2009 Shoot Report - 13th June - International

Skeet Clubs International 13th June 2009

Luck was with us all day the dark clouds going past either side, we got one shower at the very end which only held the shoot offs back by 10 minutes.

Shooting commenced at 10 20 with 80 guns taking part, 32 from across the water (22 English & 10 Scottish) shooting was finished and everybody departed from the ground at 17 30 to prepare for the Banquet. Price money for this shoot was £ 1,060.00 with our USC normal 2 High Guns AA/A & B/C receiving £ 100.00 (sponsored monies) the remainder of the monies was paid out 1 in 3 in each class.

Like all Internationals its only at the 50 stage that you start to get an inkling on who is doing what on 50 straight was Pete Collins ( S ) John Church, Johnny Walker ( E ), Paul Cooper, Rens Delrosso ( E ), Colin Welburne ( E ), Richard Dowse, Chris Havil ( E ) there was a string on of 49’s so all to shoot for however at the 75 stage only two remained straight Colin Welburne & Richard Dowse. The 74’s could only look on and hope for the two to drop a bird and that they would straighten their last 25, this two of them did Kenny McAuley ( Kenny returned back to back 99’s ) & Shiels Hessin ( Shiels returning to shooting after braking his colar bone 13 weeks ago – not bad shooting at all ) Colin completed his 100 and Richard had to shoot his last 25 straight this he did - in the shoot off Richard won through to lift the Skeet Clubs International High Gun.

In B Class Paul Cooper was only one down at 75 but missed a low 7 on his last line to finish on a 98 with Alister McCready on 97. Class C saw an English Lady Rebecca Lee a comparative novice who had never shot a 25 in competition she had back to back straights in the middle 50 – Rebecca then continued her good form in the Sponsored Money shoot off by winning B/C she was one very happy lady and bought drink all night, sorry boys – Paul Cooper, Alister McCready & Kenny Campbell.

The AA/A sponsored money shoot off was between Colin Welburne, Shiels Hessin, Christopher Bingley & Richard Dowse – These shoot offs are done on pairs 3, 4 & 5, miss & out, 1st out was Shiels followed by Colin thus leaving Richard and English Junior Christopher – Richard won taking the sponsored monies.

The Banquet was held at the Bushtown Hotel in Coleraine at which most of the visitors stayed to-gether with those Club Members and their partners who liked to party. The meal was excellent and the entertainment was very good with most of the revellers staying to the end.

I forgot to mention that Ulster won the Skeet Clubs International with England 2nd and Scotland 3rd. Ulster has now won the Trophy 5 times in the 8 years the Skeet Clubs have been holding this event. Next year the event will be held at Morton Shooting Grounds in Scotland.

The Ulster Skeet Club would like to thank the Route Gun Club for the use of the ground for the two shoots and the presentation of the ground was excellent this was commented on by the overseas visitors.