It was finally the last day on tour, and most of the team woke up a little bleary-eyed and fuzzy-headed. Roo woke up in a persistent vegetative state until after his breakfast (lunch?). All that the team had to do today was to pack up and head home, though this was going to be quite a lengthy task even for those without headaches.

Our only timing for the day was to leave the hotel by coach at 4pm, so everybody had different ideas about what to do with their day. Some were woken by snoring earlier than they would have liked (thankfully for the last time), some got up as normal, and some had their sleep interrupted by rumbling tummies. Since it was Jonny’s birthday, he was on a pancake and bacon mission, so headed to the hotel restaurant to satiate his hunger, though can you really call 3 pancakes a stack? Steph and Trem went too, and whilst the chief coach stuck to a healthy diet of fruit and eggs, Steph wanted a breakfast bigger than the heftiest trucker could finish…then she ate the whole thing.

I’m afraid without delving into the boring details of packing rituals and long lunches; there was a dearth of activity until about 3:30pm, when people started panicking and throwing clothes into bags. Almost everyone forgot something until the last minute, so there was a bit of sprinting to and fro in order to collect all the things that weren’t important to make the suitcase first time around. The coach ride was a few hours from Ottawa to Montreal, and the chatter soon died down as some of the octogenarians started to fall asleep. Up the back of the bus, however, the younger team members had brought cookies, sweets and cokes for the journey; allowing them to stay awake to see all the incredibly flat and boring views along the way.

Thanks to Stephen’s organisation, the team arrived early for check in, flew through with their bags (once the desk opened) and even customs was a breeze – sticking the rifles through an x-ray machine and onto a conveyor belt. It’s almost like they’ve handled firearms before! When we got through some pretty painless security, we were sure to come unstuck when trying to blag our way into the lounge weren’t we? Nope! Straight in, the power of the blazers and Mr Dix’s infallible charm was obviously still working.

Once on the plane (the same one we arrived on – thanks Henryk) Steph had decided to take one of her elephant strength sleeping pills, which worked remarkably quickly. She went from consciousness, through 70s-style trippy confusion, to fully unconscious in 15 minutes flat. We attributed some of this to her eating like an off-duty Police Chief Wiggum all day. About 2 hours into the flight, an air stewardess arrived at Jonny’s seat with a little surprise…a bottle of fancy champagne for his birthday! With just 30 minutes remaining on the day, he gave a glass to every team member that was still awake, polished off the rest of the bottle himself – before the empty was swiftly removed from him. British Airways have a zero tolerance policy on giving Scottish people bottles.

By the time we landed on Monday morning, there were some people who had slept a lot (Steph, DC), some people who had slept a little (Rich, Stephen, Gary) and some who hadn’t slept a wink (Jonny, despite all the alcohol). Once again, baggage and customs were an extremely efficient affair, even Captain Crossfire (Dom) hadn’t managed to lose anything, so the team headed almost directly for the bus stop. I say almost, because en-route was a Krispy Kreme donut stand – something Jonny was powerless to resist, even at 9am.

After another sleepy bus ride back to Bisley, all that was left to do was to unpack, throw everything in the cars and head off in our separate directions to get home. Not before all the hugs and handshakes that solidify the unique friendships that can only come from a victorious shooting tour.

Finally, we would like to extend our very grateful thanks to all of our friends, family, supporters and sponsors for the tour. We certainly couldn’t have done this without you!

Keep your eyes on the website for a final tour gallery in the coming weeks…featuring some bloopers!

Our last bright and early start was for the Commonwealth match at 800 and 900 metres, with our strongest possible team picked. Some people wanted to keep their good run going after winning yesterday, while those who weren’t picked at short range wanted to go out on a high by winning at long range. Our matches have been extremely close-run affairs so far, and this one was to be no different. After our first four firers we still hadn’t dropped a point, but neither had Canada. The conditions were good this morning, and our coaches were able to stay on top of the wind – helped (managed…instructed…dictated?) by Trem as chief coach. With all twelve firers finished at 800m, GB had dropped just one point. A tidy start, but in a re-run of yesterdays match, the Canadians had the same score…

