It is a great shame that at the time of reading this we are already in October and the clay shooting season is nearing to a close for 2014, but its not to late to share your shooting success so please send me an email or get in contact with me to share any shooting news you may like to share with your county.

 

 

Norfolk English Sporting

 

The Norfolk English Sporting Championship took place at Mid Norfolk Shooting School on Sunday the 17th August. The entry on the day was a great turnout with 123 shooters in attendance. It was great to see so many people, young and old taking part in the biggest Norfolk County Championship of the year. On the day there were 21 shooters from Suffolk in attendance and a few people from Cambridge, Essex and Hampshire.

The sporting layout was made up of a good variety of targets with there being some driven, crows, rabbits, looper, incoming and going away targets all to be contended with to try and win the Norfolk Sporting title. The weather didn't have much affect on the day other than a slight breeze that affected the 2nd target on stand 1 where the target would either drop down about 20 yards in front of you or it would keep going and drop at about 35 yards away in front of you.

Another tricky stand I found was stand number 10 on the edge of the valley where the targets were a rising going away and a chandel target that curled away and to the left on report. It was an interesting stand because when you were in the shooting cage ready to shoot at the targets they were rising from below you viewpoint from within the shooting cage. The valley at Mid Norfolk Shooting School is also known as "death valley". This is due to the fact that the targets always look more challenging with the unique background and also that many shooters  tend to drop targets on this stand on a regular basis.

The early scores on the day were from Mark Goddard 89, Tim Page 90, Richard Bunning 90 and Dave Gooding 91 but all these top class shooters could not gain an extra few targets needed to match this years Norfolk Sporting County Champion, Karl Hagan who managed to narrowly win by a single target to put him at the top of the scoreboard with his score of 92 to take the Norfolk Sporting Title for the very first time.

The veterans title was very close with scores from David Pointer 72, Mick Virgo 75, Paddy Howe 79 and Mike Briggs with an 83 but the eventual winner was Ian Hallwood who managed a score of 87 to take the Veterans title. Ian Hallwood has also resently qualified for the England veteran sporting team for the very first time which will be trying to win the upcoming home international.

In the ladies catergory there were 6 ladies all challenging for the County title. The scores from the ladies on the day were as follows: I. Thurnell with a score of 40 who is also a young colt so will be one to watch out for the years to come. Heather Pointer 58, Georgia Tillson 63, Jessica Simpson 68 and Amy Davey 71. Amy Davey is also a young junior who is getting better and better every year. The Norfolk Sporting Ladies Champion for this year is Susan Hallwood with a score of 75. 

There were 10 junior entrants on the day trying there very best to try and win the Norfolk Junior Sporting title. The Junior title was won by George Townsend with an impressive score of 85 to give him the Junior County title. The other juniors scores from the day were: D. Dodd - Utting 60, T. Whiffen 68, C. Soanes 68, L. Neale 69, B. Foreman 70, A. Nixon 74, J. Daniel 77, I. thurnell 40 and A. Davey 71. Well done to all the junior shooters and keep it up as you are the future of our sport and it is great to see so many of you taking up this very popular sport.

 

George Townsend

 

Young George Townsend has had an excellent year so far this year with him winning the Norfolk Junior titles in: Down The Line, All Round, Skeet Doubles and Sporting. The 2014 Norfolk Junior Supreme Champion has also excelled at not just county level by also at national level. George managed to win the Colts class at the Classic with a marvellous score of 127/150 which beat all the ladies, juniors and nearly all the veterans in there own classes. If George was in AA he would have claimed 4th but he won his class in B by 13 clear targets.

George was also runner up in the junior category at the Troy Foods Classic Fitasc with a score of 116. The junior winner was another top Norfolk Junior Jake Moore to make it an excellent 1st and 2nd on the podium.

At the CLA colts challenge George shot 33/40 to qualify for the colts super final where he shot a further 27/40 to earn him the runner up spot. We hope George will have further more success in 2015 with this years big shoots all decided.

 

British Open

 

We have had some great news from the British Open Sporting. David Gooding earned the overall runner up spot at the British Open with a great score of 113. Susan Hallwood achieved 3rd in the Ladies after a shoot off against Tanya Faulds with both ladies shooting 92 then 5 in a shoot off followed by sudden death which Tanya just edged out Susan for the silver which left Sue with the bronze medal. Richard Bunning was part of the winning East Midlands Regional Senior team and Jake Moore was part of the East Midlands regional junior team. George Townsend won both C class and the colts category at the British Open Sportrap. Well done everyone who shot at the British Open at Garlands Shooting Ground.

 

East Midlands Inter Counties

 

So far Norfolk has fielded teams at the East Midlands All Round and also the Skeet Inter County Finals.

 

The All Round teams that travelled to Northampton where:

Seniors:
Sam Green
Rob Woodlow
Richard Bunning
Mark Goddard

Karl Hagan

Mark Trett

Kyle Woodhall - Cross

 

Veterans:

Mike Briggs

Mike Jennings

David Pointer

Heather Pointer

 

Well done to both the teams. The seniors managed to win the runners up trophies with a team total of 514 which was 11 short of Suffolk on 525. The veterans were very close with a team total of 160 which was 4 targets short of Cambridge with 164. We were unable to field a junior or ladies teamsWell done to both teams. The seniors managed to win the runners up trophies with a team total of 514 which was 11 short of Suffolk on 525. The veterans were very close with a team total of 160 which was 4 targets short of Cambridgeshire with 164. we were unable to field a ladies or junior team.

 

The Skeet Teams:

I'd like to say a big thank you to all the Norfolk Skeet Teams who travelled all the way to Northampton Shooting Ground to brave the weather to shoot the East Midlands Inter County Finals. The team members who took part were:

Seniors:

P. Freeman
K. Hagan
P. Bowden
G. Maund
S. Smith
T. Frammingham
M. Trett
N. Hubbard

Veterans:

D. Pointer
M. Jennings
D. Powley
A. Cross

Ladies:

H. Pointer
G. Tilson

Juniors:

G. Townsend
C. Soanes

The seniors ended up on a team total of 541 which left them in 4th place out of the 7 counties that fielded teams for the event. The winners were Northampton with a score of 569 which they achieved in very wet conditions, and the runners up were Cambridgeshire with a score of 562. On a brighter note our greatest rivals at the East Midlands Inter County finals (Suffolk) also had a hard time with the weather conditions, which made the senior team finish up with a team total of 516. In recent years Norfolk and Suffolk have always been challenging for the skeet title with a single point being the decider a few times. It just goes to shows how much of an impact the weather had on the day.

The Norfolk Veteran team finished up with a team score of 175 which was 10 targets short of the veteran winners Nottingham with a score of 185.

In the Ladies category Heather and Georgia finished with a team total of 147. The winning ladies team was Cambridgeshire with an impressive score of 183.

The Norfolk Junior team was represented by George Townsend and Charlie Soanes who was representing Norfolk for the first time. They shot well in the conditions and ended up with a team total of 164. The junior winning team was Cambridgeshire with an impressive score of 182 which was a single target ahead of Northamptonshire with 181.

Well done to all the Norfolk shooters who tried there best in the testing conditions and hope we have better weather at next years championship.