NORFOLKS FLAG FLY’S HIGHEST

The Winners - Norfolk Seniors

I think we have much to be proud of in the East Midlands, and yesterday’s East Midlands Intercounties DTL was just another example of that.

We are the only region that runs a complete programme of Intercounties shoots, and the teams consist of full complements of Seniors, Veterans, Ladies, and Juniors, and with that comes a very strong team spirit, sportsmanship, with keen competition and friendly rivalry that encourages some amusing banter, but above all respect for the rival counties and shooters.

Although personally I had a very long day at Nottingham & District, arriving at 8-15am and setting off back home at 7-00pm, it was very enjoyable, and as ever we must thank Carl and his team for the wonderful hospitality shown to all.

Arriving at the ground I was greeted by the wonderful sight of the newly acquired county flags, and it was extremely pleasing to have so many fantastic comments about the colourful display, and throughout the day I witnessed many taking photographs of their own county flag.

The New County Flags

Although the idea came from the region, a great debt of thanks is owed to the counties getting behind this project and agreeing to pay for their own county flag, and already it seems that other regions may be tempted to follow suit.

So, looking at the days competition, we had an improved attendance of 117 shooters, and the only real downside was the rain that crept into the area mid-afternoon, but it certainly never affected the scores, as those shooting later in the day seemed to fair best.

I’ve been involved in regional shooting for nearly 20 years now, and I can never recall both trap favourites Notts and Lincs being eased out of the top two places in Seniors, but yesterday that happened, and I can imagine the midnight oil burnt late for some as they tried to get their head around this unusual situation.

As usual Notts got us underway at 9-00am prompt and recorded a team score and benchmark of 1738 with Lee Clements top scoring on 99/295, and it seemed like everything was going well for the home side, when arch rivals Lincolnshire fell 8 points short of that score.

Fast forward to the arrival of the Cambs team, and some consistent scoring saw them rise to the top of the leader board with an impressive score of 1759, and in honesty I was not alone thinking that was it, the conditions were deteriorating, the light getting worse, but Norfolk had other ideas.

Reduced to a 7-man team at the last minute, they went on to record 5-ton scores to snatch victory out of the grasp of Cambridgeshire by the smallest of margins, two points. So, its many congratulations to Russell Houghton 100/296, Laura Shinn 89/263, who incidentally only started shooting in March of this year, Simon Owen 100/296, John Reynolds 97/286, Richard Gilbert 100/298, Niall Crumpler 100/295 and Jason Mathewson 100/290.

Senior Runners Up - Cambridgeshire

Commiseration to second place Cambridgeshire, but at least they could console themselves winning the 2^nd place glassware, so it’s a namecheck for Chris Morris 98/291, Richard Morris 99/293, Derek McLean 98/294, Paul Ward 98/292, Matt Sheldrake 98/292, Steve Kirby 100/297, Steve Eley 96/282 and Jason Pereira 87/246.

In the ladies, event, we had 5 competing teams, but in the final reckoning Nottinghamshire Ladies dominated with Hayley Denoon leading the way on 93/273, and she was ably backed up by Sarah Odam 91/266, Megan Gamble 90/270 and Alison Meakin 79/225.

Ladies Team Champions - Nottinghamshire

In juniors Leicestershire retained their title over nearest rivals Notts by just two points, with Alex Harris top scoring on 98/293 which was enough to give him the Junior High Gun Trophy, brother Connor chipped in with 97/289 to give them the victory, Kyle Humphreys 98/285 completed the winning line up.

In Vets Leicestershire seem to have a knack of putting together a winning team, and this year was no exception, recording a team score of 582, they were winners by six points over closest team Suffolk. Top scoring for Leics Vets was Mike Brookes on 99/295, he was ably backed up by Aggy Paphitis 97/287, Keith Mault 95/279 and Keith Taylor 96/287.

Veterans Team Champions - Leicestershire

Finally thank you to you the East Midlands shooters that came out in good numbers to once again support the region.

The Intercounties bandwagon now moves to Barrow Heath, for the East Midlands Intercounties English Sporting on September 17^th.

PRIZE MONEY

AA 1st	Keith Ritchie
AA 2nd	Paul Smith
A 1st	Richard Gilbert
A 2nd	Simon Owen
A 3rd	Maurice Beedan
A 4th	Niall Crumpler
A 5th	Dave Garrett
B 1st	Dick Hails
B 2nd	Martin Ferris
B 3rd	Tim Jones
C 1st	Ray Daws
C 2nd	Mike Eales
C 3rd	John Woolacott