ICTSF World English Sporting Report

Richard Faulds won the 4th ICTSF World English Sporting on Sunday evening (16 July) after crowds witnessed a fantastic shooting spectacle for the six man Super Final.

With mixed weather conditions greeting the Thursday and Friday shooters, the ICTSF jury was forced to change the format of the competition early on, resulting in the top twelve shooters (plus ties) progressing from the Thursday / Friday and Saturday / Sunday squad rotations to shoot in a 50 target semi-final starting from scratch. The top five shooters (plus ties) then advanced through to the 25 target Super Final.

Following changes to the Blue course “in the interests of safety regarding stand eight and equity in the case of stand three” the original 200 target course was amended to score out of 192.

Faulds shot impressively throughout the week, scoring 180 ex 192 to record the second highest combined score, only beaten by Chris Daniels on 181. A deserved mention must go to Chris, who shot a superb 95 ex 100 on the red course – the highest score posted on course during the week.

Inevitably a list of household names qualified for the semi-final and with stands being set up on what was the CPSA Sportrap course, crowds gathered to watch the shooters battle it out.

The semi-final got underway in the early evening on Sunday, with the successful Thursday / Friday shooters returning to Kelmarsh Hall. Faulds looked in the mood once again and shot 46 ex 50 to tie for the lead with James Attwood and Sam Green heading into the Super Final. Chris Childerhouse was one point behind, with Phil Gray and Aaron Harvey completing the line-up for the Super Final, two points off the lead on 44.

In the Super Final, Faulds immediately took control and looked at ease throughout, having established a two shot lead over the chasing pack early on, he remained composed enough to see out the job. 

Speaking after being crowned the ICTSF World English Sporting Champion, Richard said, “Thank you to everyone involved with hosting the shoot at Kelmarsh Hall. The semi-final and Final were really good fun to shoot in and hopefully everyone enjoyed watching it."

James Attwood shot consistently throughout and deservedly took the runner-up spot, whilst Chris Childerhouse came out on top against Sam Green in a shoot off for third overall, meaning Sam dropped back to win AAA Class

In the Ladies category Renae Birgan from Australia shot an impressive 166 to comfortably take the honours, five points clear of Cheryl Hall. It was a similar story in the Junior category, with Aaron Harvey finishing on 179 ex 192, his nearest rival was Josh Bridges who finished eight points behind in second. 

Steve Brightwell’s score of 177 was enough to see him win the Veterans category, finishing ahead of Arnie Palmer and Nigel Hart. The Super Veterans was a much closer affair, as Ian Hallwood and Ian Palmer both scored 158. The former held his nerve in the shoot off to emerge victorious.

Aoife Boylan McComish, who was shooting for the Irish Ladies team, had a nervous wait in C Class. As one of three shooters tied on 146 she thought she would face a tense shoot off. However, with Oliver Keates (second by countback) and Nicholas Wood (third by countback) unable to attend the shoot off, she was awarded the Class victory by default. 

The England team certainly took advantage of shooting on home soil, completing a clean sweep across the international competitions. The Seniors led by example finishing on 684 ex 768, ahead of Australia on 662 and Scotland narrowly finishing third on 661. 

In all the other categories the top three placings were made up of the Home Nation teams. Wales notably finished runners-up in the Ladies, Veterans and Super Veterans and third in the Juniors. The Super Veterans was particularly close, with England finishing a single point ahead of the Welsh.

We would like to congratulate all the shooters who represented England at the 4th ICTSF World English Sporting Championships. All of the teams embraced the competition and did themselves proud. 

For a full list of results for the 4th ICTSF World English Sporting, click here.  For the prize fund breakdown click here.