Season Finale

The final GP of the season took place at Sywell near Northampton. This is the traditional end venue and it offers excellent facilities including a lot of space to accommodate the prize ceremony and the end of season raffle.
Sywell is famed for its wind and today would offer a severe test. The course consists of a three sections. The first is open grassland and although the wind was strong it was, to a degree, consistent. Next was a garden area, here the wind was switching and swirling and flags, indicating wind direction, showed it was going left and right at the same time! The third section was "the bank of death", here targets were placed at varying heights and the wind was blowing a hooley. The strong wind gusted up the slope of the bank and lifted pellets well above the killzone.
Of the five competitions the winner of B grade and SFT had already been determined. The C and A grade winners were still uncertain and the big one could still be won by a number of shooters.
The last 2 seasons had seen the Sywell GP won with scores of 43 and 42. Today's conditions suggested that a score close to 40 would probably win the day.
Here's Andy Gillott negotiating the bank; he posted an impressive 36 to further his challenge for the overall title.Roger shows off his kneeling technique.
Big Neil bags a pair on his way to 36 to tie for third on the day and 6th overall.
The morning session was topped by Andy Calpin who scored an impressive 38 to lead by 2. It looked like this score would not be troubled by the afternoon shooters as the wind seemed to increasing in ferocity. Dorian Falconer came close with a 37 but the day was to belong to Mr Calpin.
So to the award of trophies and the end of season mega raffle with lots of prizes on offer; many thanks to Napier for the sponsorship of the GP series.
Kate Green won a shoot off to claim her first piece of FT glassware; third in C grade. In her excitement Kate unfortunately dropped her newly won brandy glass. As soon as Mr Calpin received his then he offered it to Kate, what a gent!
Paul Schofield won A grade with an excellent 35 which was 1 more than Dave!
After the day's trophies were awarded it was on to the overall placements for the season.
Congratulation to Brian Samson who dominated the SFT class.
Piston class was a two way contest between Nick Murphy and Marc Fisher, both had won four of the previous eight rounds. Nick triumphed today and added the Piston title to the British Championship he won in April.
Ian Harford had started the season with 3 rounds of SFT before constructing six strong rounds to comfortably win C grade. Second place went to Roy Boliver, well done Arby!
Simon Higgins came top in B grade after an impressive first GP season. Tenth place belonged to Baltipal!
Midway through the presentation we were treated to some overhead aerobatics which temporarily took everyone's attention.
Ian Stoddart had a brilliant season and won A grade at a canter, Ian c'mon!
Karl Clarke finished 6th in A grade in his first GP season for many a year. And to the top man. British FT Champion Andrew Gillott.
It's been a great season and I daren't add up the miles that we have travelled. The grounds, the courses and the weather have all been variable but one thing has remained constant - we all had a great time.
So goodbye for a while, it's time for a blogging recess. Follow the adventures of the MFTA WL starting in October.

High summer in Wales

The last two summer seasons have started with the Welsh GP, yet here we were in August, in sunshine, on our way to Nelson FTC for GP8. It was a short hop from the midlands and by around 11am we had arrived and were keen to view the course.
Quite simply it was spectacular! Situated in a valley the Nelson ground consisted of varied terrain of which its most impressive feature was the number of streams that meandered through. There was woodland but never dense, open field with well spaced tress, water courses and opportunity to shoot up hill and down into the valley. The area available to the club is vast and offers great potential. What a venue for the Worlds?
Below is one of the many bridges that spanned the streams and in the distance is an extensive area for the zero range.
On my walk I was attracted to lane 9. The shooting position was atop a natural bridge and from here there was a view down a culvert into the main stream where two targets could be found. For me this was the best lane of the GP season so far.Turn through 180 degrees and meet lane 18. The targets here were elevated and slightly sheltered from the field to the left; inevitably reading any wind strength would be tricky.
Target 14 was also magic. It was placed in the middle of a small stream just above where the stream joined its larger cousin. When eyed through a scope the scene was stunning and could easily draw attention away from the matter at hand. My view again but the best target placement of 2009 albeit I missed. It's down there somewhere!!
Whilst walking around it seemed conditions were ideal but the regular dink of upright targets and the associated gasps told another story. There was wind and although never strong its direction was never constant. The far end of the course was exposed and cleverly turned through 180 degrees to continually test the competitors.
Is Dave Schofield trying a new standing technique or is throwing the rifle his best option?
After the morning round two shooters stood three clear of the field on 47, MFTA champion Neil Daniels and David Williams of Quarry.
This well dressed man, Ian Harford, carded a strong 36 which would later win him C grade and place him in a good position to challenge for top honours come Sywell.
Only 4 behind the top guns was A grade leader Ian Stoddart who would have to suffer the afternoon round to see if he was to be denied his first trophy of the season.

The afternoon session started with a briefing from Dorian Falconer who told us of how much rain they'd had recently; but not today. I had the pleasure of shooting with James Osborne and Mick Kelly and I enjoyed the company of Mick's very well behaved dog. The course was a pleasure to shoot and contained a plethora of different tests. The wind which had brought welcome relief when walking the course now became the enemy. The blue skies and hot sun belied the strength of the wind which might gust enough to lose a plate or subside and be followed by disbelief "it stayed straight on me but the grass was bent over ...".
None of the afternoon shooters could challenge the leaders of each grade from the morning except for Brian Samson who took SFT with 35 and Nick Murphy's 33 took the piston class.
So congratulations to Ian Harford, Peter Moore, Ian Stoddart and David Williams. David's success was the first for a Welsh shooter at their home GP since 1992 and was very well applauded by all.
Final congratulation to Ian Stoddart whose consistent performance this season has led him to the top of A grade but without a trophy. He now has that coveted piece of glassware and if he wins the A grade title at Sywell then he might smile!!