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EUROPEAN DTL PAGE

2006 EUROPEAN SHOOTING REPORT

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The 2006 European DTL championships was held in Bywell Shooting Ground - Northumberland, England on the 26th and 27th August.  The format of the European Open is no longer a mix of single barrel, double rise and standard down the line, it has now been set at 200 standard down the line targets shot over 2 days.

International Teams comprised of 5 Seniors, 3 Ladies, 3 Veterans and 3 Juniors. Not all countries fielded complete Teams (Sweden and Germany) due to the usual “lack of funding”.

The Welsh team consisted of the top 5 seniors, top 3 juniors, top 3 ladies and top 3 veterans from the 2006 Welsh DTL team.  The scores used to choose the team were from their 4 best Welsh qualifier scores and their score from the recent home international in Northern Ireland.  If a member chose not to go to the event, then the place was offered to the "next best" for each category.

The selected team was as follows:

Seniors

       
Initials Surname Status   Peg
P R MORGAN     1
BJ OWEN     2
GW EVANS     3
L JONES Snr Capt.   4
MJ Mc' CONVILLE     5
         
IW Williams     Reserve
         
Ladies        
Initials Surname Status   Peg
SL EBBRELL     1
C TREHEARN Ladies Capt.   2
LM TURPIN     3
         

Veterans

       
Initials Surname Status   Peg
JH JONES     1
JH THOMAS     2
MH McCONVILLE Vet Capt.   3
         
Juniors        
Initials Surname Status   Peg
AE BIDDULPH Jnr Capt.   1
GW GRIFFITHS     2
T COSTIN     3
         

Entries totalled 442 competing for prize money, shotguns plus of course the all important, gold, silver and bronze medals and trophies for the International Teams.

The entries comprised  138 – AA, 150 –A, 103 B and 51 C class shooters, 442 in total including 45 Ladies, 71 Veterans, 21 Juniors and 12 Colts.

The Welsh team were once again fortunate to have their manager John Burton and their president Arthur Williams to travel with them for support.

Day One

After their great team and individual performances in the Home International and British Open - the Welsh Ladies team were hoping to add to their successes.  After the first day the scores did not disappoint with Sharon Ebbrell posting an impressive 99/295 matching her British Open Lady Champion score from Northern Ireland.  The Welsh ladies were in a great position with only 1 point separating them from the leaders - the English Ladies Team.  It was very close at the top of the Ladies table with only 7 points separating the top 4 teams.  With scores this close, it would make a thrilling climax to the final day of shooting between the ladies teams.

The Welsh Senior team posted some impressive scores on the first day, with our very own "Current British Open DTL Champion" - Phil Morgan posting a 100/298.  Impressive scoring also came from the other Welsh Seniors with Mike McConville 100/298, Gareth Evans 99/294 and Senior Captain Lee Jones 99/292 .

The Veterans looked impressive on the first day with Veterans Captain Mick McConville posting a 100/297 with high hopes of a medal position on the final day.

The Juniors were also there about's for the medal positions - notable scoring coming from Junior Captain Alex Biddulph on 99/293 and Tom Costin on 98/293.  

We must also mention the contingent of Welsh shooters that made the journey up to Bywell in the hope of forming a Senior Welsh "B" team - unfortunately on arrival an early decision had been made to not allow ANY B team entries for the international teams and as such the shooters made the most of a bad situation and shot as individual entries instead.  Thanks to all these shooters for the support they gave to the main Welsh teams present.  Pictured below are a number of those Welsh shooters relaxing between lines.

Day Two

No two days are ever the same and day two arrived with quite different conditions, notably strong and gusting winds with ever changing light conditions.  We all know that with conditions like these it is a lottery of how the weather will affect your shooting.

The ladies battled away on the second day and although dropping down one table position to third place, they held this position to beat the French ladies by only 1 point and secured bronze medal position.  What an excellent result and a fine finish to the ladies season - congratulations.  Pictured below are the ladies team that traveled to Bywell - pictured are Sharon Ebbrell, Caz Trehearn and Lynn Mary Turpin.

Phil Morgan went into the second day with high hopes, but unfortunately only managed a 100/292 - which didn't leave him in the individual medal positions.  Phil was still to be overall Welsh senior high gun over the two days for the Welsh Senior team with a score of 590 - unfortunately for the Welsh Senior team though they were also not to feature in the medal positions.
Although not representing the senior team at the European DTL championships – the highest scoring Welsh shooter was Willy Andrews on 591/600.

The Welsh Veterans team excelled again and secured themselves bronze medal position with a score of 1698 and beat the Republic of Ireland Veterans to the medals by only 3 points.  Congratulations go to the Welsh Veterans, another fine finish to a season of continued success.  The Welsh Veterans who took bronze medal position were Mike McConville, John H. Jones and John H. Thomas.

