The match began well for GB, with a steady routine and thankful lack of flap, finishing 300x with 3 off to put us 1 ahead of the US and 2 ahead of Canada. Conditions had been gentle, with wind coming from behind and over our left shoulders, which on A range meant a lot of shelter for all the teams and consequently under-calling of wind relative to flag indications. 

Rain, and perhaps storms, had been threatened by a variety of forecasting apps and both temperature and humidity rose as we fell back to 600x. This saw stronger winds, slightly more square than at 300x and less shelter from the left as the 600x firing point is right against the range road, beyond which (ie upwind) are just the cadets’ tent camp. Most wind calls were in the 2 left area, compared with under 1 at 300x. 

Both the USA (1 off) and Canada (3 off) made very good work of 600x, while GB was a little way back at 7 off for the distance, taking us into the lunch break 10 off to the USA’s 5 off and Canada’s 8 off. 

After consideration of several rain-driven alternatives, including shooting through with no lunch break, we reverted to Plan A, which was to take an hour and a half’s break between finishing 600x in range A and beginning 800m on range C. 

The Under 25 America Match was shooting the opposite course to the senior match, ie long range AM / short range PM. In the end, they were still shooting at 900m as we gathered after our lunch break, so we were slightly delayed in going forward to 800m. 

Despite further increases in temperature and humidity, the rain held off during 800m, but we could certainly see the sky out to our left bulking up and freshening the wind. Wind calls at 800m all had between 5 and 8 left, with the flags much squarer than at 600x and little shelter to our left: just the berm to the left of range B and we were shooting half way across range C. 

The USA continued their very strong performance at 800m, finishing just 3 off at that distance, to Canada’s 6 and GB’s 8. So, going into the final range, USA were in the lead at 8 off, Canada in 2nd with 14 off and GB 3rd with 18 off – a challenging position for us. 

At 900m, the weather finally arrived, though thankfully not enough (lightning) for a mandatory range closure to kick in. The USA team demonstrated the benefit of their very fast shooting technique by finishing before the rain hit, however facing 5-7 minute winds for their whole team in the process. They finished 13 off at 900m, for a total of 2,379.278, ie 21 points dropped over 480 counting shots fired – impressive.

A moderate rain shower saw both Canada and GB call a stop for 20 minutes or so, following which the wind was (predictably) much calmer: between 2 and 3 left. GB had 2 half shoots and 2 full shoots yet to go, and we were able to rattle these off at a loss of only 2 points, to win the range with 12 off and finish with 2,370.271.

A notable mention goes to the trio of Jon Underwood (shooter), Graham Nelson (coach) and Martin Liversage (plotter with trepidation) for delivering a 75.15 in our final shoot of the match, and the tour.

With 15 off at 900m and a total of 2,371.261, Canada secured 2nd place and just pipped GB into 3rd.

We go into every international match seeking a win and doing everything possible to deliver the best GB performance to achieve this, so the result was a disappointment. The USA team was clearly the strongest there and we congratulate them for their win, with many handshakes and cheers all round. 

After the match, we presented Serge Bissonnette with a print of a painting of Canada House at Bisley, in recognition of and thanks for his support of GB shooting in Canada over many years. The original painting was commissioned by our NRA and presented by Chairman, John Webster, earlier in the week to congratulate DCRA on their 150th anniversary. 

Sunday finished with a second visit to The Butchery and yet another round of THAT card game, this time with the benefit of 2 extension sets of cards. We received some perspectives from the Captain at the end of a very happy tour, and look back on both individual successes and, in the 3 senior international matches, one 1st position, one 2nd and one 3rd.  It is also worth noting that across the three team matches, an aggregate of 4,800 points, GBRT and Canada were level on points and only separated by V-bulls (7 in GBRT’s favour), whilst the US team were 19 points (and a handful of V-bulls) ahead – fine margins across three intense days of the team competitions.

