EAST MIDLANDS REGIONAL TEAMS TAKE THE TROPHIES AT ENGLISH OPEN DTL HELD AT BYWELL SHOOTING GROUNDS ON 12^TH JUNE

What a coup!  As the East Midlands CPSA celebrates its 50^thAnniversary it could not be more pleasing to report that both the Senior team and the Junior team picked up the Regional Team trophies…but It was not easy.  As always, the event was beautifully run by the Henry Brothers and their army of support staff.  The ground looked immaculate, there were trade stands and the CPSA had brought a vast number of trophies and awards as is befitting one of the oldest and most prestigious of events in the clay shooting calendar BUT the weather was atrocious.  All three days of the Bywell weekend were beset with twenty plus mile an hour winds which gusted, generally at the wrong time for most competitors, so for our teams to turn in the scores they did to win was even more remarkable.

Back Row L-R: Steve Janes, Richard Morris, Mark Shaw, Alex Harris, Curtis Woolley, Geoff Howlett.

Front Row L-R: Stuart Whitehead and Paul Neal.

 

Top team scorer was Steve Janes of Bedfordshire on 295 closely followed by the Suffolk pair of Geoff Howlett and Paul Neal on 293. We were then spoilt for choice as Curtis Woolley and Paul Meakin (Notts) and Alex Harris (Leics) all recorded a 290 with Mark Shaw (Lincs) and Richard Morris (Cambs) scoring 286 and Stuart Whitehead and Marty Smith (Lincs) scoring 274 and 269 respectively.  Scores at this level for these two are unheard of and just goes to highlight how tough it was out there. 

 

The East Midlands have had their fair share of winning this trophy in the past and in the 80’s this battle was usually fought between the East Midlands and the North with equal results, but the North have tended to dominate over the last 10 years with only Curtis Woolley’s 2018 team managing to squeeze past the North by just one point.

 

A bonus for us was the Junior team also scooping a win.  Some good solid scoring from Jack Brazier (Lincs) 283, Samuel Maling (Leics) 279 and Joe Turner (Notts colt) 236 put them ahead of the other 4 regional teams.

L-R:   Joe Turner, Jack Brazier, and Samuel Maling

Our Veteran team so nearly made it a hat trick as Mike Brookes (Leics) 293, Stephen Eley (Cambs) 281 and Graham Elkington (Lincs) 257 were beaten by just 2 points into second place. 

 

The Lady’s team of Hazel Morris, Megan Williams and Saira Boardman always had an uphill struggle as they had to contend with not only being constantly buffeted by the wind but also coming up against a North Region lady’s team which are almost impossible to beat with their top scorer, Emma Holden, being lady’s high gun on the day with a 297.  Congratulations to Emma that was really some shooting – well done.  Saira had the consolation of winning the ladies category on the sponsored day so did not come away from the weekend empty handed.

 

Many congratulations and well done to all our DTL teams.  The next regional team event will be the English Open ABT also at Bywell on 2/3^rd July (we hope for better weather for this one!!). The East Midlands will be fielding a team but currently not enough East Midlands shooters are entered so we need some support.  ABT is only like a bit faster DTL so perhaps some of our DTL shooters would like to try for this one. 

 

Look forward to seeing you all there.