Article
40th ESK Home International Report
The 40th English Skeet Home International took place in Wales at the beautiful ground of Fauxdegla. Upon arrival the ground was looking ready for the weekend of shooting ahead !! The weather could not have been kinder,a shame to spoil the view with targets !!
Practice day Thursday found all nations getting out on the ranges preparing for the task ahead.
Friday arrived , all managers set targets with the ground, ready for battle to commence. Only 5 nations this year ,sadly no Ireland or the Isle of Man, however and excellent turn out of shooters.
England had 5 new caps this year , Lady Natalie Jones, Junior Alex Banning, Seniors ,Russ Dean, Barry Bell and Stuart Smith, and returning to the England team after a 20 year absence was Peter Chester , last time appearing as a junior !! It was looking to be a great competition!!
Shooting started and the scores steadily started to come in with two of the shooters looking to put in a 100 straight, the juniors were also looking in a good position,as were Vets and Supervets, ladies were just behind Scotland !! By the end of day 1 we did have 2 hundred straights in, Peter Chester and Stuart Smith, could they put in a perfect 150, we would have to wait for day 2 to find out !!
The juniors were leading even with one of the Scottish juniors Thomas McCarle putting in his very first 100 straight, what a time to do it !! At the close of shooting his hat was ceremoniously shot by a superb group of shooters , the like I’ve never seen before,an excellent shooting of a hat , plus great to see all nations come and Congratulate Thomas on his hundred !!
Day 2 and it was looking very good for England and we did end up with the 2 perfect 150 from Peter and Stuart ensuring a shoot off for overall high gun !! I think everyone the ground watched the shoot off and it didn’t disappoint,with both shooting another perfect 25 which then took them to pairs on peg 4. How long could this go on for, but end it did with Stuart dropping a target leaving Peter taking the win and overall high gun , excellent to watch ! To another of the shoot offs was to determine runners up senior team ,between Scotland and Jersey, with Scotland taking the honours ,but a fantastic result for Jersey taking 3rd.
So a great weekend of shooting for England taking, Overall winning country, Senior ,Juniors, Veterans and Supervets winning team and ladies taking runners up to Scotland!!
A different Home International this year as no banquet, so a hog roast at the ground was had instead , team photographs were taken in shooting kit rather than formal uniforms and only the main trophies handed out, nation trophies were done separately by each nation !!
All in all it was a great Home International, the atmosphere around the ground was one of the best I’ve known, I think all nations were just happy to be out doing the sport they love and are good at , catching up with old friends and making new ones.
I personally was extremely proud of receiving my winning managers badge, the team excelled on and off the range and couldn’t be more proud of them !! Until the next time ,look forward to doing it all again next year in Scotland!!
Congratulations to all England shooters who took part in the 40th ESK Home International. To view the results please click on the links below: