ARCHIVE - 2009 WELSH COUNTY SPORTING  FINAL

The 2009 Welsh Sporting County Final was held at
Mid Wales Shooting Centre on April 19th 2009

The most perfect weather greeted the County sporting teams who travelled to Mid Wales Shooting Centre for the Annual Welsh Counties Sporting Final for 2009.

Once again Dyfed were trying to find their form that they last had back in 2005.  For three years now Powys had taken the County Cup plus other trophies, but with three 'new caps', Dyfed were determined to put a stop to it and bring some of that silverware back home.

With entries open at 10am, some shooters were eager to get out there and see what Jonathon had put on for them especially as this was the first time Mid Wales had staged this event.  And they were not to be disappointed!

There was a good variety of targets including teals, rabbit, overhead targets, quartering loopers so there was something for everyone including the 'new caps'.

A gallery of pictures follows, that were taken throughout the day:

      
[Click pictures to enlarge]  

     
[Click pictures to enlarge]  

   
[Click pictures to enlarge]

 
[Click pictures to enlarge]

     
[Click pictures to enlarge]

    
[Click pictures to enlarge]

[Click picture to enlarge]

Stand 6 looked like it was the one that sorted the men from the boys, as they say.  A simultaneous pair of left to right standards were causing some problems and with over eighty shooters at this final, only eight managed to hit a score of 7 and nothing higher.  But that's what's needed at a Final.......a couple of stands to separate the men from the boys, even though one of those shooters was a junior from Dyfed, Luke Llewellin!  Luke shot this final particularly well, coming away from every stand with a minimum score of 6 and he straightened 3 stands!  He continued with this form and took the Junior High Gun with an 80, that's two years now he's taken the title - well done "Tremendous Shooting".

Taking the Ladies title again for the third year was Carol Francis (also from Dyfed) who shot consistently well and finished on 74, four stands with a score of 9!  Well done Carol - another win on the back of your ladies county skeet high gun title as well !

With shooters returning to the clubhouse, the Dyfed lads were watching the scores come in.  Dyfed's last senior shooter "Andrew Walters" was was out on the ground and about to tackle the last stand, it was clear that he needed a score of 7 to tie for Senior High Gun with "Tony King" from Gwent and for Dyfed to take the Seniors Team County Cup.  Andrew Walters knew nothing of this and came off stand 10 just dropping the 3rd clay out to finish on an 86.  The County Cup was going back home to Dyfed and so was the Senior High Gun !!!!  But it was so close this year, just 4 clays separated Dyfed and Powys, with Dyfed finishing on 681 to Powys's 677.  A bit close for comfort, but the job was done - well done to the new county champions Dyfed and to the very close runners up - former champions Powys.

  
[Click pictures to enlarge]

The Veterans Cup was this year also going back to Dyfed courtesy of Del Davies with a 75, Dyfed were certainly keen to build up a stash of silverware this year !

With the new Colts class being introduced this year and a new trophy to go with it, it was Sion Evans who took it on its inaugural journey to Gwynedd with a respectable 53.  His smile said it all!  Better be careful though Dennis(Sion's Dad), he wasn't that far behind you ! 

It would be nice to see some more Colts entering next year so maybe some more Mums and Dads could encourage their boys or girls to come along and try the qualifiers.

Paul Heywood, the Dyfed Captain, managed to take the Captains Cup with a brilliant score of 83.  The engravers down in Dyfed are going to be busy for the next couple of weeks putting these names on the cups and trophies !

Not everything went Dyfed's way though.  The Junior shield was won by just one clay when Gwent put in an amazing performance with Tom Ball and Rhys Price who together scored a combined 147, one ahead of Dyfed!  Well done both of you!

The Gwent veterans double act of Alan Parkin and Geoff Seaborne did it again this year and like the Juniors, they only just scrapped through by one clay with Powys 135 to Gwents 136.

And like the Veterans, Carol Francis and Rose Owen took the Ladies team title - both from Dyfed yet again !

Below are pictures of the "overall" individual trophy winners and pictures of some of the counties teams with their respective team trophy awards.

[Click picture to enlarge]

   
[Click pictures to enlarge]  

A cracking days shooting held under perfect conditions with even the referees making comments on how much they had enjoyed the atmosphere with no bickering about the marking or the targets -  just good old friendly banter amongst the shooters. A credit to all the shooters!

The Williams family, the ground staff, the refs and all in the clubhouse made this one of the most enjoyable days in the shooting calendar. Many thanks to you all!

And last but not least, to all the coordinators......being a county coordinator is a thankless task, but without each and every one of them we would have no County Finals at all.  We also have to appreciate that many new internationals originally start through these county events, so the county coordinators are helping to nurture our future shooting stars of the future.  With this in mind - we must try to appreciate all the work they put and not try to criticise them - they are the ones who have to collate the scores at the end of the shoots and send the levies and paperwork off.  They are usually the last ones to leave the grounds because of this responsibility, and some of them don't even make the team at the end of the day - but their effort is unsurpassed.

So next time you shoot a county final or qualifier, spare a thought for your coordinator - tell them what a good job they do and how much you appreciate their voluntary effort.....a few simple words go a long way. 

County Co-ordinators are not easy to find, so a special thank you from all our counties shooters to each and every one of you !


Results Summary:

Type	Result
Winning County	Dyfed 681
Runners Up	Powys 677
3rd Place	Gwent 625
4th Place	Gwynedd 613
5th Place	Clwyd 567
Overall High Gun	Andrew Walters (Dyfed) 86
Captains High Gun	Paul Heywood (Dyfed) 83
Ladies High Gun	Carol Francis (Dyfed) 74
Veterans High Gun	Del Davies (Dyfed) 75
Junior High Gun	Luke Llewellin (Dyfed) 80
Colt High Gun	Sion Evans (Gwynedd) 52
Ladies Team	Carol Francis & Rose Owen (Dyfed)
Veterans Team	Alan Parkin & Geoff Seaborne (Gwent)
Junior Team	Tom Ball & Rhys Price (Gwent)

Credits:  

Many thanks finally go to Angie Goodman for all the hard work in putting together another fine counties final and for the production of this report - you are a credit to the WCTSA.

 

---