Norfolk ABT Team Report

 

The Norfolk ABT Team traveled all the way up the A17 to Nottinghamshire to compete at the last East Midlands Inter County Final of the year. The weather was a little blustery but the targets were hardly affected at this years venue, Nottingham & District GC.

The early leaders were Nottinghamshire with an impressive team score of 351 which was made up of R. Crowshaws 96 and then the rest of the team helped with an average of 85 per team member which looked consistently unbeatable. Just before the Norfolk seniors were gearing up ready to tackle the first layout the scores from the Lincolnshire team were being put up on the team score board with two 94s to boast off. The team total was totted up and it was a tie between the top two trap counties Nottingham and Lincolnshire on 351. The next county to finish were Cambridgeshire but they fell short with 339.

The senior team kept there heads down and tried there very best over the 4 layouts. The seniors scores are as followed:

J. Dodd 85
R. Gilbert 91
K. Hoolhouse 83
J. Matthewson 87
P. Owen 88
K. Woodhall - Cross 77

The team total which is made up of the top four scores amazingly came to 351 !!! It has to be noted that R. Gilbert managed a 25 straight in which only a handful of shooters managed on the day so a big well done to Richard on a great achievement.

A lot of people in the clubhouse looked very amazed as there was now a threeway tie at the top of the leader board with Suffolk now out tackling the layouts. Over the years Suffolk have been able to hold it together and take an East Midlands Inter County Final and everyone was eagerly awaiting to see if they were going to do it again. The first card showed three 24s from the seniors and so everyone was starting to think that there would be a shoot off in the seniors for the runner up spot only after such an impressive start from Suffolk. The next card came in and it showed that the pressure had got to some of them as the scores started to drop but F. Welham was still standing strong. After what seamed to take forever with the suspense of waiting for the Suffolk team to finish, the young scorer ran back to the clubhouse with the score card in his hand. It was quickly toted by the office staff and was quickly put on the team board with many eyes watching to see the outcome. Once it was toted up the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk shooters all quickly headed out the door to the car park to gear up as Suffolk had just fell short with 341.

The shoot off was sudden death which involved the three nominated shooters by the team captains. The shooters then shoot in a set order until they miss and the team tally added up to decide as shown below by what happened.

What Happened in the shoot off

ROUND 1

J. MATTHEWSON	NORFOLK	KILL
R. CROWSHAW	NOTTS	LOSS
N. EATON	LINCS	KILL
P. OWEN	NORFOLK	KILL
G. HODGKINSON	NOTTS	LOSS
M. HOUGHTON	LINCS	KILL
R. GILBERT	NORFOLK	KILL
L. CLEMENTS	NOTTS	KILL
D. SIPLING	LINCS	KILL

Nottinghamshire eliminated.

ROUND 2

J. MATTHEWSON	NORFOLK	KILL
N. EATON	LINCS	KILL
P. OWEN	NORFOLK	KILL
M. HOUGHTON	LINCS	KILL
R. GILBERT	NORFOLK	KILL
D. SIPLING	LINCS	KILL

Teams tied.

ROUND 3

J. MATTHEWSON	NORFOLK	KILL
N. EATON	LINCS	KILL
P. OWEN	NORFOLK	KILL
M. HOUGHTON	LINCS	KILL
R. GILBERT	NORFOLK	LOSS
D. SIPLING	LINCS	KILL

Lincolnshire won the shoot off over Norfolk (runners up) and Nottinghamshire but it has to be said that the shooters that took part were brillant as they hardly showed any signs of pressure considering that there must have been around 35 - 40 people watching to see what the outcome was going to be. 

Norfolk also fielded a veterans team but no ladies or juniors again this year. The veteran team managed to get 5th place with there team total of 150 but the winners were Lincolnshire with an impressive total of 178. The Lincolnshire veterans had J. Winn score an impressive 91 which was followed up by D. Cooper with 87 to help them take the veterans title which was 8 targets clear of Nottinghamshire to show how strong the top two veterans were for Lincolnshire. The Norfolk veterans scores are as followed:

D. Powley 79
D. Smith 71
R. Daws 55
M. Eales 69

Well shot and a big thank you to everyone who made the long journey to Nottingham & District GC and a big well done to Jason Matthewson, Paul Owen and Richard Gilbert for taking part in a very intense shoot off. With this being the last Inter County Final of the year I would like to thank everyone who has represented there county this year. Without you Norfolk would not have a team to send to any event which would be a great shame as our county has such great talent when it comes to the art of Clay Pigeon Shooting. I hope everyone enjoys what is left of the 2014 and hope to see many of you out on the shooting ranges soon.

Kyle Woodhall - Cross

Norfolk CPSA Secretary.