DARTMOOR BR, ROUND 9 - 7.11.26
Today's final round of our club BR league was attended by 13 shooters; we enjoyed what were probably the most favourable weather conditions encountered during this year's competition. A very light but deceptively switchy breeze rewarded precision marksmanship but punished those who had been lulled into believing that it could be ignored altogether. As always, one eye had to be kept on the flags at all times.
We were confidently anticipating one or more 250's, considering the relatively benign breezes, and the first detail produced a very respectable 249:14x from Allan Bunce. Incredibly he reproduced this superb score on his second card, but sadly we will never know what the third would have recorded, as, like Amelia Earhard, Allan had disappeared without a trace before his final detail was due - and the card remained unperforated.
To some extent this became inconsequential, when Mark Whiteway's final card revealed a fabulous total score of 747:40x - this included the day's only 250 and is a new personal best for Mark.
Another personal best was recorded by Teresa. Using a Steyr, temporarily on loan from Rob, she produced a very creditable 732:19x - a huge improvement over her previous best.
The overall winner of this year's competition - which took the best seven percentage scores from all nine rounds - was already known prior to today's match. Mike Smith had recorded 100% in no less than six of them, so was way beyond reach of everyone else. Mike very sportingly elected to shoot this final round with his little Snowpeak 900 rifle - off a pair of sandbags. Unsurprisingly he didn't score quite as well as he usually does!
So, overall, it's been another very enjoyable year of BR competition, we've experienced a wide variety of weather conditions, and suffered the usual frustrations encountered within this very demanding discipline. We have lost a few regulars and gained some new ones. In two week's time we'll be travelling up to Pyworthy for the first of our winter get- togethers with our friends at West Devon - and we are quietly confident that the trophy will be returning to Dartmoor at the end of February.
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