Today marked the first day that the team shot at the General De Wet range, which is home to the upcoming competitions. Having spent a whole day at Peter’s range on Tuesday, some of us chose to value one last morning of R&R before joining those who had woken up rather early to get some shots down range first thing.

It was lucky that those of us joining for the afternoon left in plenty of time, as instructions provided by the morning party on how to find the range led us through most of the windy suburbs of Bloemfontein, and left some of us feeling rather queasy (or was that the drivers’ driving…?)

Morning for those on the range began with prayers, and was otherwise uneventful: steady winds and high scores.

I am saddened to say that the steady winds from the morning did not grace us with their presence into the afternoon, and 2 left to 8 right wind brackets at 800 metres humbled us, especially when the changes were so rapid and we were coaching ourselves.

Sighs of relief at 900 metres from most of the team as they watched the still changeable wind flags, for they were not the ones that would be reading the wind at this range. Despite this, Harriet, Toby L and Miles coached the team to respectable scores considering the conditions.

Today was an early finish, and as I write this the team are tucking into some well earned pizzas.