Finally to the Juniors, they finished in a very respectable 4th place and were only 4 points away from bronze medal position - which was very unlucky, but still a very good performance.  A notable individual performance was from Junior Captain "Alex Biddulph" who shot an overall score of 582 - which was sixth overall out of 21 registered juniors, but to add to this success he won "B" class out-right and received a gun and a considerable prize fund - what a result - congratulations !

In the true spirit of competition clay shooting - competing nations swapped pennants with each other after the competition finished.  Pictured below are some members of the Welsh and French ladies team (with team managers and officials) exchanging pennants.

Including the official Welsh Team a total of 30 WCTSA members competed in the Championship.

Nigel Chapman an English shooter (who was not in the English Senior  Squad) won the European with an impressive score of 200/598 .

M. Hebert a French Lady Squad member was the Lady High Gun with a 196/579.

Nev Bailey an English Veteran (who was not in the English Veteran Squad) was the Top Veteran with a 198/590.

J. Clarke was the Top Junior (again not in any International Country Team) with an impressive 200/596.  He also took A Class High Gun.

Class Winners

AA       Aaron Smyth (Northern Ireland) - 200/597

A         J. Clarke - 200/596

B         Alex Biddulph (Wales Junior) - 197/582

C         N. Ellis - 197/582

International Squad Scores

Senior Squads

Pos'n

Score

Targets

Team Name

Members

 

 

1

2959

3000

ENG SNRS

ID  MULLARKEY
Score - 594

P CHAPLOW
Score - 594

JM BELLAMY
Score - 587

 

 

 

 

DM NEWTON
Score - 593

J STAFFORD
Score - 591

 

2

2942

3000

NI SNRS

AARON SMYTH
Score - 597

S DALLAS
Score - 580

D BELL
Score - 586

 

 

 

 

N MCKEOWN
Score - 595

TOM MURPHY
Score - 584

 

3

2941

3000

IRE SNRS

T ALLEN
Score - 582

A HOBAN
Score - 588

D COTTER
Score - 591

 

 

 

 

S KELLY
Score - 587

D SCULLION
Score - 593

 

4

2927

3000

SCOTLAND SNRS

M MILNE
Score - 591

KEVAN SMITH
Score - 597

DJ GALLOWAY
Score - 584

 

 

 

 

 J GILCHRIST
Score - 575

 E MCALLISTER
Score - 580

 

5

2903

3000

FRENCH
SNRS

M BONVALET
Score - 588

M TARDY
Score - 588

S DACOSTA
Score - 565

 

 

 

 

L LLASERA
Score - 569

P LECLERCQ
Score - 593

 

6

2903

3000

WALES SNRS

PR MORGAN
Score - 590

BJ OWEN
Score - 566

G EVANS
Score - 585

   

L JONES
Score - 579 

MJ MCCONVILLE
Score -583 

 

Ladies Squads

Pos'n

Score

Targets

Team Name

Members

 

 

1

1724

1800

ENG LDYS

E WHEELDON
score - 577

SJ SHARPE
Score - 571

A DUPREE
Score - 576

2

1706

1800

SCOTLAND LDYS

C FRASER
Score - 570

D MELROSE
Score - 572

C MONTGOMERY
Score - 564

3

1695

1800

WALES LDYS

S EBBRELL
Score - 566

C TREHEARN
Score - 558

L TURPIN
Score - 571

4

1694

1800

FR LDYS

M HEBERT
Score - 579

MC SERAL
Score - 564

E MOURGUES
Score - 551

5

1614

1800

NI LDY

A MILLER
Score - 508

K BARR
Score - 542

S BARR
Score - 564

6

1614

1800

IRE LDYS

M WALSH
Score - 528

M KEANE
Score - 541

B QUINN
Score - 545

Veterans Squads

Pos'n

Score

Targets

Team Name

Members

 

 

1

1763

1800

ENG VETS

RF TAYLOR
Score - 588

T PRESCOTT
Score - 590

WM LOGAN
Score - 585

2

1739

1800

NI VETS

N FERGUSON
Score - 577

J STRATTON
Score - 584

E LAMONT
Score - 578

3

1698

1800

WALES VETS

J JONES
Score - 552

MH MCCONVILLE
Score - 578

JH THOMAS
Score - 568

4

1695

1800

IRE VETS

M COLLINS
Score - 555

T MURPHY
Score - 587

W HUGHES
Score - 553

5

1663

1800

SCOTLAND VETS

A PATON
Score - 576

B SNEDDON
Score - 519

I BEATH
Score - 568

6

1158

1200

FR VETS

J-J LADRA
Score - 585

M DESPIERRE
Score - 573

 

Junior Squads

Pos'n

Score

Targets

Team Name

Members

 

 

1

1752

1800

ENG JNRS

A WADDINGTON
Score - 589

R JEFFERSON
Score - 592

WT MARSHALL
Score - 571

2

1712

1800

NI JNR

J MILLER
Scorfe - 576

G MURREY
Score - 557

N MALLON
Score - 579

3

1708

1800

FR JNRS

G PEINTRE
Score - 582

J BRUNEL
Score -572

S BUCHS
Score - 554