The final day of the tour and the journey home… Staggered (and staggering?) returns from various festivities on Saturday night brought about a phased wake up for the team. For some it was relatively late in comparison to the previous 2 weeks – 9am! On Sunday morning the team began the process of flying home, packing personal and team kit and loading up the buses to begin the 4 hour drive back to Johannesburg airport….
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01/04/2017 The last day of competition started as every other day, 06.00 alarm call and a sunny morning. Today saw the last day of competition of the 2017 South African Championships. The morning started with the last International Team competition, The Protea Match, whilst the afternoon would see the State’s Presidents Final stage which also sees the conclusion of the SA Championship. The morning was perhaps a little cloudier than recent days but this early…
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Half day for Team GB! While everyone was very excited at the prospect of only half a day sweating into their shooting kit, there was still the penultimate individual shoot to complete – the State President’s second stage. As mentioned in a previous diary entry, the State President’s second stage is similar to the first stage, but out of 50 (rather than 35) at each range for a total of 150. The first stage and…
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30th March Two matches down, two won – but one to go. The challenging Protea match awaits the team in 2 days’ time, a match where GB touring teams have often been defeated by both conditions and the opposition. Early mornings and tiring days have been the norm for everyone, but it is imperative for the team to keep their focus – and what better to focus the mind than today, stage one of the…
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Wednesday saw the earliest scheduled start to individual shooting, 0745 for the Jack Mitchley at 300m, followed by the President Cup at 800m and 900m, all in the morning. Today’s diarist was glad of a slightly later start, being squadded on the second detail, but invited the (thankfully unnamed) admonition of chief range officer, Brig Gen McG Alexander, for raising dust on the range road. With an economy of words, General Mac brings a clear…
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So… what now? 18 months ago our captain brought us together for the first time, with the ultimate objective for us to travel to South Africa and win the Australia match. After numerous training weekends, a huge amount of effort and a truly world class performance – the team had won. So what now? Well, as much as the team would have loved to celebrate with, let’s say, a shandy or 2 (definitely deserved!) –…
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Diary report for 27th Mar is a video interview with the team captain. Click on the link below to view on Facebook. Nick Tremlett interview.
26th March The day before the Australia match… Tomorrow is the day the team has been preparing for, for nearly 18 months. Whilst only a proportion of the team will shoot or coach in the match, all 21 of us that flew out to South Africa has a role to play. Unusually in South Africa, the range was open on a Sunday as an official Australia Match practice day. We did our usual morning prep…
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Another glorious day in paradise, the team awoke on the day of team selection – nerves were high – but the team successfully got up, packed the necessary gear and headed off to the range. No one forgot anything… well, someone may have underestimated how many rounds we would need for today and not brought enough, but this diarist is not in the habit of naming names… are they Jane. The morning, blue skies and…
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The morning of the 24th was an early start for the GB Rifle Team. A VERY early start. Leaving the hotel at 6:30am to get to the range was tough for some but why did we decide to leave this early? Today was opening ceremony – so we would all be in attendance for the flag raising before shooting commenced. Australia, Canada, USA and GB, as well as a large number of South Africans were…
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