Compak

Juniors: N/A

This was the first year that this Championship has been held, being that Compak is now a very up and coming discipline we thought it right to add this to our County Championship list which now stands at 15 Disciplines, all with shiny new trophies and medals for Ladies, Veterans and Juniors. Over the years we have held many Championships with Southdowns Gun Club and after a brief conversation they quickly took up the idea of hosting it for us, In fact they liked the idea so much that they asked some of there regular Counties if they would like to join in and they all accepted, leaving us with an event that sold out with a waiting list! Being the size Southdowns is they also put on a 25bird pool shoot and 100reg Sporting course, leaving shooters plenty to have a go at. The Compak saw 107 entries over 19 squads and the Sporting course took 115 entries, both ran very smoothly with the weather playing its part and holding off the rain but it did have patches of drizzle here and there. This event would also be the last chance to collect Supreme Championship points with Roger Deacon, Ben Gordge and Luke Elliott all in attendance and the current top three in the Championship. Roger was on an early squad and could only produce a 69/100 leaving the door wide open for Ben and Luke, but in order to beat Roger they would have to win the event anything sort of this would not give enough points. Phil Marks returned with an 88/100 and became the new leader at the compak, but he then went on to shoot a remarkable 99/100 on the Sporting course to win high gun. Ron King finished 86/100 which was just short of Phil's score, but enough to win the Veterans title and also third in the Vets class. Ben returned with a 93/100 after finishing 49/50 on the last two layouts which would be enough to give him both titles, however Luke had other idea's. Luke came in with an impressive 95/100 to not only win the Compak Championship but also steal the Supreme Championship away from Ben & Roger who have lead the event all year. Well done to Luke who finished the County title year with his forth victory and 46 Supreme Championship points.

Helice

Juniors: N/A

 

Down The Line

Juniors: Stephen Ayshford

Fareham Clay Target Club hosted the DTL Championships for us once again, and it proved to be a popular event as they had 10 squads turn up. 31 of the 47 entrants were from Hampshire which was a pleasant surprise and certainly would confirm DTL is on the up at Fareham once again. Carl Miles took an early lead with a perfect 50/150, Ben Gordge and Pete Thomson were chasing Carl both being straight but with a few second barrels. Carl missed a target on his third round whilst Ben and Pete shot perfect 25/75's to close the gap, with things getting tight Ben managed another 25/75 but Pete unfortunately had a second barrel in his last round finishing him on 294. Carl still had the lead but then second barreled two targets in his last round to end up equal with Ben on 295. So a shoot off was required, Ben second barreled his first target out and then missed 3 more handing the win to Carl who finished 25/72 to take the title. Stephen Ayshford returned to defend his 2014 title in the Juniors as did Diana Gordge in the Ladies, both succeeded in doing this fending off the competition by quite a margin, and although Pete Thomson just missed out on the shoot off his 100 straight did earn him the Veterans honours. 

 

FITASC

Juniors: N/A

The Hampshire FITASC Championships were once again held at Southdowns Gun Club, but this time it was over a weekend allowing people the chance to shoot either day as preferred. 22 Hampshire shooters attended the event with a fairly even split as to which day they shot, the weather was fair but Saturday did have a bit of drizzle which never came to anything late on. Neil Lockton was leading after Saturday with Luke Elliott just one clay behind him and it was evident from the scores that it was a tough shoot. Carole Sawkins finished on 68/100 which was enough for her to take the Ladies title once again, Dave Hallett returned a 77/100 in the Veterans class which also would not be beaten on the Sunday to give him the title. Sunday saw Des Sturgess, Trevor Bell and Roger Deacon gear up to improve on Neil's score, Trevor straighted the DTL layout whilst Roger shot the Tower 2 away finishing them both above Neil. However Des had set his sights on retaining the trophy (that he kindly sponsored last year) and did just that returning with an 87/100 to give him the out right win. I would like to say a big thank you to the Southdowns team, as they clearly put a lot of time and effort into the event for us.

 