Full stats from the America Match can be seen via our results page or here directly: /archive/canada2018/results/america-match-scores/

This final diary is written as we wait for check-in at Ottawa airport on Monday evening. The team’s thanks go to all our supporters back home, whether family & friends, sponsors, employers and others this diarist may forget to mention. We also thank DCRA and ORA for putting on such excellent shooting for us to enjoy; and the opposing teams from Canada, USA, the West Indies along with individual competitors – it has been a pleasure to shoot both with and against them all.

Another sunny day on Connaught ranges and all GBRT were involved in this morning’s Commonwealth Match, shot over 800m and 900m, our furthest distances, with a team of 12 firers across three targets, each with a target coach (the other diarist, Derek Lowe, Graham Nelson and Jon Underwood) and a main coach (Martin Townsend).

We settled down on our drawn targets, 51-53, only to find a gaggle of geese (Canadian of course) merrily parked on the 700m firing point.  They were completely unfazed by our presence and the sharp objects whizzing over their heads, preferring to rise occasionally to eat the grass and even stretch their wings.  This diarist had a head move through his foresight at least once when on aim and it was not until midway through the 800m shoot when they finally took off and flew away.  

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.  The wind at 800m was certainly challenging with several stops required to wait out the gusts or the moves through zero, requiring shooters to fire quickly when there was a steadier drift.  In all the bracket across this range was half a minute right to 4 minutes left.  At the end of the range, GBRT were 7 off although at this point they were behind the USA (3 off) and Canada (4 off).  Those three inners in a row looked costly. 

So, back to 900m and a rousing talk from the Captain to ensure shooters focused on letting off good shots and the coaches made the most of the steadier periods.  No geese (good start) and a trickier wind (2 minutes right to over 4 minutes left) meant more periods of wait, especially for the first and third shooters on each target.  GBRT started to claw back some points  and by the last three firers, it was looking pretty tight across the three teams.  A strong finish of three 50s (one with 4 V-bulls and two with 7 V-bulls) meant the team ended up on 1182.128, 18 points off, and were on tenterhooks for the final results from further up the range.  News filtered across that Canada were 19 off (124 V bulls) and USA were 17 off with two scores still to come.  Finally the full results were in and USA also ended up 19 off, (with 116 V bulls).  GBRT had won it, in the closest of finishes.  Cue much celebration and the Captain having to rethink his team speech!

A very swift lunch then before the photo for the Governor General’s Final (which featured 11 GBRT members out of the 50 participants).  The final is shot over 800m and 900m, with fifteen shots to count like the Queen’s Final, with the Presidents score (like Queens 2) carried through as the starting position.  

The wind at 800m continued its fish tailing, albeit more from the left now but still moving through zero, with a bracket of 4 minutes left to 2 right.  The GBRT shooters performed well in these conditions, with Calvert, Crispin and Russell all scoring 74, although the leader after the President, the USA’s Brandon Green, posted one of only three 75s to ensure he led at halfway, with one point off.  His compatriot Ben Cleland was 2 off, with Calvert and Lowe amongst the 3 offs. 

A short wait to reflect on the final range whilst the Canadians completed their selection process for next year’s Bisley team enabled some team members (your diarist included) to hone their skills on the USA team’s “corn hole” game (essentially throwing bean bags into small holes).  Let’s just say the Adj needs more practice …

900m was, for once, a bit more straightforward, with wind between 3.5 minutes and six minutes, consistently from the left finally.  The Captain led the way with a fine 75.3, one of only three on the range.  A couple of points dropped by Brandon Green made it interesting but with a hugely impressive 40 V bulls he was able to hold off team mate Ben Cleland who also scored 297 (3 off) but with 30 V bulls.  Top for GBRT was the Captain in 9th position.

After the traditional chairing off the range, the team dashed back to the hotel to change into “Number 1”s for prize giving and the dedication of the DCRA building to the memory of Jim Thompson.  It should be noted that Brandon Green was presented with his main prize, a lollipop from the Adj, prior to the official prize giving. 

Tomorrow brings our final day on the range and the America Match – a team of 8 shooters, with 2 target coaches and a main coach, firing 15 shots at each of 300 yards, 600 yards, 800 and 900 metres, making this the second most arduous competition in our sport, after the Palma match.  Weather is currently expected to be unsettled.  Live score sheets will be in the usual places.

