Saturday saw the last smallbore BUCS event of the season, and the Scottish Universities were well represented down at the Appleton range in Warrington. As has been the case for many years, the competition was superbly run by the host club and by the NSRA, with everyone enjoying the fantastic range, quick scoring, and excellent organisation. At the end of the day there was a huge amount of success for the Scottish clubs, something which really shows the strength of shooters north of the border and the value of the SSS competitions that the clubs shoot in year round, giving shooters that crucial competitive experience.
In the team of VIII competition Edinburgh took gold by a massive 75 points over Newcastle, retaining their title from last year. In the team of IV event, Edinburgh came in first place, with Glasgow taking the bronze. Remarkably, the St Andrews IV and the Edinburgh B IV came in 4th and 5th respectively, to have 4 of the top 5 teams of IV from Scotland is a huge achievement. The Ladies Triad competition was even more remarkable, with Glasgow coming in first place, Edinburgh in second, and St Andrews in third. An all Scottish podium in this event shows the diversity in the clubs and the exceptional ability of the women shooters. In the pairs event, the Glasgow pair of Olga Goryunova and Scott Norval came first, Holly Rees-Lay and Chris Gray from Edinburgh took silver, once again showing the strength in depth. The individual competitions saw more Scottish success, with Seonaid McIntosh of Heriot-Watt taking the Ladies and Open Gold, and Thomas Diggle of Edinburgh coming first place in the Mens event. Finally, the Home Countries match was competed between England, Scotland, and Wales. For the first time in many years Scotland were the victors, by a not insignificant margin of 12 points, with excellent shooting from all 8 team members. Seonaid from Heriot-Watt, Olga, Scott, and Calum MacDonald from Glasgow, Vikki Walls from Aberdeen, and Thomas, Holly, and Chris (captain) from Edinburgh all shot extremely well, the spread of universities once again showing the wide spread of talent.
Overall the event was a huge success for Scottish Universities, with 10 of the available 18 medals making their way across the border, and the clubs look forward to more success on the fullbore ranges over the summer and next season.