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. Even though most Sunday night flights out of Johannesburg are considered pretty awful (as everyone flies at that time) it was relatively straight forward thanks to the help of the Virgin Atlantic and airport security staff. With no issues experienced, the team had a pleasant journey home and arrived Monday morning back at Heathrow.

For the main body of our final diary entry we have chosen to reflect on the tour as a whole.

Before this team had even had it’s first training weekend, some observers lauded it as one of the strongest GB lineups to be selected. Expectation from some in the UK was significant and the pressure to succeed was felt across the team. We knew this was both a psychological advantage and a challenge. The challenge was going to be just how much each and every team member stepped up to the task at hand and delivered to our potential – and boy, did we.

GB’s 3 main objectives were to win all 3 team matches. Notably our shooting and coaching standards increased throughout the two weeks despite fatigue, the relentless heat and the aforementioned “Bloemfontein Belly” hitting the team towards the end of the tour. We peaked each time we were asked to by our Captain.

Individual performances were also to a very high standard. Not only did Toby win the Grand Aggregate and South African Open Championships, our Captain won his second State President’s final and we also had many members of the team winning other competitions and aggregates as well. We could not have expected to take 7 of the top 10 places in each of the SA Open Championships and the State Presidents competitions.

What has made this tour so memorable was just how much fun the team had. GB teams can often be heard saying “great tour” and “love to tour” (especially if you ask a team member about it at Bisley) but the love of touring and the way this particular team gelled made it that bit more special.

A significant foundation of this success was the management team, and in particular our Captain, Nick. With a permanent smile on his face he brought the team together magnificently from the point of selection until he was deposited into the VW van in the State President’s Chair. The ideal end to a great tour and the entire team is very grateful for his captaincy and honoured to tour with him and his management team, Jeremy and Derek.

We tried to make this tour as open as possible for both close followers and those who might not have prior knowledge of target rifle shooting, with regular updates on social media and live scores.  The feedback we have received has been almost unanimously positive. 264 new people are following our Facebook page and the reach of our activity on our first training weekend was higher than the combined peak reach of the 2015 and 2016 tours. We hope future teams will be similarly focused on sharing news in this way.

The team would also like to highlight the support of other nations with the provision of live scores for the big team matches – thanks in particular go to Catherine Berry and Ben Emms from the Australian Team and Paul Prinsloo and Andre Du Toit from the South African Team. Finally, thank you to everyone who sent in messages of support to the team, it was very much appreciated. We are all looking forward to our next GB rifle tour with great anticipation.

Onwards and upwards!

#GBRTSA17

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 cloud soon burned off in what was to be the hottest day of competition. The GB Team headed to the zero range first thing to fire some ‘blow offs’, a technical term for fouling shots, intended to foul a clean barrel before competition. Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours five team members have succumbed to Bloemfontein Belly and the exact makeup of the team was unclear until 30 minutes prior to the match. Fortunately, the team as announced at the Protea Match dinner two nights ago are able to crawl to the firing point.

The Protea match is for teams of 12 firers and is shot over 300m, 600m & 900m. The current match record was set by South Africa in 2009 (1977.200). Today’s competition sees teams from Australia, Great Britain, South Africa and USA competing.

GB got off to a relatively poor start at 300m dropping 5 points (as compared to the Australia score of 2 off). However this ‘ordinary’ score would not deter what has turned out to be an ‘extra-ordinary’ team. At 600m GB dropped a single point levelling the match with Australia, both leading South Africa by 5 points.

A calming talk by the Captain before the final range and 900m kicked off. Only once (when three points were dropped simultaneously after a pilot shot) did the Captain approach the firing point, leaving the three coaches and main coach alone to get on with the job in hand. As the final shot went down the range for the GB Team (it might have been an inner at 12 o’clock), we ran out winners by 12 points from South Africa, with Australia a further 2 points back. Glyn Barnett, Parag Patel, Tom Rylands & Toby Raincock all scored maximum possible 150’s resulting in a team score of 1780.213 (a new match record).

In terms of Team Goal’s GB had four before the tour; 1). Win the Australia Match, 2). Win the RSA International Match, 3). Win the Protea Match and most importantly 4). Have fun, which given the achievement of the first 3, has made number 4 quite an easy win!

Hearty congratulations to Nick Tremlett, his officers, coaches and shooters for a job well done.

And so to the afternoon, the final of the State’s Presidents Prize to be shot over 800m & 900m. 18 of the 20 GB Team members were shooting this afternoon with a firm favourite being Glyn Barnett who had won both the first and second stages earlier in the week (and shot the highest score in the Protea match earlier in the day).

The final started at 13:15, just as the afternoon winds began to blow. 800m was reasonably readable in terms of wind condition, but the intense heat and the ever more wearisome team members would require one last burst of concentration to finish the tour off in style. 900m was also reasonably readable and the stronger winds of earlier in the week were not evident today. At the close of the range, it was apparent that Glyn had not managed a win in all three stages, but rather Toby Raincock had achieved the highest score in the final with 148.14. The State’s Presidents Prize is awarded to the shooter with the highest aggregate score in Stages 2 & 3. In third place was David Luckman (GB) with 297.36, in second was Matthew Ensor (GB) with 297.37 and would you believe it in top spot to round off his day was Mr Nick Tremlett (GB Team Captain) with 298.29.