/archive/canada2018/results/commonwealth-match-scores/

In the afternoon, Brandon Green from the USA wins the Governor General’s Final.

Once the squadding for today had been clarified, normal service resumed, with the top competitors in the Grand all squadded, as traditionally, on the same 9am detail for the last competition in the Grand Aggregate, the Gatineau, shot over 900m with 15 shots to count.  Three of GBRT shot in the earlier 8am detail and reported a light wind, readable in the main through the mirage.  These conditions persisted through the 9am detail, meaning scores of 75 abounded.  The overnight leader in the Grand, the Canadian Jim Paton, scored a 75.13 and whilst he then came second in the tie shoot for this individual competition, he did however therefore secure the Grand Aggregate in some style, with a total score of 777.119 (out of 780.156).  In the end the top ten did not change at all, meaning David Crispin remained 3rd, 2 points behind Jim Paton, level on points with Benjamin Cleland in 2nd and Derek Lowe, the other diarist in 4th.  5th to 10th were then all a further two points back on 773, with David Calvert 9th and Jon Underwood 10th.  It should be noted that Brandon Green, from the USA, who came 5th, also on 773, recorded 120 V bulls, averaging 7.7 per 10 shot shoot, which is good going with this smaller V bull.  As he himself said though, he would happily have traded some of them for a few extra points…

With the Grand complete, several other aggregates are now also decided.  David Crispin won the Gzowski, the aggregate of the long range shoots with a score of 175.26 (out of 175.35), five V bulls ahead of Jon Underwood in second.  In the Polar Bear (all shoots not at 300m), GBRT claimed 3rd (Crispin), 5th (Underwood), 8th (Calvert) and 9th (Lowe). In the Champions Pairs (aggregate of Grand Aggregate scores, our highest pairing (“ Cambridge” – Calvert and Haley) came second by a point behind Jim Paton and Johan Sauer, with other GBRT pairings dominating the standings with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th.  

By 10 o’clock, thoughts had turned swiftly to the first of the main matches, the Canada Match, which mirrors the Kolapore at Bisley, being a team of 8 firers, 2 target coaches and a main coach shooting ten shots at each of 300, 500 and 600 yards.  A quick lunch for all whilst the team busied about their various jobs in preparation for the match.

The wind was barely up from this morning at 300 yards although that did make the heat more oppressive.  The wind was light, running about 1 to 2 minutes from the left, angling slightly.  GBRT started quickly but a couple of loose shots meant by the end of 300, the team had dropped 6 points, compared to the USA’s 1, Canada’s 8 and the West Indies’ 31.  It could have been worse had we not spotted the target being pulled down as David Crispin fired his last, enabling the high inner (scoring 4) to be reshot for a bull (scoring 5).

Following the move of the camp (gazebos, scoreboard, flag et al) to 500, we settled down to our new targets ready to go again.  Unfortunately when we queried the lack of a target for one of our lanes, it became clear that they were short of one target….  After some confusion, the USA team graciously offered to withdraw their “B” team to enable the match to continue.  Whilst you might think it would have been straightforward to move that target to us, we ended up moving 12 targets to our left en masse.  By this point the wind had picked up to come fairly strongly from the left, generally around 2 to 4 minutes but with quick string shooting, GBRT matched their 300 yards score to end up 12 off after two ranges.  Unfortunately, the USA team also matched their 300 yards score meaning they commanded a ten point lead, with only one range to go.  Canada dropped 5 so were on 13 off, with the West Indies a little further back. 

So, back to 600 yards, where the light was fading and the ICFRA target faces looked pretty small down this diarist’s plotting scope.  This was however GBRT’s strongest range, dropping only 5 points across the 8 shooters, despite the challenging light, as the wind steadied slightly and the gusts were waited out wisely.  However, the USA team and Canada both only dropped 4, ensuring the USA team was victorious on this occasion, with an impressive total score of 1194.141 (and no-one scoring below 149 out of 150).  The eagle eyed amongst you might have spotted that GBRT and Canada both therefore ended up on 1183, but with an extra 4 V bulls, GBRT claimed second place.  

