Page 68 - OM Newsletter - Issue 43 - 2020

OM SPORT
OM RIFLE CLUB
The Rifle Club enjoyed 3 fixtures in 2019 with two Bisley meetings, and OMRC members also enjoyed a fun shoot in the .22 range on OM Sports Weekend 9 March. Regrettably, owing to several diary clashes and holiday, we could not raise a team for the traditional November .22 shoot.
OM Sports Day 9 March 2019
Six OMs met at the school .22 range in the afternoon and had a thoroughly enjoyable fun shoot, although a serious prize was at stake for a bottle of quality champagne! Thanks to Frank Harriss for overseeing the event and scoring the cards, congratulations to Andy Symonds who somehow managed to win all three rounds with his ancient BSA MK3 rifle, and for scoring 100/100 on one of the cards; the last time he managed that at the school range was 36 years earlier in the Junior Spring Competition in 1983!
Public Schools Veterans Match Thursday 17 July 2019
The first full-bore event at Bisley in July saw many hundreds of Public School veterans meet at 5pm on the 500-yard firing point. The weather was at least dry if not blazing hot sunshine! 48 teams of 5 competed for the A Team Challenge Trophy and 29 teams of 4 or 5 for the B Team cup.
A few of the usual team stalwarts could not make it this year so team selection proved quite tricky particularly as only 9 OMs could take part so the B team was only 4 in number. The OM A team achieved a score of 237 ex 250, with 18 central V bullseyes placing them 26th out of the 48 teams. The Old Epsomians won the Challenge Trophy scoring an impressive 250 ex 250 and 35v bulls!
The B team, with only 4 firing, scored 161 with 7 V bulls but congratulations to ‘Crackshot’ Chris Marlow who scored an impressive 49 ex 50 with 6 V bulls, the highest OM score of both teams, consequently winning the OM Vets Cup. The Old Guildfordians B team won the trophy with 247 and 30 V bulls.
Well done also to Mike Wentges (2.70-74) shooting with the Irish Rifle Club who came joint second in the Any Rifle Long-range Match scoring 72 ex 75 with 7 V bulls at 1100 yards’ distance, two-thirds of a mile! Mike just missed out on a medal on the V bull count out.
Gryphon Cup Sunday 29 September 2019
9 OMs met for the annual club championship
at Bisley in late September. The weather was
rather different from the hot and sunny 2018
weekend; the start of the relentlessly wet
autumn and winter had begun! As usual we
shot at three different ranges, 300 and 600
yards in the morning session, followed by 1000
yards in the afternoon that proved a particular
challenge in the wet and severely windy
conditions! The big difference this year was for Andy Symonds the first time we could use the new electronic
target and marker system: each firing point is equipped with a small tablet-like screen which plots the individual shot immediately after it has been fired, making each individual shoot very much quicker and eliminating the need to moan at markers for incorrectly scoring or marking the target slowly!
We shot two sighters and 10 rounds to count at 300 and 600 yards in the morning. Andy Symonds made the highest score at 300 yards with 49 ex 50 and 5 V bulls and Matt Kerfoot close behind with 48 and 8 V bulls. Kenji Shermer had the highest 600 yard score with 48.4 and well done to James Creed who scored an impressive 46.5 at 1000 yards in the afternoon, despite the awful weather!
After many consecutive Gryphon Cups as runner-up, Andy Symonds finally managed to win the cup with a total of 140 ex 150 and 11 V bulls, although the cup was absent as it is still in the possession (we hope) of Charlie Sykes who won in 2018. Charlie if you are reading this, can I have the cup back!
300x
600x
1000x
Total (ex160)
Position
Andy Symonds
Matt Kerfoot
James Creed
Tim Charrington
Chris Marlow
Tom Harrison
Kenji Shermer
Al Lidster
Phil Vicars
49.5 47.4 44.2
48.8 47.3 34.1
46.3 43.1 46.5
DNS 39 DNS
46.2 46.4 39.1
47.4 42.2 32
47.6 48.4 42
46.4 43.1 43.1
DNS DNS DNS
140.11 Winner
129.12
135.9 Third
39
131.7
121.6
37.1 Second
132.6
A TEAM
B TEAM
Tom Harrison
Charlie Sykes
Al Lidster
Malcolm John
47.5 Tim Charrington 33
45.2 Tony Clayton 40
47.3 Phil Vicars 39.1
49.3 Chris Marlow* 49.6
Rupert Clark 49.5
TOTAL
237.18V TOTAL
26th / 48
236.23V
9th / 229
* Winner OM Vets Cup for highest individual OM score
68 | Old Malvernian Newsletter