HRA Captains Day and Teams Challenge Shield – Sunday 25th April 2021

This traditional opener to the Hertfordshire County shooting season was shot in sunny but cold conditions, however, the combination of wind with fierce gusts & chill factor made the shoot very demanding for everyone, and is reflected in the lower than usual scores. 

The individual Captains Day event is run in the morning using a handicapped Queens I format, to encourage shooters of all ability to enter. The Captains Day prize is given to the competitor with the highest handicapped score and a prize for the best gun score is also up for grabs.

WPRC fielded 6 entrants out of the 14 in the individual morning competition. With only a third of all competitors matching or beating their handicaps (used to ‘level the playing field’). It was a good morning for WPRC with three of the squad taking three out of the top four positions. Both Tom Stevenson and Ashley Coleman-Cooke were shooting well enough to secure the top two positions. Tom took both the Salver and also the top Gun Score with 103.11, with Ashley in second place with 102.6.

Full results can be found on the Hertfordshire Rifle Association website. www.hertsra.org.uk and follow Competition details then Captains Day links.

*****

In the afternoon the Hertfordshire Club Teams Challenge Shield was shot using Queens I format at 300, 500, and 600yds. This year’s entry again attracting five teams of six shooters, and was shot under NRA Covid regulations, which dictated that the coach (masked) had to be positioned away from and behind the shooter, making communication challenging.

North Herts Rifles who were the last winners gave a good performance with both their ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, but not enough to hold onto to the shield.  WPRC gave a more consistent and better performance to win back the shield and hence are the competition organisers for next year. 

Bob Sampson and Andy Daw tied for top Gun Score.

Results:

The WPRC team comprised:

Alistair Bullen
Ashley Coleman-Cooke
James Greenway
Nick Verduyn
Colin Skellett
Tom Stevenson