A puncture in bus 4 meant Jon Underwood and Dave Calvert missed the usual photo with the board on the range – photoshop maybe required.

So, whilst the Captain, Vice, Adj and a few selected team members go to Ottawa for the official dinner tonight to celebrate the winner of the Grand, the rest of us prepare for tomorrow’s Commonwealth match, akin to the Mackinnon at Bisley – a long range match shot with 10 shots at each of 800m and 900m, with a team of 12 firers across 3 targets.  This starts at 9am tomorrow and scores should be updated in the usual places.

Now, dinner calls…

Some interesting “science” is emerging from our experience of 300m on D range: that of the minimal mirage.  Today saw our second occasion of left wind indicated but right wind needed in the shelter (low target numbers) or much lower left wind needed (high target numbers). The other coach, who is no stranger to a bit of science in his day job, has suggested that the impact of photons in the bright low morning sun (coming in from 4 o’clock) can be the only reason for this. Perhaps he had been taking some of his own medicine. 

Scoring in the 300m and 600x Gibson shoots was pretty healthy, with 24 possibles out of our 40 shoots, including a 50.10 at 600x from the other diarist (Simon Osmond). John Webster was awarded a new outcome of the “contested unexplained miss” scenario, being a compulsory sighter followed by a single counting shot at 300m, a good couple of hours after his original detail time. A low bull-5 sighter followed by a V recovered his score to 49.8. 

David Crispin went clean on the Gibson (150.18) and, after some hopeful waiting, emerged as the winner, which takes him to 3rd in the Grand overnight ahead of the final shoot, 2 points behind leader Jim Paton of Canada. Other GBRT in the top 10 include this diarist (4th), David Calvert (9th) and Jon Underwood (10th). 

GB entered 2 teams in The Outlander match: selections as announced on Facebook. Shot between non-Canadian national teams, we were able to field a full 16 shooters to help management in their final selection decisions for the international matches of the coming days, beginning with the short range Canada Match tomorrow afternoon.

The 900m detail was something of a coaches’ shoot, ranging from 3 to 8 left called (and perhaps a little more needed) and many sighters taken out of turn. The 600x detail was for the shooters, with wind generally between 1.5 and 2.5 left, but knowing whether & where within that bracket nonetheless proved tricky. Results are not available at the time of diarising. 

The Gatineau tomorrow morning is squadded with the leading shooters all firing at 9am, aiming for each to be in a pair with their direct competitor (1st shooting with 2nd, 3rd shooting with 4th, etc). This is intended to make the end of the Grand Aggregate as competitive as possible – we shall see!

Thereafter, we shoot in the first full international match: The Canada Match, shot over 300x, 500x and 600x. Selection has been done this evening and we plan to make live scores available here: 

. First info should become available around 7pm UKT on Friday. 

Elsewhere in team competitions, the LMRA (Ball, Calvert, Watson & Osmond) beat a team of Vamplew, Vamplew, Mohideen & Westlake by 8 Vs to win the Mayor of Baghdad’s Vase; and 4 of the 5 British teams led the list in the Gillespie. 

Thursday finished with a private visit to The Butchery – Stu Young’s latest best friends, having provided the beef filet for our team BBQs.

After the rain stoppage yesterday, the team decamped back to the hotel for a couple of hours down time (and drying off) before heading to the Corn Boil, a fund raiser for the Canadian U25 team to the world long range championships in New Zealand in 2019.  The whole team enjoyed the evening, especially Oli Russell who won the raffle for a Tom Rylands stand – very timely on the basis his current stand has just given up the ghost.

Overnight saw some torrential rain but it had largely worked its way through before shooting started today (the odd shower aside).  However in its wake, it left a very testing strong, gusty wind which was coming in from the left at about 10-11 o’clock with swift changes.  This was further exacerbated by changing light conditions (on the odd occasion the sun did make an appearance) and buffet on the rifles.  All in all,  a challenging day with no-one clean on the whole day across the entire range.

