Gold and Bronze Team medallists with coach Hugh Hunter
Day 1
Day one of the Junior International down at Bisley for the STS Pistol Team was very hot and sticky!
The Junior Women shot Air Sport Pistol at 25m outdoors in two relays. Emilia was first in her relay and second overall, her score of 562 winning her the Silver medal. All of the Junior Women won a Team medal - Emilia, Kyla and Kerstin winning the Gold, and Isobel, Katie and Ciara winning the Bronze.
Conall, Andrew and Lewis found the conditions tough due to the heat in the indoor 10m range but still shot well to be placed 5th, 8th and 11th in a field of 21 shooters.
Lewis, Andrew and Conall had their medals presented by Roger Monksummers, the JI organiser who retires this year.
Day 2
Both of the relays for Junior Men’s Air Sport Pistol were shot in more pleasant temperatures than yesterday. Conall, Andrew and Lewis were 5th, 8th and 12th in a field of 17, shooting well enough to win the Team Bronze medal with a total score of 1619.
The Junior Women’s Air Grand Prix was shot in the 10m range in the afternoon. Again, not as unpleasantly hot as it was on Day 1. The gold medal went to Katie, who shot an excellent 555. Kyla, Isobel, Emilia, Kerstin and Ciara were placed 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 19th out of 28 shooters.
There was some really good shooting from everyone on Day 2. Even when things didn’t go exactly to plan, the recovery was excellent - better than many more ‘experienced’ shooters.
Katie, flanked by Welsh shooters, won Gold with a score of 555
With Gold medals in the rifle on Day 2 as well, our singing of ‘Flower of Scotland’ was definitely improving! (report from the Rifle Squad to follow next week)
Day 3
A cooler day for the final day meant the 10m Range was a pleasant place to be on the last day of competition!
The Junior Men were on first and their individual placings of 6th, 11th and 12th meant Conall had a place in the final and with Andrew and Lewis, Scotland took the team bronze with a score of 1592.
The Junior Women also shot well. They were placed 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 18th, so not only did we have Kerstin, Kyla, Emilia, Isobel and Katie in the final, but the team gold went to Kerstin, Kyla and Katie with a total score of 1628. Team bronze was won by Emilia, Isobel and Ciara with 1584. Katie won the silver medal, Emilia the bronze.
Congratulations everyone in the 2018 Junior International Scottish Team
Hugh and I were very impressed with the high quality of shooting from everyone. The newcomers to the Junior International competition coped so well with occasion, especially those shooting the final for the first time.
There was a lot of support for our shooters amongst themselves and, of course, from their parents.
A big thank you to the coaches - Mark, who was with them at the previous weekend, and Hugh, who was there for them all during the International. Special thanks also to Margaret Thomas in her ‘GB coach’ guise and Rachel and the RO’s for their help and advice. All very much appreciated.
Thanks also to the shooters for their hard work and their ability to produce such consistently good shooting after a hard weekend of training and competition. Feeding them girders gets results!!
Special mention to Katie and Ciara in their last Junior International for shooting well, helping their teams to win medals and being really nice people to know. We wish you all the best in the future and hope that, apart from anything else, you will both have a long and successful shooting career!
Report by Janis Thomson, Photos by Robin Thomson