Imperial Meeting 2020
DURC has seen unprecedented success at the The Imperial Meeting over the past week with impressive individual and team performances in this international fullbore shooting competition at Bisley.
With the advent of Covid-19, entry numbers were somewhat diminished, however a very strong cohort of about 300 firers from all over the UK showed up to compete over the week.
With the sun blazing and wind posing a threat, Miles and James negotiated their way through the first few shoots of the Grand Aggregate with focus and a calm attitude. James shot very well, however rifle malfunctions saw Miles drop a few more points than he would have liked!
With it all still to play for, and with some solid scores rolling in, it was left to 1000 yards with 10 counting shots, and 600 yards with 15 counting shots to decide the final placings in the aggregate. James shot incredibly well, placing 67th overall, maintaining his A class for another 3 years, with Miles finishing very strongly in 92nd place.
Sadly no BUCS points were on offer this year due to current circumstances, however an unofficial ranking was compiled with James placing 5th and Miles 6th out of the university shooters competing in the meeting.
The Wednesday saw a team of four firers comprising of Miles, James, George Oakland and Henry Marden shoot their way to success in the Musketeers competition edging out Southampton uni by 1 point! A combination of fickle winds and a loose rear sight meant we were not so fortunate at long range, however! The team had a great day and bbq afterwards, and congratulations must go to Oxford for their long-range win and Cambridge for securing the Chancellors and unofficial BUCS wins. Thanks goes also to our external coach Katie Hinkley who did a superb job on the wind reading!
Miles was also selected to shoot for Wales in the Lawrence (short-range) and Mackinnon (long-range) matches and so counted his scores concurrently with Durham. He shot a very pleasing 149.20 at short range, sadly dropping his last shot at 500 yards! Long-range threw all sorts of challenges at the shooters, and after a 7-minute wait for the wind and a pilot shot, Miles managed a 96.8.
Thursday brought the next main competition, the St Georges. From the cohort of 300, the top 120 were chosen to progress to stage 2 at 600. James narrowly missed the cut, but Miles made it through to the second stage by a number of V bulls! In a move that can only be described as mad, Miles chose not to convert his second V sighter at 600 and went on to shoot a 74.11 which placed him in the top 50 who then progressed through to the final stage at 900 yards.
As the sun was setting, Miles managed to grasp a hold of the refreshing breeze that encapsulated Stickledown range and put in a 73.7 for a total of 147.18. This, incredibly, placed him in 13th for the whole competition and reward him with X class for the next 3 years!
A massive congratulations must also go to Christina Cuming, who will be joining DURC next year, who placed 6th with 148.19 after some very straight shooting!
With that, it was just left to the final competition, H.M. The Queens Prize, to round out a great week of shooting. Unfortunately nobody from DURC made it through to the final, but we had a great day on the range supporting our fellow uni shooters and friends that did!
Thanks to everyone for helping and supporting us both on and off the range and we are all already looking forward to next year’s meeting and the shooting in between.
We look forward to welcoming new members back in Durham and stay tuned to our social media pages for updates as to how we are proceeding under these exceptional circumstances!