Having rearranged our buses to group those on the same details, today was the first of three days where first detail shooters were back to the usual routine of 6am alarms and 6.45am leaving the hotel. Bus 2 was almost delayed with a shooter unable to tell the time having misplaced their watch, but having found it on their other wrist all was well.
The first detail was clearly too early in the morning for this diarist, who arrived on time to the wrong firing point. Perhaps some level of confusion is explained by the fact that today starts with Match 4, followed by Match 2 then Match 3… This year’s programme has 700m Day 2, 800m Day 1 and 900m Day 1 today, following a similar pattern tomorrow. As the command to go on was given, the wind was already quite square and strong from the left, but remained so throughout the first detail, moving a little more through the second detail. Chris Mitchell’s impressive 75.14v topped the team scores, with 21 of the team going clean.
At 800m the wind started to fishtail, and following trends on the wind wasn’t much use given the rapid changes. Chris Mitchell and his newly rebedded rifle and Nigel Ball showed how things should be done with 75.9vs, with Parag Patel, Glyn Barnett and Jon Underwood on slightly fewer vee bulls. After a long lunch break (time for a much needed nap for many, including our hardworking team armourer) the final distance of today, and of ‘Day 1’ began.
It wouldn’t be Bloemfontein without some fun, but for the wind machine to turn on for ‘Day 1’ of the World’s was not the start everyone was hoping for. 900m was total devastation for most of the team’s hopes of a high score. Winds moved rapidly from 2 to 9 minutes and back.
As part of our ammunition prep, members of the team had loaded for others. After finding out a 63 was shot at 900, one loader questioned the value of spending New Years Day loading perfect vee bulls, only for the shooter to spray the target. It only got better when said loader found out the other recipient of his ammo had a “multitude of errors” including winding sights the wrong way. Twice.
Captain Jeremy Langley managed a 73.9v, only just pipping Glyn Barnett’s 73.7v. Glyn finished the Day 1 Aggregate (on the second day) with a 223.24v to lead the team, and the World Championships.
After scoring slightly less well than we would have hoped, but having shot good groups, some of the team headed to the bar by the SABU offices as we waited for the Day 1 results and prizegiving. Much laughter over the number of outers helped us all recover, and we look forward to tomorrow. Under Captain’s orders we stayed on the range to ensure that we could support those lucky enough to have been placed top 3 in any of the Day 1 shoots or aggregate. Glyn Barnett came 3rd in the 900m and top in the Day 1 Aggregate. If only the Captain had followed his instructions he would have received his medals for winning 900m and coming 2nd in the Day 1 Agg! Bring on Day 2(/3)…