The main event today was the Presidents, equivalent to a Queens II course of fire, with ten shots to count at 300m, 500 and 600 yards.  This score (out of 150) is aggregated with yesterday’s Letson score (a Queens 1 – out of 105), with the top 50 then moving forwards to contest the Governor General’s Final on Saturday.  The final consists of 15 shots to count at both 800m and 900m, with the Presidents’ score carrying forward.  Still with me?  Essentially the winner will be the person with the highest score over all the distances we shoot – 10 shots at 300m, 500 and 600 yards and 15 shots at 800m and 900m (ie out of 300 with 60 V bulls).

No-one on the range managed to score the maximum 150, although there were four 149s, including the other diarist, Derek Lowe, who was third with 15 V-bulls.  He is joined in the Governor General’s Final by ten other GBRT members: Watson, Ball, Calvert, Crowson, Underwood, Captain, Adj, Crispin, Young (Stu) and Russell.  Special mention to David Rose, who filled the unluckiest position – 51st, one solitary V-bull off the cut. 

After the Presidents (or in the middle for four of the team, including today’s diarist) was the first third of the Gibson competition, a ten shot shoot at 800m which will be joined tomorrow by similar shoots at 300m and 600 yards. There were an impressive six 50s, including David Crispin (2nd) and Jon Underwood (4th), given your diarist’s plot showed the wind changing rapidly between 3 minutes and 8 minutes left (bear in mind it is one minute from the centre to the edge of the bull).  For many, keeping in the black (ie scoring 4 or higher) was tricky enough, with magpies and outers not uncommon.  All the scores are in the usual places.

With the news that the Alexander of Tunis, which was cancelled yesterday, will not be resquadded, that means that David Crispin, despite a shortage of Dairy Queen stops, has won the Klondike Aggregate (for the leader of the Grand Aggregate on Tuesday night (roughly halfway through).  In the Gil Boa, today’s day aggregate, Jon Underwood was third with 198 and 16 V bulls, one point behind the winner.

It is all change at the top of the Grand Aggregate this evening, after the tough conditions today, with Jim Paton now heading the pack on “3 off” (ie 602 out of 605), with three on “4 off” including Jon Underwood (4th).  GBRT is well represented in the chasing pack with Crispin (6th) and Lowe (7th) on “5 off”, Calvert (11th) on “6 off” and Crowson (17th) on “8 off”.

Tonight saw GBRT, the West Indies, the USA team and Wandsworth rifle club host a reception for their fellow competitors.  Pimms, G&T, rum punch and pink fizz accompanied various snacks, nibbles and sandwiches as we caught up with old friends and made new ones in the traditional manner.  The NRA-commissioned painting of Canada House (plus cannon) was presented by John Webster to celebrate this, the 150th anniversary of the DCRA.

Tomorrow brings the remaining Gibson shoots and the Outlander competition in the afternoon, for teams of 8 with two coaches shooting 15 shots to count at 600m and 900m (akin to half an America Match).  GBRT have two teams entered, Red and Blue so all will be involved.     The weather looks to be more gentle tomorrow although hopefully some wind to give the coaches something to ponder.  

Despite the busyness of the day, there was still a long break mid morning, between the 2nd and 3rd ranges. By this point, the team had scored 31 possibles, which set us up for the 600x shoot, held for most at 1347 local time, precisely.   GB finished with 4 scores of 105 (Crispy top on 13 Vs) and 9 scores of 104, after notably dark conditions at 600x. 

A brief interlude came in the early afternoon between the individual shoots, where GB made 5 entries in the Coaches Match (a single range 2&10 shoot at 900m with a coached pair of shooters). With little team shooting thus far, this was a welcome opportunity for management to assess performance under coached conditions ahead of selection for the bigger matches: on Thursday the Auslaender, for which the German BDMP team has donated the trophy, leading on to the Canada, Commonwealth & America matches over Friday – Sunday.  

