Note that clickable links to today's ranges, matches and aggregates are provided following the commentary.

Tue 22 Aug 2006

This was a good day for shooting - fine and sunny, the promised showers having showered elsewhere, and with a breeze that in some relays verged on the side of "very difficult".

Two important matches were fired today, the Letson and the Aleander of Tunis.

The Letson, with its 7 shots at 300, 500 and 600, is the classic "first stage" match, as it is here. It, along with the President's which will be fired tomorrow, constitutes the qualifying stage for the Final of the Governor General's Prize, whiich will be shot on Saturday afternoon. A further significant feature of the Letson is that the winner receives a DCRA Life Membership, made possible by the bequest of the late Major-General H.F.G. Letson, former Life Governor of the DCRA. The morning's 300 metre and 500 yard stages were fired in fairly benign conditions, but the afternoon 600 yards, depending on the relay (of which there were 8), caused problems for many. The winner of the match and the Life Membership award was Jon Underwood, GBRT, with 105.15/105.21. Jon was followed by Danny Coleman, GBRT, and Raymond Gross, Midalnd, Michigan, with 105.14. There were 22 scores of 105. In the F Class, Vanessa Warner, Keene, New Hampshire, had a perfect 126, one point ahead of Jim Murphy , Owensboro, Kentucky.

The other match fired in the afternoon was the Alexander of Tunis at 900 metres. The "Alex", Canada's equivalent of the Bisley "Corporation" is so often the aggregate maker or breaker. There was again considerable variation of conditions across the relays. Your scribe fired first thing in the afternoon and was totally incompetent in coping with the 9 left to 1 right wind. Many others were much more clever or fortunate. Michael Walton, GBRT, won the match with 50.7, from David Luckman, GBRT, and Tony Betts, Shanty Bay, Ontario, at 50.6. There were just five scores of 50. In F Class, Marius de Champlain, Quebec, dropped only one point in scoring 59, winning by three clear points from four tied at 56.

The Tuesday, Jack Gorrie, Aggregate, named in memory of that pioneer of computer squadding and scoring, was won by Raymond Gross with 154.17, from Ross McQuillan, GBRT, 154.14, and David Luckman 153.20. The F Class winner was Jim Murphy with 181, from Marius de Champplain 180.

With 455 points now recorded for the Grand Aggrgate, we are just past the half-way stage, which is represented by the Klondike Aggregate. No one now remains "clean". The leader is David Luckman with 453.60, then comes Ross McQuillan 453.56, and Gary Rasmussen, Bellingham, Washington, 452.49.

Two team matches, concurrent with the Letson, were also decided on Tuesday. British Columbia won the Jubilee, and the Winona Rifle Club the Gordon Highlanders. A number of tie shoots have been held, with the final results now shown on the web listings.

. On Wednesday we will fire the President's and the 800 metre range of the Gibson. The weather is forecast to be fine, with only a very small chance of showers, over the next two days. Friday and Saturday look a bit more doubtful, but they are still far enough away for the forecasters to be confounded.

I cannot tell you of any gastronomic delights of the evening, since there have not yet been any. Anything significant may be revealed tomorrow. But I am sipping on a quite nice South African cabernet sauvignon as I write this.

This page last updated Wed Aug 23 2006 07:35:56
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