The team fell back to 900m, knowing that we have the ability to win the match as long as we all fire good, flat shots. By now, the wind had started to blow a bit of a fishtail, waking all the coaches up a bit and giving them some early practice before the Governor General’s final in the afternoon. New cap Jeremy Tuck showed all the old hands how it’s done, with a fantastic top score of 100.12, closely followed by Nigel. The match was still very close though, as GB and Canada alternated the lead. With barely a point in it, our last few firers were lying down in a wait whilst the wind blew from left to right and back again. Canada were in a similar position, then the Chief Range Officer called 5 minutes remaining in the match. Like a flash, our shooters were up in the aim and the coaches were ready to fire the last remaining shots, needing to be as good as possible to maintain what we believed was a very slender lead. As their shots came up in the bull/V, whispers of a victory started making their way around the range until it was confirmed. Great Britain had won the Commonwealth match, for a complete clean sweep of matches, scoring 1187.136 to Canada’s 1181.137. We are very happy to have done what we set out to do over a year ago, and retain all the trophies in 2013. This is only the 16th time since these two matches started in 1931 that GB have won the double.

After the match, the Captain had one official duty left to perform – nail a pair of his shoes to the Connaught ‘shoe tree’, as per tradition. A forklift was brought in to lift him up – obviously getting a bit too portly for a ladder – and a pair of RAF dress shoes (unpolished) were nailed at the position of attention, as high as he could reach.

Before we get into the serious business of the day, we really must mention an incident that happened in the middle of the day. Mr Dix is not known for his logistical prowess, and this manifested itself in his managing to lock the team out of the hut. Never fear though! Such a slim man could always fit through a tiny window, couldn’t he?

The final afternoon of competition is reserved for the Governor General’s final, Canada’s equivalent of the Queen’s final. GB had several people going in clean, with perfect scores of 150 – Dom de Vere, Jeremy Tuck, Steph Ward, Henryk Golaszewski and Jon Underwood. With the wind steadily increasing in strength all morning and through lunchtime, it was going to be an extremely challenging match to shoot. In conditions like those, it paid to be able to shoot very quickly, and those who did so came off with excellent scores at 800m. There were only three people with a 75, combined with a 150 from the first stage – Steph, Henryk, and Alwyn McLean of Ireland. After 800m Steph led the Governor General’s on V bulls, and with the way she’d been shooting, there was excitement throughout the team about being able to carry such a light person away in the chair. After 800m there is a bizarre extended break of around two hours while some Canadians shoot a qualifier to make the following year’s national team. This let some of the team escape the heat in the team hut, take on some food and water before heading out to the final range at 900m.

As these things tend to be, the final distance was an enthralling affair with the lead changing hands between a handful of people – both GB and Canadians, with throngs of people monitoring live scoring behind the point. It looked like whoever won the 900m shoot would win the entire competition; such was the increasing difficulty of the conditions (a 5 minute wind bracket from one side to the other). Some mumblings started behind Henryk’s target, when one of the score monitors pointed out that he was almost finished and had yet to drop a point. The team were gathered behind his firing point for his final shot, and waited for the target to come up while Henryk nonchalantly gathered his kit. It was a bull 5! Yet to be confirmed, but he was the only person anyone knew of that had gone clean at all distances.

Henryk, getting his first ever GB cap, had finished the Governor General’s final with something that has never been done before in Canada – a 75.0. His group had 11 shots in the bottom right of the bull, and three others round the clock face – all while battling some extremely changeable wind. The closest competitor was 3 clear points behind him, which is a very impressive winning margin. Into the chair he went, and the Governor General’s champion was chaired off behind the brass band to the DCRA office for a presentation and a large bottle of champagne – which required the help of all 20 GB team members to polish off.

The team sped off (adhering to all local speed limits) to the hotel to change into number ones for the long prizegiving ceremony, where a fairly large amount of silverware – and cash – was to be collected. A few beverages were consumed before our final photo together as a team, with all the trophies and Henryk’s chair, and then it was out into Ottawa to celebrate with dinner, drinks and…other shenanigans.

For those of you who don’t like the narrative, here’s a summary:

We won.

First though, was the final shoot in the Grand Aggregate, the Gatineau. It was a long 2 and 15 at 900m this morning, where even though the wind was being indecisive and tricky – at least the sun had put his hat back on. Conditions were far from easy, there was only one 75 in the entire competition, but Captain Fitz led the way for GB with a 74.8 putting him in 5th place. The team returned to the hut to find that a large military display was still happening on the parade square, and the huge number of dress uniforms around made those of us in flippy floppys feel a little underdressed.

