Due to COVID-19, the 2020 Imperial Meeting for Full-Bore Rifle had been cancelled around March and it was thought that was the end of it. However, with experience gained post-lockdown and by adopting special protocols, the NRA rescheduled all the events normally held as part of the Imperial Meeting to late August and September. The programme for the rescheduled Imperial Meeting in 2020 included the following events: Civilian Service Rifle (CSR), Match Rifle (MR), F-Class and Target Rifle (TR). This short report covers the performances of Scottish competitors in the TR meeting (the Commonwealth Games event).
The TR meeting had a substantially reduced entry from normal, as there were no foreign competitors and very few from schools. Nonetheless, the quality of the entry was still very high with a field of around 300 competitors in most matches, with very few of the UK and Channel Islands upper echelon not present. The winning scores of the various competitions attest to not only the quality and depth of the field but also to the accuracy of the issued ammunition, which this year was notable from the compliments rather than brickbats it received.
As part of the efforts to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, firers were reduced from competing three to a target to shooting in pairs. In order to utilise the range space efficiently, there was a major re-organisation of the programme, with both the Queen’s Prize and the St George’s Prize being taken out of the Grand Aggregate and qualification for the second and third stages of each of these matches being reduced to 120 for the second stage and 50 for the final from the usual 300 and 100 respectively. A couple of the normal “warm up “ shoots on the first Saturday and the PW Richardson were included in the Grand Aggregate to make it of a comparable overall point count to the usual programme.
There were some outstanding individual performances by Scottish competitors, with the Alexandra, Donegal and Times all being won by Scots. Unfortunately, the results in the international team matches did not quite mirror the same success.
A huge congratulations to the Scottish contingent for performing so well under such testing conditions, as well as to the NRA for hosting the competition in a manner that allowed it happen but also ensuring all regulations and protocols to control COVID-19 were carried out for the safety of all involved.
The details of the Scottish results are outlined below:
Admiral Hutton (241 entries) Sandy Gill 7th
Alexandra (341 entries) Sandy Walker 1st (with the only 50 with 10 V’s)
Ian Shaw 2nd
Corporation (304 entries) Ros Wiltshire 6th
Donegall (334 entries) Ian Shaw 1st (after 3 way tie shoot on 50 with 10 V’s)
Grand Aggr (285 entries) Ros Wiltshire 7th
Ian Shaw 26th
Alex Hunter 29th
Claire Halleran 42nd
Mike Barlow 51st
Prince of Wales (307 entries) Alex Hunter 5th
Queen’s 1 (318 entries) Tim Kidner, Angus Mcleod, Claire Halleran, Peter Glen, Mark Wrigley, Euan Munro and Lindsay Peden qualified for the 120 in Stage 2
Queen’s 2 (120 qualifiers) Claire Halleran and Angus McLeod qualified for final 50
Queen’s 3 (50 qualifiers) Claire Halleran 26th
Angus McLeod 48th
St George’s 1 (292 entries) Ros Wiltshire 7th
Mike Barlow 15th
St George’s 2 (120 qualifiers) 10 Scots shot in the 120, with 7 qualifying for the final 50
St George’s 3 (50) qualifiers) Bruce Logan 12th
Sandy Walker 26th
Angus McLeod 28th
James Mehta 30th
Mike Barlow 34th
Ian Shaw 43rd
Ros Wiltshire 47th
Sunday Aggr (165 entries) Sandy Walker 5th
Times (314 entries) Ian Shaw 1st (after 8 way tie shoot)
Angus McLeod 9th
Weekend Aggr (152 entries) Sandy Walker 7th
Wimbledon (311 entries) Ros Wiltshire 11th
Report by Lindsay Peden, FBR High Performance Rep & Coach