MAIDEN 100/300 SEALS THE VICTORY FOR PAUL

With such a rich pedigree of trap shooting in the region, the DTL, held at Nottingham & District GC, was once again hotly contested.

On a bright and breezy day, we had a healthy attendance of 85 shooters, of which, 75 were from the region, and the standard as you would expect for this event was very high with no less than eight tons recorded, this was further heightened by the fact this was the final qualifier to get a place in the regions DTL team.

The overall winner on the day turned out to be Paul Smith from Lincolnshire, and not only that, but did it by scoring his maiden 100/300, and as you would expect he is now shooting in a new cap.

Second and third overall was going to take a bit of sorting out with Andy Brown, Mike Brookes, Alan Palmer and Curtis Woolley all tied. Alan had left the ground leaving the remainder to shoot off. In the first round Mike was eliminated despite hitting all 25 targets, with Curtis and Andy both scoring one more point. The second round was Single Barrel use only, but the pair remained locked together scoring 25 each. Sudden death beckoned, and it was Andy who faltered on the 5^th target, leaving Curtis overall second and Andy in third.

Mike’s loss overall was consoled with the fact he had won Vets, Alan settled for second by default and RW Peacock from Cambs completing the 1-2-3.

In Ladies, it was the familiar face of Hazel Whiten from Cambs that took the Ladies trophy on a score of 98/288, she was clear of Tracey Bridge from Lincolnshire and Izzy Thurnell of Norfolk who were tied on 94/273, Tracey taking the silver medal as Izzy had left the ground, leaving her in third and the bronze medal winner.

In juniors Josh Brazier from Lincolnshire defended his trophy with a score of 99/295, in second we had Tom Tristram from Notts, probably better known for his success in skeet, and in third another Notts shooter George Lewis.

Thank you once again to Carl and his team at Nottingham for hosting this event for us.

Also, many congratulations to all those that qualified to shoot for the East Midlands DTL team after a series of qualifiers was run under the guidance of Notts hotshot Curtis Woolley. Last year Curtis approached the regional committee with an idea of running a series of shoots, including majors, to help select the DTL team, and for that we offer our grateful thanks for his time and superb efforts.