2006 DTL Home International and British Open Report
(Click on the thumbnail images to see the full image)
This year the Down the Line Home International and British Open events were held in Northern Ireland at Culbann CPC - which started on Friday 14th July.
Unusually for the UK, we had experienced an extremely hot spell of weather during July and there was not going to be any letup for the shooters over this important weekend. Intense heat can be nice as a spectator or onlooker, but can cause problems for some shooters and be extremely uncomfortable - so all eyes were on the Welsh team to see how they would perform.
Home International
The first day event was the Home International and was
held on the Friday. This is an extremely hard fought event -
particularly were the teams are concerned as it is all about performing
well for national pride !
The full Welsh 2006 DTL team are pictured below:
The senior team posted an average score of 290.30 which
is tremendous, but still only managed 5th place overall. This was
surprising as the average for the 1st placed senior team - Northern
Ireland was not a great margin more at 293.95. This was a
good
effort by the senior team who had 9 new senior caps and were unlucky not
to have been placed higher with their decent team average. The
top Welsh senior squad who posted the highest scores during
qualification are shown to the right.
Welsh senior High Gun went to our popular all round shooter Roy Gudrat (pictured left) who shot 99 ex 297. Other individuals from the senior team who posted big scores were Gareth Howells and Mike Mc'Conville (new cap) who posted 296's and another 10 seniors posted scores of over 290.
We had great hopes and expectations of our very experienced and popular ladies team, including Ann Butler - former British Open Ladies champion, and we were not disappointed.
The ladies performed really well on the home
international - coming second overall - an extremely confident
performance led by their captain Carolyn Trehearn (Cas). The
captain (Cas)
led by example and was the highest scoring lady on the Welsh ladies team
and as such was to receive the rose bowl during the banquet in the
evening for the highest scoring Welsh Lady - congratulations go to Cas
and to the rest of the ladies team. The overall ladies average was
276.75, with England winning on an average of 286.75.
The veterans shot a very high average - which was very close to the seniors average - the veterans average was 288. With such a good average it was no surprise to see the veterans take second place - another very commendable result (pictured below right). We must also mention a very fine performance by top Welsh veteran T.K. Brown (Topper) who posted 100 ex 297 - which equalled the highest score out of all of the Welsh shooters - impressive indeed - congratulations. T.K. Brown therefore received the trophy for the highest scoring Welsh veteran during the international banquet (pictured below left).
The junior team captain Alex
Biddulph showed how it should be done and posted an superb score of 287 for his
team. Unfortunately the junior team were out of the top placing's
with an average of 279.95, but
put in a creditable performance
throughout. Alex was to receive the trophy
for the highest scoring Welsh junior in the evening banquet for his top
performance.
Our proud Welsh junior team are pictured to the right.
Alex Biddulph who is pictured receiving
his trophy from the international banquet is to the left.
Impressive results for the first day of the championship's in Northern Ireland - perhaps a taste of things to come ?
The British Open
On to the British open and could the Welsh shooters add to the previous days successes ?
Scores did not disappoint - Phil "Magic"
Morgan who was British Open champion in 2001 posted one of 4 perfect
scores for the day and as such went into a shoot off against 2 Northern
Ireland Internationals - A. Millar and N. McKeown and an English International
- I. Mullarkey.
After some nail biting shoot off's, Phil kept his cool and came out on
top and was crowned British Open champion for 2006 (Phil is pictured right). British Open
champion twice in 5 years - outstanding - congratulations Phil.
When Phil received the trophy he made a small speech and dedicated winning the British Open to "Mick Wright" who had passed away a few
weeks previous. Phil said Mick was a true sportsman and friend to
himself, his wife and his family.
Phil has said he would like to thank his sponsors "Berretta", "Eley
Cartridges" and "D.J.Litts Firearms" for their continued support.
Our Senior Squad produced 4 more 100’s – Tom Devaney and
Gareth Howells on 299 and Gareth Evans on 298 and new cap Mike McConville on 295
(pictured left with his father - also a Welsh international Veteran). A total of 16-Seniors (5 of whom were new caps)
produced scores over 290 giving the Seniors an average of 293.40 which
again only got them 5th place - this was really unfortunate,
but a good team effort to see the average from the day before rise by
over 3 points !!!
Things were to get
even better for the ladies. Once again the ladies team shot
consistently well and took second place overall. Runner's up two
days on the run was remarkable and they raised their average score from
the day before to 288 - an average increase of over 12 points -
oustanding shooting ladies! The Welsh ladies team and the Team
Manager John Burton are pictured to the right.
We now turn our attention to
top Welsh lady Sharon Ebbrell. Sharon shot an amazing individual
score of 99 ex 295 in the British Open. Sharon's closest
rival for the ladies title was English shooter - Emma Wheeldon who shot
98 ex 291 - but with Sharon shooting a clear 4 points more than her
rival, she didn't need to shoot off with anybody and she won the
Ladies British Open title outright!
Congratulations Sharon for this ultimate achievement
which is very well deserved.
Sharon has said that she would like to thank her sponsors "Mid Wales
Shooting Centre" and "Eley Cartridges" for their continued support.
Both of our 2006 British Open champions are pictured together in the next series of photographs. The picture to the left shows the very happy Individual British Open Championship Winners (with their team manager John Burton) at the end of brilliant days shooting as the sun sets over Culbann CPC. The picture to the right shows both our champions re-united to have a photograph together in full formal attire.
Shooting in Northern Ireland must suit popular Welsh veteran T.K.
"Topper" Brown
who shot another
impressive score after his previous success on the home international to be
overall Welsh veteran High Gun for the British Open with 99 ex 295 - impressive back to back
scoring ! Incidentally, T.K. Brown was only one point from going
into a shoot off with Willie Hughes from Ireland who won the overall
British Open Veterans title with 99 ex 296.
Unfortunately the veterans team were not placed near the top in the British
Open and their average dropped slightly to 287.5.
Junior Welsh High Gun was Gareth Griffiths who shot 97 ex 290 - but even more impressive was that this was his first cap for Wales, we wish you every success for the future Gareth. The Welsh Junior team finished fifth in the British Open and their average was 282.25, so congratulations to them for improving on their average from the day before and well done for an excellent performance over the two days - good luck for the future, keep at it - you are our rising stars !
We must also mention the top Welsh shooter over the two days - Gareth Howells. Gareth shot an impressive 100 ex 296 on the Home International followed by a 100 ex 299 on the British Open - what can we say - simply brilliant !
A big thank you goes to the ground, staff and everybody who made the stay very welcoming and enjoyable in Northern Ireland and to all the team members of all the other nations for contributing to a wonderful event.
Congratulations to all the Welsh shooters and thanks to all the people putting in the hard work behind the scenes - particularly the Team Manager - John Burton, our President - Arthur Williams and the Welsh Referee - H. Thomas.
All attention now focuses on the European DTL championships in Bywell over the weekend of August 26th and 27th. The Welsh team list for the European has been posted in the July News section. Good luck everybody.
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