It is 1045 and fall back from the first shoot of the day at 900 yards to 1000 yards is in progress. The astute reader may well have picked up the lack of mention of 800 yards. This is because the 3rd 800 yard shoot of the Championships, planned for this morning, has been cancelled to make room in the schedule for a reshoot of yesterday’s aborted 1000 yard shoot this afternoon.
Now, this means, we think, that the 800 yard Aggregate is complete with just the two shoots in this World Championships. There is some uncertainty over the final result, though we currently believe that Lucky is “tied” for first place, with a count out likely to be applied rather than a tie shoot (this is the briefed policy, presumably for administrative and/or logistical reasons).
There are no Daily Aggregates as such, but 3 composite Aggregates, each composed of an 800, 900 & 1000 yard shoot. Thus, the first such Aggregate will consist of the 1st day’s single shoot (800 yards), added to the 900 and 1000 yard shoots fired on day 2; however, the 1000 yard shoot on day 2 was of course aborted and re-scheduled for this afternoon, so the first composite 3-range Aggregate should consist of 3 ranges shot one on each of the first 3 days. The third such Aggregate will, one assumes, consist of just the 2 shoots tomorrow morning (the final day), following cancellation of this morning’s 800 yard shoot. The second such Aggregate will, we assume, be as originally planned, consisting of the 2nd day’s 800 yard shoot and the 900 and 1000 yard shoots shot this morning vice the originally planned 800 and 900 yard shoots. Confused? I sincerely hope so as we are and we are here competing!
There will also be an Aggregate for the 3 shoots at each distance, except, of course, that there are now to be only 2 such shoots for 800 yards; this should be reasonably straight forward with respect to stats.
There has been, it has to be said, some further confusion among the competitors regarding revised squadding arrangements following yesterday’s heavy shower and the subsequent “postponement” of the final match of the day at 1000 yards. I say “postponement” as scores shot before the rain have been cancelled (good news for some, if not for others) and the match is now planned to be shot this afternoon, after lunch and following the morning 1000 yard shoot (but subject to weather radar predictions of thunderstorm activity). There was much speculation overnight as to which firing point target number individual competitors should report to for the 900 yard shoot today as the complex squadding system was not designed for the inconvenience of a rescheduled programme. The final advice, at the 0730 roll call this morning, was to attend the target number you were programmed for at 900 yards, rather than that planned for the first shoot of the day (originally at 800 yards). Yes, I know, it has taxed the 450 or so competitors!
Well, it is 1330, and after some conflicting announcements – “there will be no lunch break”, followed 30 mins later by “there will be a break” (but no mention of for how long), and then “there will be a 20 min break immediately following the final shot of the morning shoot at 1000 yards during which all competitors will be issued with fresh cards for the 1000 yard reshoot from yesterday’s match”. It was also announced that we should remain on our targets and fire in the same order as the previous late morning shoot; this deviation from the “fair squadding system was “to prevent additional confusion amongst the competitors”.
Well, the storms held off or passed by and the 2nd 1000 yard shoot of the day was completed, leaving tomorrow’s programme “as advertised”, at least for the time being.
Speaking of which (ie thunderstorms), it is now 1830 and our local area has just recovered from a one hour power outage, presumably due to a lightening strike.
In the absence of wifi for results, highlights of today include an exceptional 75.15 by coach Bill to win the 900 yard range shoot this morning; there was also a 75.13 from Lucky and a 75.12 from Captain Jane. On the 1000 yard morning shoot Parag came 14th with a 75.8.
As we head into the final day, the latest placings have Ben Emms from Australia leading on zero points dropped! Trudie Faye and Tom Whitaker (both USA) are 1 off and 2 off respectively. GB currently has Ed, Jons (Underwood & Tapster) and David Calvert on 3 off, Matty on 4 off and Parag, David A, Nigel & Tom R all on 5 off.
900 & 1000 yards to go tomorrow, before the top ten shoot off for the title of ‘World Individual Long Range Champion’.