Lunchtime came and went in the blink of an eye, and it was soon time to head down to 300yds to set up for the Canada match. The vans were loaded up with kit, and soon bus 4 found itself tailing the trailer full of butt markers, who were instructed through the window first to smile for a picture, then to give us only V bulls for the afternoon. A few funny glances were sent in our direction, since bus 4 was also flying the Union Flag through the sunroof (though our music choice of the Ride of the Valkyries was possibly a little much). Once the kit was deposited, the targets were drawn and the team moved all the kit again, it was down to the serious business…

300yds brought with it an interesting fishtailing wind, coming down the range from the targets. The first firers got down and slotted in two 50s, which was a brilliant way to start things off. Then the second firers did the same… and before we knew it, after 300 we had only dropped a single point. However, it turned out that the Canadians had been just as clever as us, yet were ahead on V bulls, so we had to keep concentrating and working for our scores.

500yds was a similar story, though with the wind being a little trickier given the extra distance, GB dropped 3 points at this distance. A special mention should go to Steph though, as she knew we needed all the Vs we could get our hands on, so lay down and drilled in a 50.10 in about 5 minutes flat. Quite amazing shooting, when you realise how small the V bull is on Canadian targets. After this range, Great Britain were still sniffing the win, but with an extremely strong Canada team on our heels at every step, who also dropped 3 points at 500yds.

The final fall back to 600yds was done quietly and seriously, knowing we were neck and neck, but still behind on V’s despite Steph’s best efforts. By now, coaches Trem, Jon and DC were all over the wind, and firer after firer shot 50 after 50. Thanks to a few waits earlier on at this distance, Richard ended up on his own on the point, with the eyes of 19 other GB team members on him. Every shot was watched closely (especially those that he kept calling) because we were all aware how close the match was. Nine consecutive bulls and V bulls were sent down the range, and Chinese whispers indicated that Jeens the elder needed to get a bull/V bull for us to retain the trophy. Breath was baited…as the target rose up with a nerveless bull, meaning that Great Britain hadn’t dropped a single point at 600yds, and had beaten Canada to keep the Pimm’s flavoured silverware. Top score in the match was Steph Ward with 150.21, for which she received a very nice little hat as a prize. I’m sure she would’ve also liked the cash equivalent.

There was a little celebrating to do, but not much since tomorrow brings the Commonwealth match at long range, followed by the final of the Governor General’s competition – the Canadian equivalent of the Queen’s final. Some went into Ottawa for dinner and to visit a snack bar that President Obama is known to frequent, and others went just round the corner from the hotel to Al’s Steakhouse. Their trip wasn’t entirely successful for one team member; Dom being the poor chap who had an entire serving of starters air-mailed onto his shirt by a clumsy waitress.

First thing tomorrow morning is the Commonwealth match, a 2 and 10 at 800 and 900 metres, for which the team is as follows:

By lunchtime, a decision had been made by the DCRA weathermen (weatherpeople?) to resume shooting after lunch, meaning that the Outlander match was to go ahead as planned. It may be a first, however, that GB have ever had no proper opposition in a team match – other than some provincial teams – so this was a last opportunity for some shooters to press a case for a shooting spot in the Canada match. The conditions were very gloomy, extremely humid and wet yet there were several 75s at both 600yds and 800m, including 150′s for Henryk and Mick. Some very encouraging performances before we take on Canada at short range tomorrow.

Thursday was punctuated with tie shoots too. After the 600yds of the Outlander match GB had 3 of the 4 competitors shooting to win the President’s match – Jeremy Tuck, Steph Ward and Dom de Vere, shooting against Canadian Pat Vamplew – all carrying a 150.19. Dom was the victor, shooting an outstanding tie to win the Coulter Cup. The next tie was an all-GB affair, featuring John Deane and David Calvert at 800m, shooting (with any luck) before the rain came back. Once the range officer had given us his French translation of the match rules, they were underway for an enthralling 10 minutes which saw John come out on top with a 25.4 – featuring some of the most central V bulls of the entire meeting (and a bull 5).

It was only about ten minutes after the last shot down the range before the heavens opened again, Thor having woken up from his siesta on the wrong side of his cloud, and the vehicles aquaplaned their way back to the team hotel. As it turns out, DC was not only a mean bomber pilot, but would be a useful addition to any sailing crew.

