Well…what to say about yesterday.

After three years of preparation, the day that has been marked in everyone’s calendars was finally here. The team woke for an extra early departure with tension in the air.

With gentle winds at 300m, the team put in some strong scores, only dropping 2 points overall. This was lead by first firer Jemima who was off the point with a 50.8 within 5 minutes of message 1. This left us one point behind Australia and a few bee bulls behind South Africa. The USA and New Zealand were hot on our tails, only a few points further behind. With only 6 points across all 5 teams, the scene was set for a close match!

At 600m, where we had struggled on Thursday in the Protea Match, we were keen to show what we had learned and top scored the range, dropping 2 points which put us in the lead. With 800 and 900m to go and the other countries only a few points behind, we knew that there was a lot more work to do to secure a win. 

At 800m, the wind continued to pick up and we had our weakest range, dropping 12 points. USA, having placed 4th at 300m and 5th at 600m had a storming range to top score with 244.23v. After 3 of 4 ranges, Australia led with 13 off, GB were second with 16 off, South Africa 17 off with 74 vees, USA also on 17 off but with 69 vees and New Zealand 22 off.

As we set up at 900m, it became clear that we were going to face the strongest winds that we have had so far on this tour. When Jemima came off with a 47.3 after a staccato shoot, firing quickly in the brief periods of readable wind, it was already clear that we had overcome the match deficit and were building a healthy lead. Quite what Miles and Hattie were seeing, we are not so sure, but as firers, our job was to release central shots on command. Our coaches accepted the occasional inner but the team confidence was growing as we were avoiding the magpie and outer, unlike the other teams on the range. This was clear as Alice came off with a tidy 46.2, very much keeping us at the top of the pile.

With the combination of 10 perfect shots and the coaches incredible wind reading, Christina had a 50.4v (a full 2 points clear of the next best score on the range) with a bracket of 3-9 minutes – an incredible performance from everyone involved. This left her with 196.16v to finish second highest score in the match after the USAs Zevin Linse with 196.21v.

Luca and Miles’ 12 year friendship came to the four as the pressure mounted, and Luca shot quickly in a steady patch of wind, to finish with a 46.2. As Tom got down, we knew we had a solid lead. It was important for Tom, Miles and Hattie to combine well but we knew staying in the black would be enough. Towards the end of Tom’s shoot, the wind picked up even more than it had before, and a 10 minute wait was called while onlookers waited with baited breath, not allowing themselves to celebrate until the final shot was fired. As Tom fired his final shot, we knew victory was ours, and a bull 5 confirmed. The team finished the range only 16 points off (32 in total).

Many of the team bursted into the tears with the emotion of the moment, and hugs all round followed.

The other teams dropped more points with the fast changing winds leaving us 10 points in front of the USA, who in turn finished 10 points in front of South Africa. We would like to say a huge congratulations to all of the other teams on the range for putting up such strong performances, in particular to Australia who gave incredibly impressive performances in the RSA and Protea Matches.

We would also like to say a huge thank you to the Palma Team whose guidance and support over the past three years has been invaluable to us. Having the whole team come to support us during the match made the day even more memorable and we look forward to being able to support them in the Palma Match next week.

The reasons for our success were not just about the capabilities of the team members but also the technical advances in our equipment and for that we are incredibly grateful to our manager, Tom Rylands, Phoenix Barrels and Ellesmere Target Sports.

After emotions calmed down, we drove back to the hotel with Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’ and the team quickly unpacked from the range and left for a Veterans and U25 dinner where we received our medals and celebrated with the other teams. And then we went out out…