If you had to sum up the GBRT USA/Canada 26 Training Weekend of April 25 and 26 in one word, it would be pants.

That's because we were all instructed to bring our "number one" dress trousers to The Artists' Clubhouse on the Saturday evening for a colour-matching exercise.  This didn't get underway until after dinner, by which point it was getting dark.  Under artificial light, no consensus could be reached.  We agreed to repeat the exercise during Sunday lunch, when it was decided we would all need to buy new trousers (or skirts).  Only then would we be confident that our legs would match those of our teammates while attending official functions on tour.  

We agreed that if we can bring this level of attention to detail to our shooting, victory is assured.

On the ranges, the sun shone brightly, and it felt good to be back together after the winter break.  Saturday kicked off with a self-coached session at 300 yards. Most of the team agreed that John Ritchie's ammo flew extremely nicely into the middle of the target - "it goes where you point it" being a common refrain.  Special mention here for Richard Hebblethwaite, who got down and whacked in a 50.10 at his first attempt.  On an unforgiving ICFRA target, too.  That would have felt great both for him and for John, our sorcerer bulletsmith.

The afternoon session on Saturday and the first shoot on Sunday were both at 600.  Light winds flicking through zero made things interesting and kept the coaches on their toes.  Communication between them is becoming more crisp and proactive; the trust builds with each training session.  Reggie seemed chipper about how things were progressing, which meant he could re-engage enthusiastically with his favourite subject: explaining to Chris Heales and Simon Dickson why their coaching chairs are too big.

Gun scores were uniformly good.  The decision to engage the full squad in training, from the touring team with reserves to the development squad members, is paying dividends.  A real esprit de corps is forming.  Many of the shooters who will narrowly miss out on this year's trip can anticipate rapid progression to future teams, if their performance this weekend is anything to go by.  

Some of the shine was taken off our weekend on the Sunday afternoon, when the GB Veterans to Australia team defeated us by 25 points in a match for pre-declared teams of fourteen at 1000 yards. The final scores were GB Vets 1319.73 - GB USA/Canada 1294.80.  Top score for the Vets was Euan Munro with 99.9, one point behind our Ryan Warren, who notched up 100.8.

Our next training weekend is June 20 and 21, at which point we will be just six weeks away from getting on the plane to Toronto.  By that point, some of us may even have got our trousers sorted...