The majority of the Great Britain team went out to different places around Ottawa for dinner, while the management holed up in their bunker to select the team for tomorrow’s Canada match. The team will shoot a 2 and 10 at 300, 500 and 600 yards and is as follows:

Today’s diary wouldn’t be complete without mentioning another excellent quote overheard in the team hut. DC was explaining, to whoever would listen, why he found the WiFi to be a little slow at the main office. A few of us ventured forth our opinions on the matter only to be told that actually he thinks that someone is “sucking all the energy out of the internet”. Best stick to aircraft, Wing Commander…

While yesterday was the equivalent of the Queen’s I, today was the President’s competition – basically Queen’s II for all competitors. GB had another excellent start to the day with a windless 300m shoot bringing some very high scores, and a 50.10 for Mr Haley. As the day wore on, Mother Nature opened up the vents and things got a bit windy, in time for the 800m Gibson after lunchtime. Despite this, a few people got high 50s, doing their Grand Aggregates no harm at all. An even more select few managed to go the entire day without dropping any points, and we even have 3 GB shooters in a tie for first place of the President’s, along with Canadian Pat Vamplew, tied on 150.19: Jeremy Tuck, Steph Ward and Dom de Vere. Quite outstanding shooting chaps, just make sure that one of you bring back the silver would you?

At the end of the day, Mick Silver had a tie shoot for the Letson. Most of the team had had to leave the range to make preparations for the evening, but were thrilled when Captain Chris returned with Mick announcing that he had won. Very many congratulations Mick!

The most anticipated event of the DCRA meeting was to take place on this warm and windy night, namely the GB team Pimm’s reception. A crack team of drinks enthusiasts, and Henryk, were tasked with the shopping, setup and distribution of a wide variety of drinks and snacks for the evening. Roo even managed to obtain the Canada Match trophy from which to serve the Pimm’s – a bit of silver polish never hurt anyone did it? Just ask Mick. The elite band of hydration experts departed for Connaught earlier than the rest of the team, who followed a bit later in a mish-mash of buses. Bus 5 had a very exciting drive over to the range, blasting out Pink Floyd, debating their best track and coming out with the quote of the day, Trem’s admission that he found it “disappointing that nobody has been caught speeding yet”. Let’s keep the Chief Coach away from the driver’s seat shall we?

Those familiar with Connaught camp will know that random military hardware is on display around the facility, including helicopters, jeeps, tanks, naval artillery and in the inimitable words of DC: “ Oooh a fighter jet! Yesss!” Richard performed his worst parking on tour so far, before the entire team assembled on the steps of the DCRA for our formal photograph; led by Dom, acting like one of the Chuckle brothers. After a quick costume change by Steph (having to put on some inch-thick black tights/wetsuit trousers to protect against more mosquito bites) we were ready to greet our guests, the fellow competitors and range staff. By the end of the evening the team ensured that Ottawa is now completely void of any trace of Pimm’s, cheese on sticks or crisps.

After the clear up, the range officers insisting on dragging some of the team out to ride a mechanical bull in Kanata. But with the match tomorrow, only a few succumbed to their charms, and even they were tucked up in bed by a sensible(ish) hour.

Tomorrow afternoon Great Britain has their first team match on tour – the Outlander, which is a 2 and 15 at 600yds and 900m. The team is as follows:

]]> http://gbrtcanada2013.org.uk/diary-21st-august/feed/ 1 http://gbrtcanada2013.org.uk/diary-20th-august/ http://gbrtcanada2013.org.uk/diary-20th-august/#comments Wed, 21 Aug 2013 21:01:26 +0000 http://gbrtcanada2013.org.uk/?p=760 Another day: another cloudless sky. We’re starting to forget what it’s like to shoot in the rain (cue frantic wood-touching). There is a certain optimism throughout the GB team at the moment which is very encouraging, every shoot is a chance for a high score, a flat elevation and a coveted yellow highlighted box on the team scoreboard. This was very well illustrated by the Letson today, the Canadian equivalent of Queen’s I, where we shot so many 35s that there was a pretty lengthy queue to weigh triggers at each distance.