Our teams were: this diarist’s team (The Tudor Roses, comprising a Welsh Englishman, an Irish Englishman and an English Englishman); the Doc’s team (Pie, Peas and Mint Sauce); the originally named GBRT Townsend & GBRT Underwood; and the GBRT Veterans, who did the business with 100.6 (yes, 6). 

The experience of range officering the Coaches Match was clearly more than the range staff bargained for, as they called off the remainder of the day owing to impending rain and perhaps the need for some to start boiling corn for the Corn Boil, to which the team has been invited.  The Tunis is extracting maximum psychological impact on visitors as we will wait to hear whether / how it may be accommodated in the coming days.

Tuesday closes with Crispy leading the Grand, with no pints dropped and 2 Vs ahead of Oliver Milanovic of the USA. Olay is 2nd among GBRT with 1 off & the two oldest Guildfordians follow on 2 off. 

Elsewhere in the news, a Surrey Rifle Association team (made up of 4 people from Guildford and 4 not) has won the Gordon Highlanders team’s match (concurrent with the Letson) by 4 points from an Ontario team. Fu Yung has chopsticked further insects today and leads Chaley by 1 fly & 2 vings. And the team would like to thank a correspondent from northern Britain, who has more to say about our performances than either diarist has shared. 

Another bright sunny day dawned on Ottawa leading to Fu Yung deciding to run to the range (11km).  He was not accompanied.  The rest of the team had split breakfasts, due to Martin Townsend’s love of an early detail (luckily he has a few more to come).  

Today saw two double-range competitions.  The first was the Norman Beckett, shot over 300m and 800m, with ten shots to count at each.  Crispy’s 100.16 was 2 V-bulls clear of his nearest competitor across the range, aided to no small degree by a highly impressive 50.9 at 800m in a wind which was moving rapidly through zero from 1.5 right to 3.5 right (up to 3 minutes movement between shots – bear in mind the Canadian V-bull is smaller than at Bisley, being only one minute from side to side). Four more GBRT members scored the maximum 100 (Underwood, Calvert, Liversage and Haley, in descending order of V-bulls).  

The Colonel J Brick competition was shot over 500 and 600 yards (also 10 shots to count at each distance), with David Calvert’s (the other DC) score of 100.16 a single V-bull short of the tie for first place (between Brandon Green and Fazal Mohideen).  As with the other shoots today, the wind was coming over our shoulder moving very quickly from side to side.  When the mirage was visible, it was readable although getting caught in the aim was a perennial issue.  Your diarist treated each shot on his last shoot as a sighter, returning to zero each time (which worked for him).  7 other GBRT scores of 100 in this competition – details of all scores are in the usual places.

The Dick Hampton Aggregate, for the aggregate of all shoots today was a tight affair, with four GBRT members not dropping a point including Jon Underwood and Chris Haley.  The DCs were 2nd (Crispin) and 3rd (Calvert) by 2 and 3 V-bulls respectively behind Benjamin Cleland, who also leads the Grand Aggregate as at the end of today, with 300.44, ahead of DC (the Crispin variety) on the same score but with 40 V-bulls.  There are four “clean” at this point, with 15 on “one off” (3 from GBRT – Underwood, Russell and the other diarist) and 11 on “two off” (4 from GBRT – the other DC, the Doctor, this diarist and “Dadj”).  However, with 530 points still to be contested, there is plenty of shooting still to come.

Tomorrow brings the Letson, the first part of the Governor General’s prize (akin to a Queens 1, albeit with a mix of metres and yards) and the Alexander of Tunis, a 900m shoot.  In between these is the Coaches Match (teams of three, with two firers and a coach).  GBRT has 5 teams entered.  The long forecast rain currently looks like it might hit overnight tomorrow, although maybe I shouldn’t have written that to tempt fate…

Lollipops yet to be awarded by David Young’s 50.10 at 500 yards this morning has to be a strong contender.  The fly swatting competition is hotting up, with Chris and Fu currently in joint first place.

Fu Yung earned an early wallypop for having left on his 3-right wind setting from last night’s long range shoot and then adding a wind call before firing his first sighter. At least the 300m target has the largest angular size to be able to net the resulting shots, and following a mere 4 sighters Fu was able to continue his 8 to count without further issue.