In the SA Championship, things were close at the top with the top 10 placings as follows:

Toby Raincock (GB) 954.106

David Luckman (GB) 953.107

Jim Bailey (AUS) 951.101

Nigel Ball (GB) 951.99

Parag Patel (GB) 949.111

Nick Tremlett (GB) 949.98

Alexander Coetzee (SA) 949.112

Matthew Ensor (GB) 948.111

Geoff Grenfell (AUS) 947.101

 Jane Messer (GB) 947.95

Many congratulations to Toby Raincock (one of the Bloemfontein belly group) who managed despite illness to add to his win in the Grand Aggregate to win the SA Championship!

The evening saw a quick dash to the hotel for a wash and brush up before heading back to the range for the traditional prize giving. The event kicked off with an auction in aid of the SA Under 19 team travelling to the UK in 2018. The auction item was General Mac Alexander’s Tilly Hat and the auction was ably run by Australian team member Bens Emms (the current Long Range Individual World Champion and professional auctioneer). The GB Team (thanks Jumbo) bought the hat and then presented it back to General Mac.

Medals were won, trophies were presented and our Captain rode around in a chair carried by his team whilst accompanied by the sound of bagpipes.

Then we went out…

Toby Raincock wins the South African Championship.

Further pictures will be published when they become available.

1st Great Britain – 1780.213

2nd South Africa – 1768.177

3rd Australia – 1764.191

4th USA – 1716.139

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 second stage scores are then added up and the top scores (usually around 100 people) make it into the final.

 It was another sweltering day, with wind conditions calm to start and then picking up later. However, it was definitely possible to score high, with Glyn doing the double and topping the team in both the state President’s first and second stage, the latter with an excellent score of 150.24 out of 150.30.

The afternoon was spent relaxing (for the majority of the team) but our final team match (the Protea) is tomorrow followed by the State President’s final. One final day of shooting to go, but huge prizes at stake, as the team go for victory in all 3 matches! You can see the live update of the scores again on our website, so do try to check it out!
#GBRTSA17

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 State President’s competition and the final day of the South African Grand Aggregate.

The State President’s competition follows the same format as the Queen’s prize at Bisley, where there are 3 stages, stage 1 being a 2&7 @ 300M, 500M and 600M, stage 2 the same but 2&10, and stage 3 2&15 @ 800M and 900M. The only difference is that everyone gets to shoot the first and second stage in South Africa (at Bisley the top 300 scores only go on to stage 2).

As the team arrived at the range, again at ridiculous o’clock, conditions were hot, sunny (for a change) and windy immediately (again – for a change…). Perfect as the team also had a 900M shoot after lunch – as the final shoot of “The Grand”, the order could certainly get mixed up!

Going into the final day (and as you would know from looking at our score page!) it was David  Luckman leading the way 5 points down (meaning he had dropped 5 points in total – out of 510… pretty good going!) followed closely by Toby and Nigel (on 504). The competition was hotting up – perfectly in line with the weather…

Scores were high for the first stage, with Parag and David Luckman scoring 105.15 – but fellow teammate and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Glyn Barnett pipped them by a V bull to score 105.16 to win it – a cracking score. 

At the end of it all, after some tremendous shooting, it all came down to the 900M detail – and it was Toby Raincock shooting incredibly well to get a 49.5 out of 50.10, to win the South African Grand Aggregate (subject to stats!) Parag Patel, not wanting to be too far away from his fellow shooting teammate from Epsom College, also shot a 49, (eventually – his fellow “shottists” as the South Africans say weren’t the quickest!) to finish second by a single point. A GB 1-2 finish and some excellent shooting indeed!

Afterwards, there were a number of tie shoots (where the top shooters get exactly the same score, there is a tie shoot – 2 sighters and 5 to count – to determine the winner) for competitions throughout the day, with Tom Drysdale winning the tie for the Municipal Cup and Martin Millar winning the tie for the Dalrymple. The videos of which you can see on our Facebook page.

The evening was the official Protea function in preparation for our match on Saturday. Only 2 days left – the team needs to keep their focus until the end…

With an economy of words, General Mac brings a clear authority to the range – a reassuring influence over the shooter’s day for more than 20 years at the SABU meeting, beginning each day with a scripture reading & prayer and inviting us to competitions of “twey tile-barrer proof-squirter und teen squirter” (to the uninitiated, that’s “two convertible sighting shots and ten shots to count”).  A “squirter” does not remind us of high powered water pistols.

Heading towards the end of the Grand Aggregate, we see GBRT members in 6 out of the top 10 positions, with David Luckman in the lead by one point (but down one V-bull) from “Tony” Raincock, who is 6 Vs ahead of Nigel Ball in 3rd place.

A rather short lunch break led into the second of the three major international matches of this tour: the RSA International, for 12 shooters plus attendant wind coaches etc at 800m and 900m. Look at the results page of our website for detail on all the teams.

In common with the longer ranges in the Australia Match on Monday, shooting at 800m in the early afternoon required very active management of our available range time, where a key skill is judging when not to shoot (because of difficult wind). In such conditions, a team can run very close to the end of the time allowance, so, once shooting resumes after a wait, the ability to fire a fast stream of good shots tests the shooters and coaches alike.   GB finished 800m just two points ahead of South Africa and a further nine ahead of Australia – both small margins for a team of 12 firing 15 shots at each distance in a long range match.

Conditions at 900m were steadier, such that the stops consumed less of the allowed time.  No urgent counting down on a stopwatch was required at this range. GB beat Australia by five points at 900m, and South Africa by six.  The final result saw GB win the RSA International match by eight points from South Africa and 16 from Australia.

Delighted (and, perhaps, relieved), GB finished the day looking forward to two further days of individual shooting and then the most prominent international match in the typical South African calendar: the Protea Match on Saturday morning.

Great Britain: 1769.177
South Africa: 1761.178
Australia: 1753.159
USA: 1709.112

Further details available on our match scoreboard