Over lunch we were entered in the Coaches’ Match – teams of two firers and one coach at 900m. This competition was won by GB, with ‘The Chef’s Selection’ team winning: Coach Trem, with shooters Jonny (48.6) and Al (49.3). It was a fun way to break up the day, and gave us a little insight to what on earth the wind was doing.

As we are all classed as ‘Master’ competitors, we have been assigned the tricky post-luncheon 900m detail, since we are arguably best suited to deal with any difficult weather that may arise. This is true, though we couldn’t have accounted for how windy the range became, our top score was Jon Underwood’s 49.3. We aren’t at all aggrieved at how calm things became later on, which put us down the rankings a little for the day. This isn’t a disaster though, since the team performed so well in the Letson, with several shooters posting 105s.

For dinner, one of the few clubhouses on camp hosted a corn boil evening, with the promise of some delicious boiled corn on the cob, meat for those with a corn aversion, drinks and some live music. After a very long day this was a perfect way to unwind, before another full-on day on the range tomorrow.

It was Richard’s turn to be on the ball with his score of 100.12 just beating Nigel’s 100.9. As for the Col. Brick – a few fantastic scores were put in here, notably Jon Underwood with 100.15 and Steph Ward’s 100.14 earning them both a bronze medallion! At the end of the day’s shooting, there was still business to be had on the range. First was DC’s tie shoot for the Gooderham at 900m: he was tied at 75.12 with Angus McLeod and Des Vamplew of Canada. Just as the targets came up the wind decided it had been too kind during the day, and to make things interesting it kept getting stronger and stronger during the tie. The eventual winner with a 25.3 was Angus, some superb shooting in the conditions. After this had wrapped up, over at 600yds John Deane was preparing himself to tie shoot against Dave Dyson of ‘oop north’ and Roger Romses of Canada. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be John’s day, but his storming run in the Grand so far leaves us certain he’ll win something soon.

In the evening it was our pleasure to welcome the Athelings to our hotel for a well deserved evening off camp. They were instructed to bring their swimming kit and some empty stomachs; we gave them free reign over our pool, sauna and hot tub – then we ordered them 30 pizzas. This task was delegated to the younger members of the team, because once you get past a certain age you seem to get a bit baffled by the concept of takeaways. This became clear when Henryk attempted to take orders from people during the day: “yes Dom, for the fourth time, they are thin and crispy; we can even cut your crusts off for you”. “No Al, there’s no such thing as a Rum pizza”. It was a great opportunity to meet some potential future GB shots on their first trip to Canada, and to let them have a bit of relaxation time away from the confines of Connaught camp – some of us remember all too well how tough it can be living there for weeks on end.

The entire GB team have been squadded on the same details, so this often leaves us with some extended breaks between ranges. Today’s was a 2.5hr gap over lunchtime, where some of the (older) team members had enough time to catch forty winks. Nigel was found snoring in the corner of the team hut with a Truttmann-brand pillow, and the Captain was spotted unconscious on a table outside. Turbo was left disoriented after his little nap, and ended up sitting at 300m amongst Henryk’s kit, wondering why his rifle looked a little different than he remembered.

Sunday afternoon brought the start of the Grand Aggregate in the form of the Macdougall, at 300m and 500yds. Once again John Deane showed us how it is done, with two 50s giving him a total of 100.11, closely followed by Jon Underwood with 100.8. This was an excellent start to the Grand for them, leaving the rest of us playing catch-up.

After all the shooting had finished, it was everyone’s favourite time of day: dinner time! For some of the team, this meant a barbecue at the hotel, followed by a few games of pool at a nearby pub. For others it meant carb-loading at East Side Mario’s before grabbing a doggy bag and heading for their mattress chariots. Must be rested for day 2 of the Grand tomorrow…

• Ottawa Regiment 800m
• Jeremy Tuck – 3rd
• Jon Underwood – 4th

Half of the team had a leisurely start to the day with their first shoot not until half past 11. The rest of the team had a bright early morning to get to the range before 7. Steph was particularly pleased to discover, upon her arrival, that the most recent team shopping trip had managed to locate Marmite.

After having breakfast and enjoying a nice relaxing start to the morning, Chris Hockley realised that he had forgotten his rifle and subsequently sped back to the hotel to retrieve it. In the meantime, the Captain went to start preparing his rifle, opened the bag and realised that it wasn’t his. A second return trip to the hotel was narrowly avoided by the return (23 minutes after departure) of Chris Hockley, having retrieved not his, but Fitz’s rifle from the hotel. Somehow they had taken the wrong rifles out of the van the night before and claimed each as their own. They blame each other.

