SUFFOLK TOO HOT IN THE SUN

THE INTERCOUNTIES GLASSWARE WAITING FOR THE WINNERS

The East Midlands Intercounties All Round has in the past been a very close affair with the likes of Suffolk, Norfolk, Northants and Cambridgeshire all evenly matched, saying that Suffolk or Northants always seem to do just enough to get across the finishing line.

The event this season was moved to Eriswell Lodge after several years at Northampton Shooting Ground and as the day panned out in scorching hot temperatures it was very clear that Suffolk shooting first totally outclassed the rest of the counties, with their nearest rivals on the day Cambridgeshire a huge 24 points behind, such a winning margin is unheard of in the region, in fact it exceeds anything we have on record that goes back 15 years.

SENIOR TEAM CHAMPIONS - SUFFOLK

Stuart Smith led the way for Suffolk with a hugely impressive 98/100, Stuart just missing a couple on the 1^st Rd of Single Barrel, and then recording an unblemished card. Stuart had some solid back up in the shape of Puff Baker 89, Andy Stephenson 92, Andy Gibbs 88, Pete Mayhew 94, Alex Smith 82, A Rogers 95 and Suffolk County Chairman and all round nice bloke Darren Parsons 91 to give them the County bragging rights and another haul of points in the race for the Directors Trophy.

Runners Up Cambridgeshire although a distant second were also miles clear of the pack recording a 20 point advantage over the nearest placed counties Norfolk and Nottinghamshire, so many congratulations to Mark Adams 90, Chris Morris 91, Darren Stanford 91, Paul Ward 81, Tim Jones 91, Phillip Barnard 90, Corbie Barnard 82 and Ashley Smith 79.

JUNIOR TEAM CHAMPIONS - SUFFOLK

JUNIOR HG - HENRY BEVAN (Centre)

In Juniors it was a very reduced field with many counties unable to field a team, but the standard remained very high and it was Suffolk who ran out the winners with a team score of 176/200 recording a comfortable win over nearest rivals Norfolk. Henry Bevan from Suffolk was the highest scorer on the day and picked up the James Hinkins Memorial Trophy for his endeavours after scoring an impressive 91/100. Henry had great support from another Henry, Henry Lungley with a solid score of 85, Jasper Pearce 67 completed the winning line up to give him his first Intercounties success.

LADIES TEAM CHAMPIONS - LINCOLNSHIRE

In Ladies Lincolnshire took the honours led by a delighted Regional Chair Janet Stennett who top scored for the Lincs trio on 79, equally delighted was Saira Boardman 74 and first time Intercounties winner Georgina Barratt on 78. Lincolnshire scored a marginal win over nearest rivals Notts by just 4 points with a team score of 157/200.

Completing proceeding we had a very close competition in Veterans, Suffolk led from the first gun on 183/200, but late in the day both Norfolk and Bedfordshire just squeezed past them by a solitary target. Unfortunately, neither side could provide the required number of shooters to participate in a shoot off at the end of the day, so the result had to be reached via count-back with Bedfordshire declared the winners by the narrowest of margins. Glen Moore top scored for the Bedfordshire quartet with 95, with supporting scores of John Stanton 89, Jim Munday 86 and Phillip Coxall 84 to give them victory, many commiserations to Norfolk to lose out in such sad way.

THE SUPERB SCOREBOARD UPDATED BY MELISSA & STUART

Finally, a huge vote of thanks to Stuart, Melissa and all the team at Eriswell Lodge for their wonderful and generous hospitality, I know I enjoyed myself and we finished bang on time, so what’s not to like.

See you at Sporting Targets for the Intercounties Sporting.