His was not among the good crop of 50s at 300m, which set us up for the second half of the Tilton, at 600x in the late morning. This was held on the far left A range, which has rather less shelter, notwithstanding the berm on either side.  A-range has flags and they were at least properly off the poles and, therefore, able to corroborate mirage around 1.5 to 2 right. A similar number of 50s (c.13) resulted in GB making 8 full scores of 100, topped by David Calvert and Chris Haley on 100.14.

The aggregate of the pre-Grand shoots, the Champlain, saw David Calvert, Simon Osmond and Olay Russell top the GB scoresheet with 347 ex 350, DC in the lead (at 7th) with 41 Vs to the others’ 40 and 32 respectively. 

The afternoon had us return to range D for the opening shoot of the Grand, at 300m, followed by 500x on range A to make up the MacDougall.  Range D was, once again, the land of impaired mirage, which tricked one or two of the team into firing on Zero, which was a mistake.  The Captain employed a bit of wishful hearing, and “a avance au point de terre” rather “en avance” of the instruction and was ordered off the point for at least 15 seconds before the call forward was given.

The wind had gentled off by the time most of the team shot at 500x, down to between 1/4 and 1 right based mainly on mirage, which was also pretty thin, compared with this morning at 600x. The flags loitered with intent to go through Zero, but this was never quite needed. The team made 7 scores of 100 this afternoon, including a close bunch at the top of the list: Olay & the other diarist with 12 Vs, the other coach & the armourer each on 13, Nigel on 14 and this diarist on 15, making it to 6th overall.

Clean on the day were Olay (200.21), the other diarist (200.22) and Nigel (200.27 – not bad out of 40 counting shots).

We are told that the flags were changed overnight, from light nylon to, perhaps, lead on D range and lycra on A range.

Today’s diary closes to the sound of the Athelings visiting the GB hotel for pizza, pool & pop. This diarist took the quinine & quinoa option.

After a hearty Best Western breakfast, all buses departed for the range at 8am, ready for our first full day’s shooting in nearly a week. 

This morning was the Gooderham competition (the equivalent to the pre-Grand Century competition in the Imperial), our first shoots in yards (500 and 600) which led to much debate around elevation movements between metres and yards.  In addition to this, the flags on A-range are considerably lighter than on C-range (the main long range where the ORA meeting was held).  The threatened fishtail wind blowing towards us this morning was in reality more steady, with up to a minute bracket at 500x, coming from the right, and about a minute and a half at 600x, moving through zero but readable on the mirage.  The Captain led the way with 100.16, one V-bull short of the four way tie shoot for first place.  GBRT recorded six other scores of 100 – full team scores are found in the usual places.

Lunch in our air-conditioned classroom led to the opening of the annual fly challenge.  Stu Young is currently leading with two brace (although he has yet to confirm the male/female pairings) – plenty of time yet. 

This afternoon was the turn of the Army and Navy Veterans, a 15-shot shoot at 900m in testing conditions – light was in and out leading to a mirage which was not always visible and wind ranged from a half left to just over 3 right through the diarist’s shoot.  As if this wasn’t hard enough, the Captain decided to handicap himself by starting off with his 800m elevation.  Luckily his first sighter miss was enough to alert the Adj who was shooting alongside and was spotted swiftly amending his foresight ladder…  The challenging conditions meant no “possibles” for GBRT (only six across the range) with three of the team scoring 74, led by Graham with a very creditable 74.6.  Special mention to Oli who also scored 74, despite having a broken ejector which meant he had to put a rod down his barrel after every shot to get the empty case out.  A visit to armourer Crispy beckons….

A relatively early finish tonight with all back at base by 5.30.  Tonight will see a rerun of the Youngs’ BBQ fillet spectacular.  Lollipop awards yet to be announced.  All short range tomorrow, with the start of the Grand Aggregate in the afternoon, after the conclusion of the Champlain aggregate (all the pre-Grand shoots).  Forecast for tomorrow looks clear, with a light breeze from the right.