvey was the star of the show scoring a superb 90/100 to give him another Junior High Gun award, Ed Coppen 72, Miles Orford 68 and Josh Nunn completed the winning line up for Suffolk.

In Vets we had representation from 5 counties, and it was the Lincs team that came out on top amassing a team score of 178 ex 200, 7 points in front of Nottinghamshire for whom Ken Rimington top scored on 88/100. John Winn no stranger to East Midlands shooting top scored for Lincs on 91/100, Dick Cooper was next best on 87, Dave Shepherd 86 and John Stephenson 71 completed the winning team.

Lincolnshire - Veterans Team Champions

In seniors again we had 5 counties competing, and Notts, Lincs and Norfolk incredibly all tied for the top spot on 351/400. It’s been a number of years since we’ve had to have a shoot off for team honours, but the first in living memory involving three counties.

In the main shoot Marvin Houghton and Dave Sipling top scored for Lincolnshire with 94/100, for Nottinghamshire it was Ricky Crowshaw with the top score of the day of 96/100, and for Norfolk Roger Gilbert led the way with 91/100.

Fast forward to the shoot off which was described as by our Notts reporter as; “The shoot off was fab and the most exciting thing I have ever seen in shooting, with ooohs and aaaahs for every shot – it was like a fireworks display with audience participation”.

How the Shoot Off Was Won.

ROUND 1

J. MATTHEWSON

NORFOLK

KILL

R. CROWSHAW

NOTTS

LOSS

N. EATON  

LINCS

KILL

P. OWEN

NORFOLK

KILL

G. HODGKINSON

NOTTS

LOSS

M. HOUGHTON

LINCS

KILL

R. GILBERT

NORFOLK

KILL

L. CLEMENTS

NOTTS

KILL

D. SIPLING

LINCS

KILL

Nottinghamshire eliminated.

ROUND 2

J. MATTHEWSON

NORFOLK

KILL

N. EATON

LINCS

KILL

P. OWEN

NORFOLK

KILL

M. HOUGHTON

LINCS

KILL

R. GILBERT

NORFOLK

KILL

D. SIPLING

LINCS

KILL

Teams tied.

ROUND 3

J. MATTHEWSON

NORFOLK

KILL

N. EATON

LINCS

KILL

P. OWEN

NORFOLK

KILL

M. HOUGHTON

LINCS

KILL

R. GILBERT

NORFOLK

LOSS

D. SIPLING

LINCS

KILL

Lincolnshire Champions, Norfolk Runners Up.

Nail biting stuff for everyone involved and a fitting end to the season that saw Lincolnshire prevail as ABT Champions with Norfolk as the Runners Up, commiserations to the gallant Notts Senior team, and finally congratulations to Suffolk who regained the Directors Trophy, the fourth time they have won it in 5 years.

The Winning Lincolnshire Senior Team

Many thanks to Carl and the team at Nottingham for another great day, and indeed thanks also to you the shooters that keep supporting the region by turning up to shoot. That’s it for this season, I do hope you all winter well, and in the next few weeks we will be sorting out the venues for next season, so look out for those in early December, then we have the regional AGM in February, more news on that soon.

All photographs courtesy of Lynn Cawkwell.

PRIZE MONEY

A 1st – J. Winn & R. Gilbert

B 1st – D. Sipling

B 2nd – E. Chapman

B 3rd – P. Owen

C 1st – D. Cooper

C 2nd – D. Shepherd

C 3rd – G. Hodgkinson

D 1st – B. Randall

D 2nd – W. Gundrey

D 3rd – M. Feather & B. Firth