Another day, another glorious morning in Bloemfontein. The hotel swimming pool sure does look inviting…
But instead, for the GB Rifle Team, today was the first day of individual shooting, the “Freestate Championships”. Many of our training weekends were focused on team shooting format, where each firer is in a target team and assigned a dedicated wind coach. Essentially, the shooter is purely a “shooting platform” focused on one thing and one thing only – firing good shots. Individual competition requires a shooter to also be his/her own wind coach, and they are assigned a target with other individuals and fire in turn. Just to note, some find the “multi-tasking” aspect of individual shooting easier than others…
The Freestate Championships consist of 4 different shoots, a 2&10 (2 convertible sighters and 10 to count) at 300M and 800M, and 2&11 (South Africa is unique in this regard) at 600M and 900M. The 300M and 600M shoot is one competition (the short range out of 105.21) and 800M and 900M is added together for the long range competition. The team, suitably breakfasted (that’s a word right?) and prepped, headed out to the range.
It was another scorching day, so the emphasis was suncream, following the shade and trying not to dehydrate whilst in our shooting gear – oh and shooting as well as we could! We would shoot the first 2 details in the morning, break for lunch, the shoot the long range in the afternoon.
To make this transition, we are (thankfully) allowed our team buses on the range, especially useful as they act as great shade cover! We also can load our gear in and travel between the distances, saving us having to carry our kit hundreds of metres during the day.
The transition is made more difficult by the buses not working though, flat batteries can be very annoying…
As the day progressed the team worked hard to understand the conditions, South Africa is what wind coaches would call a “mirage range”, where wind changes can be detected through looking at the heat haze (AKA Mirage) through a shooter’s scope, and less emphasis on detecting changes in the flags on the range. However today there were a large number of changes, needing shooters to focus on both of these keenly to do well. Toby Raincock led the way on this, shooting excellently to score 208.21 (208 with 21 V bulls) out of 210.42, enough to get him 3rd overall. Jane Messer was a close second in the team with 207.18 – another excellent performance.
This was the team’s first taste of individual competition, against both each other and also competitors from other countries, and it is fierce, like a lion, from South Africa.
Afterwards the team retired to the hotel, to relax, unwind, and prepare for tomorrow where the team will compete in the Southern International Challenge individual matches. Team members have been given the option of skipping the short range shoots in the morning but will all be on the range for the 800m and 900m shoots in the afternoon. Afterwards we will join the other teams for the international Meet and Greet – an opportunity to catch up with friends from around the world.
PS Buses, as well as a charged battery, also need fuel. To top up fuel you need to pay at a petrol station – and to pay you actually need to have money on you. The lesson here is when driving by yourself and fill up the tank, be sure to have money with you – or one of your teammates may have to run across the road to save you…
Catch you tomorrow.
#GBRTSA17