English Sporting

Juniors: Connor Gorsuch

This year for the first time Owls Lodge Shooting School held our blue ribbon event on Saturday the 13th June. The course was set over 12 stands with a few new shooting positions created for the day, Richard made use of some different coloured clays which was a nice touch and made this feel like a proper Championship. The course was quite tough and required concentration but all the targets were shootable and the class scores did reflect this, with the winning scores in each being what you would expect apart from Martin Myers 96/100 which was unbelievable shooting. There were 139 entries with 65 being from Hampshire which is nearly double that of last year. Mal Grant took the lead with 86/100 which held for some time, Ricky May then carded an 87 to go one better. At the last entries stage Neil Lockton and Trevor Bell went out to see what they could do, Trevor matched Ricky's 87 but Neil Lockton returned a very consistant 91/100 which would not be beaten. Rick Stala was on fine form also finishing on 86/100 to take the Veterans title with Connor Gorsuch collecting yet another Juniors victory. The weather was fair with the sun making occasional apperances and day itself ran like clockwork, the pool shoot proved to be very popular and Luke Elliott came out on top after a shoot off to take the money at this. Mike Mansfield of Caesar Guerini had a have-a-go stand set up for anyone wanting to try their range of shotguns, Marcus Iddon from Express cartridges was present and had kindly donated some shells for the County winners, Jamie Peckam of Promatic was on hand incase of any problems and all the scorers were very pleasant and greeted you with a smile. All these things add up to make the day most enjoyable and have a real Championship feel about it which is a credit to Richard, Tanya and their team of staff.

 

English Skeet

Juniors: N/A

Fareham Clay Target Club held the English Skeet Championships on Sunday 17th May, 4 squads of shooters attended with 16 being from within the Hampshire borders. Alan Saunders returned with the trophy and a title to defend but this time had an on form Luke Elliott to contend with who had yet to win this event. Alan straighted his first layout to Luke's 23 but then Luke shot a straight to bring them within a clay of each other at the 50 bird mark. Alan shot another 24 followed by a last round round of only 23 leaving the door open to Luke, who shot two 24's resulting in them both finishing 96/100. This then meant a shoot of was required, so they both shot another complete round and still remained tied as they both shot 24/25, they then headed to peg 4 to shoot sim pairs in a sudden death format, Luke stepped up and hit both pairs but Alan unfortunatley missed his second bird to hand Luke the title. Luke is certainly making a late charge for the Supreme Championship title collecting 21 points in the last three shoots! Eric Sumner took the Veterans title with 93/100 shooting consistantly all day, and Sarah Rowland took her first ever Ladies title. 

 

Sportrap

Juniors: N/A

 

Automatic Ball Trap

Single Barrel

The Hampshire Single Barrel championships were held at Owls Lodge Shooting School, once again alongside the Double Trap but also a 100reg sporting giving shooters plenty to have a go at. The weather was cloudy at the start of the day but this soon cleared and the sunshine remained throughout the day, this was unfortunately accompanied but gusty winds making it feel a lot colder and also making the targets interesting. Roger Deacon has the Supreme Championship set in sights and wanted to walk away with another 7 points, he shot an early squad and put in a perfect score of 50/50 which is certainly the first one I've ever seen at this competition. With the weather aside no-one was ever going to catch him and he certainly deserved the points, closest to him was Ben Gordge & Andy Gordge yet again shooting the same score 43/50 at this event. Derek Turner came in one behind on 42/50 to take the Veterans, Connor Gorsuch fended off DTL shooter Stephen Ayshford to take the Juniors and Tanya Faulds won the ladies by just a single target more than Diana Gordge. Numbers seemed to be down this year with Fareham CTC and the Clubman league both being on aswell, thank you to all that stayed until the end for the presentation after a long days shooting.

 

Double Trap

Owls Lodge held the Hampshire Double Trap Championships on Saturday 11th April. Hampshire shooters are so lucky to have such great local facilities that offer pretty much all of the clay shooting disciplines, unlike some counties which have to travel miles. I think this is the only reason we are able to keep these Championships alive, as if they were outside the county borders we simply wouldn't get the shooters turning up, and also not making the Supreme Championship accessible to all. I have to say Double trap shooter Connor Gorsuch was favourite to win this event but with an unfortunate gun malfunction he persevered but came up short. Roger Deacon was on fine form in 'Trap' shooting mode and scored a respectable 45/60 at a quite technical discipline. Ben Gordge had to chase Roger's score once again and had a bit more room for error this time but a poor first round saw him finish 40/60 and come runner-up again. Connor did still take another Juniors title, Tanya Faulds took home another ladies medal and Trevor Bell won his first Veterans medal. Thank you to all that attended the events and next up is another trap discipline but in the form of ABT at Fareham CTC.

 

All Round

Olympic Trap

Olympic Skeet

Universal Trench

Owls Lodge held the first of this years Hampshire Championships, the weather was slightly better in the morning with some light rain late afternoon. It wasn't to be the most highest of scoring days and unfortunately the mic on peg 5 was causing some shooters calling problems. Neil Lockton was leading on 39/50 with a couple of squads left to shoot. Andy Gordge however had returned to defend his title shooting a 43 which was 1 target clear of son Ben on 42. Roger Deacon had other ideas though shooting 44/50 which was enough to give him the title and 7 points in the Supreme Championship. Andy did however still win the Veterans title with Jayne King taking the Ladies and new to the Hampshire scene 13year old Corey Vasey took the Colts/Juniors.

 

Double Rise