2007 INTERNATIONAL/BRITISH OPEN SHOOTING REPORT
Home International & British Open D.T.L Championships 2007
This years International was held at Bywell Shooting ground in England. After a great qualifying performance by the Welsh Shooters - expectations were very high !
The practise day was on the Thursday and everyone was looking forward to the International event on Friday.
Friday morning came with its slight problems with the angles of the birds, sorted once the shooting got under way. From the beginning everyone knew that it was going to be tough as the standard of shooting was to be a very high standard.
England and Northern Ireland were ahead half way through the shoot with Wales, Scotland and Ireland closely behind.
As the end of the day approached it was clear that England or Northern Ireland were going to win. Once the teams had finished shooting, scores collected and counted and it was discovered that England had won the International team event again this year, with Northern Ireland taking second place, Scotland took third with Ireland fourth and Wales came home in fifth place.
The final positions did not reflect on the quality of the shooting that Wales produced, there was only 2 ½ points per man between England and Wales, and between the other home nations the scores were extremely close.
All of the Welsh team shot exceptionally well with a special mention to the winning shooters of the day.
Mike Weaver, Phil Morgan and Karl Jones were shooting scores of 299 with all of them in a shoot off for the High Gun of Wales. After an incredible shoot off the results were as follows:
High Gun of Wales – Mike Weaver
2nd High Gun of Wales – Phil Morgan
3rd High Gun of Wales – Karl Jones
Gareth Evans (Captain) came 2nd in the Captains Cup with a score of 296.
The Ladies Team shot well and there was a good performance from the 3 new caps. Lynn Turpin shot exceptionally well and achieved a score of 292 and took the title of the Ladies High Gun of Wales. The Ladies Captain Ann Butler carried out her role of looking after the ladies team in a professional manner, and did an excellent job.
The Veterans Team also produced high scores with Emrys Roberts and Topper Brown tying their scores at 290 each. Emrys Roberts won the shoot off and took the Veteran High Gun of Wales.
Our Junior Team shot well and provided exceptional scores with 293 from both Alex Biddulph and Mathew Jones. In the juniors’ shoot off Mathew Jones came out on top achieving Junior High Gun of Wales.
British Open 2007
After a fine day of shooting on the Friday, it was now 11 o’clock and the International Teams were underway for the second day of competitions - "The British Open" !
England was the first team to shoot and the wind was already causing problems with the targets.
At 1 o’clock the Welsh team started shooting and it was a testing time for all due to the high winds (with no sign of the wind dying down)!
Targets were difficult with only a handful of the Welsh shooters in with a good chance of scores in the 290’s.
With a 100 targets shot -
the scores were added up. The Welsh Team on a whole had performed well
considering the weather conditions.
There were excellent scores from Phil Morgan 292 and D.C Harrison 295.
Veterans shooters Emrys Roberts and Bill James provided high scores but Eric
Davies won the Veterans High Gun of Wales with a score of 290, and Emrys
Roberts took the Veterans High Gun over the 2 day event.
The Ladies Team also found the weather conditions difficult; however Lynn Turpin took both awards of High Gun of Wales and High Gun over the 2 day event.
Alex Biddulph shot well again for the Junior Team, beating not only the other Juniors in Wales but also beating 10 of the Senior shooters. Alex came in with a score of 280 taking High Gun of Wales and High Gun over the 2 day event.
At the end of the day we were lucky enough to have a shoot off between Phil Morgan and D.C Harrison for High Gun over the 2 day event. D.C Harrison was already High Gun of the day with an exceptional score of 295.
The shoot off took place and unlucky for D.C Harrison missing 1 target giving the title of High Gun for the 2 day event to Phil Morgan.
Team Managers Closing Comments
As the Team Manager for 2007 I would like to congratulate all of the shooters in the Welsh International team for giving such an exceptionally high standard of shooting at both of these events.
I would like to thank Gareth Evans for all he has done since he was announced captain in assisting me and guiding the team, also thanking Brian Davies, Arthur Williams and Samantha Brookes for their help and support, prior to and during the International weekend.
I look forward to working with you all again for the Internationals next year, who knows we may come home with more silver ware next year!
Many Thanks
Barry Owen (2007 DTL Team Manager)
Credits
Many thanks to 2007 DTL team manager Barry Owen for the information and statistics to help bring this report together.