This event was held in the spectacular grounds of Thirlestane Castle in Lauder, on a reduced version of the range which had hosted the Scottish National meeting over the previous seven days. Competitors were placed in one of three classes (A,B, or C) according to their National classification or their current averages. The course of fire was two details of twenty shots to count at 50 metres, and two details of twenty shots at 100 yards. The leading 10 shooters went on to compete for the Liddell-Grainger trophy – the Borders Championship – firing 50 shots to count at 100 yards. A sharpshooter “Disc” competition was held at 50 metres during the afternoon before the final competition.
Saturday was a glorious day – I was stepping under the firing point cover to keep out of the sun, rather than stepping out to get warmed up!
Conditions were very tricky for the competitors with strong, rapidly changing winds and invisible shot holes – the bright sunlight cast very dark shadows on to the backers, which made spotting the shots very difficult!
The number of entries was a bit low this year, but the competition was very close between the shooters!
The winners were:-
Junior: Neasa O’Connell (George Watson’s College)
Ladies: Sheena Sharp (Huntly)
Class A: Robin Thomson (Watsonians)
Class B: Brian Cooke-Duffy (Dumfries)
Class C: Neasa O’Connell (George Watson’s College)
Team Handicap: George Watson’s College (Neasa O’Connell, Isabel Stark, Rhona Dove)
Open Championship, the Liddell-Grainger Trophy: Graham Shedden (Dumfries)
Sheena Sharp presents the Trophy to the successful team from George Watson's College
In such challenging conditions, the leading scorers deserved our congratulations for producing strong results against the opposition
Open Championship, the Liddell-Grainger Trophy: Graham Sheddenbeing presented with the Trophy by Sheena Sharp
Although there was no Ladies Trophy, we presented a “Complimentary Gift Pack” to Sheena Sharp and - as she won the “Haig” this week - we invited Sheena to present the trophies.
The Raffle was well supported and there were some excellent prizes, although Graham Shedden won an empty box!
Profits from food sales will be donated to a local charity.
Thanks are due to Ian Stevenson for providing equipment to set up the range facilities, to Ian Burton and his team for preparing the targetry and firing point, Elizabeth and Emma for keeping us all fed and watered, to George and Jean for scoring and recording the scores throughout the day and also to Cyril for taking over Range Officer duties to allow me to take part in the competition!
Many of the competitors stayed back to help with clearing up the site, their assistance was greatly appreciated
Report by: Robin Thomson, Chairman, Scottish Southern Counties Association