On Friday the 24th of April the University rifle team headed up to Appleton for the Outdoor smallbore championships. Having lost to a strong Aberdeen in the previous year; the first defeat the university rifle club had in these championships since 2003 after five consecutive wins (which is still the record) the university shooting team was keen to take on the competition and try to retrieve our champion status.
After a few nerve calming beverages the team soon settled down to bed in our Warrington B+B. Saturday morning was early start for all competitors with shooting20 shots to count at 50 meters and 100 yards.
Late afternoon after all the shooting had finished the results were announced. In the team of eight our A Team came first only dropping 281 points, beating our main competition Aberdeen by 46 points, and our B Team came third, only dropping 426 and beating every other universities’ A Teams which is a very impressive achievement. Other impressive achievements included gold in the team of four, pairs, silver in the ladies triad. Individuals within the team also managed to take home some silver with Rich Ward coming 3rd, only dropping 23 points out of a possible 800 and James Paterson taking gold after only dropping an impressive 19 points.
In the Home Countries event of eight James, Tim, Rich, Sam and Katie were selected to shoot for England, meaning half of the team were from Southampton Uni and leading to a victory over Wales and Scotland.
Having our A team come first and our B team third demonstrates the depth and marksmanship ability that Southampton university rifle club has and will ensure that the club will be strong contenders to be champions in the coming years.