The morning’s shoot was the Gooderham at 900m and the team as a whole did fairly well. Continuing the theme of yesterday, however, Dom managed to cross shoot again, this time onto Steph’s target. He has since enlisted the help of Gary Alexander, the team optician, to examine his eyesight.

Lunch was a relaxed affair, with another multi-hour gap between shoots. Some of the team took the opportunity to pack a few sandwiches into their kit bags, and drive off to a charming picnic spot beside the lake.

The weather got warmer throughout the afternoon, with only a brief period of cloud cover. This was much appreciated by some, but for those of us shooting at the time it meant any hint of mirage disappeared. Combined with the heavy flags, it left us barely able to read the wind, and caused a few dropped points. The unlucky ones consoled themselves that these shoots were all pre-grand, and wouldn’t count towards the main aggregate competition.

For the last shoot of the day, the Army and Navy Veterans match, Dom was very pleased to finally put all of his shots on just one target, and did so in style with a 75.11. (and winning the match – Ed) Close behind was John Deane, with a 75.10 (Second place! – Ed).

Post-shooting there was time for a quick shower and change before a meet and greet on the range hosted by the DCRA. It was a fairly civilised affair even with the red beer cups making it seem as though we were in some American teen party from ‘one of those films’. Dinner itself was an interesting combination of roast meat with pasta, salad and topped off with a healthy dose of gravy. Des Vamplew gave a welcoming speech to the touring teams, and announced that the allocations for the Junior/Senior pairs were available.

After dinner, the team went to find their respective junior partners and introduce themselves. There was one very suspect pairing of Dave Dyson and Mick Silver, with Mick being the junior…presumably by about 40 seconds.

First shot down the range for some of the team was 8am for a practice at 300yds but then there was a 3 hour break before the next practice shoot at 600yds just before lunchtime. A lucky coincidence, as it happened, because Al had forgotten his shooting jumper and needed to nip back to the hotel to collect it. Still – that’s what warm-up shoots are for!

The 600yd practice was fairly uneventful until a range officer went to tell DC that he only had a few minutes left. A somewhat surprised DC responded “I’ve still got 7 shots to go on my no.4 gun”. Needless to say, the range officer didn’t argue, and let him carry on for as long as he needed!

Lunch was a very healthy affair in the hut, but there was a distinct lack of plates meaning some of the team had to be quite inventive with their food. Eating methods devised by the team include using flat pitta bread as a plate, creating wraps and piling as much food as possible into a bowl and using bread as a scoop. There was a fair amount of mess created, much to the dismay of the duty bus, who were left to clean up the mess. There were a few discussions about what was missing from breakfast and lunch and Marmite came out on top (diarist agrees, others don’t) and it is hoped that because this is now down in writing we will be allowed to get some. There was, again, a break between lunch and the next shoot at 900m and either the heat or the pressure of the job rendered the Vice Captain unconscious underneath a table in the hut. Luckily he surfaced fully rested from his slumber.

During the practice matches it seemed as though GB were squadded together with quite a lot of the team shooting in pairs with each other. One such pair was Dom and Nick. After a fairly successful shoot Dom got up and started to put his kit away when Nick pitched in saying “why are you getting up?” Dom still had one shot left but was clearly excited about the possibility of tea and snacks back in the hut.

Unfortunately there was another long break between the last 900m shoot and the next 800m shoot so that the butt markers could have some dinner. This just meant that the team could have more tea, biscuits, and cake, whilst absent mindedly considering whether they should be eating something a bit more healthy.

At 800m – The Ottawa Regiment match – two members of the team (Roo and Dom again) each had a miss for the two lowest scores on the team…70.9 and 70.10. Clearly the Captain was thrilled on hearing this news. Roo has since been educated on the difference between yards and metres, (and the difference between 800 and 900) and the commensurate effects of distance on elevation. Dom has been reminded how to read numbers…

After a very long day at the office, at around 7:30pm it was time to head back to the team hotel for dinner and showers – both of which were sorely needed after such an extended day on the range. The brave and intrepid decided a beer in town was in order, but for most of the team, an early night after a very long day was much more appealing.