50m Prone Rifle 2019 Summer Series: GP2

Wet and Wild comes to Gagie

Prone GP2 was held at Gagie Range on Sunday 26th May and foul weather gear was the outfit of the day. Early morning heavy rain made setting up the Megalink targets a bit of a struggle. My thanks to the usual team of helpers who all got extremely wet in the process.

Thankfully by the start of shooting the rain had reduced to a steady drizzle.  In Relay 1, Rachel Glover from Isle of Man had no problems producing a score 622.8 to take an early lead in A class.  In Relay 2 Lenny Thomson from Banff & MacDuff went two points better with a 624.5.  By the start of Relay 3 the rain had stopped but the wind picked up, scores suffered but Ian Henderson from Larbert shooting in B Class shot a 617.4.

The afternoon saw mixed weather with the wind and rain coming and going.  The C & D Final saw Megan Auld from St Andrews University shooting in C class, produce a fine 611.0 to lift gold.  Abby Martin a Junior from Huntly, is still leading the overall C & D Points table.  In the A & B Qualification, Lenny Thomson again produced a top score of 612.9, just in front of Tom Diggle from Edinburgh University on 612.6 and Rachel Glover on 612.0

By the start of the Grand Prix Final, the wind increased significantly, enough to blow over mats on the firing point. Those spectators who remained for the final were entertained to some thrilling shooting and a few laughs along the way.  During some very difficult wind conditions and as the lower score shooters were eliminated, Tom Diggle and Ruaraidh Macleod from Bearsden held the top two positions throughout with the lead changing back and forth.  By series 8,  Bobby Spence from Orkney was eliminated in Bronze position and with the remaining two shots Ruaraidh Macleod finished in Silver, giving Tom Diggle the Gold with a score of 245.2.  Lenny Thomson is still top of the overall A & B points table with three event remaining.

Report by Peter Gray, Secretary Steeple Rifle Club