This weekend saw the WSRA 50M Championships take place at Tondu Target Shooting Club. Hosting both Open and Confined matches, the event attracted entries not only amongst local shooters but from across the UK. After a two year hiatus, the 2022 Meeting was a great success, bucking the trend of low-entries that many meetings struggled with post-COVID and almost reaching capacity. This set a bar for the 2023 organising team to maintain.
The meeting is run to ISSF courses. All prone matches are decimal-scored 60-shot matches with no Olympic-style finals. Three prone elimination matches on Saturday morning qualify the top 14 competitors into the Open Championship match in the afternoon. The top 14 Welsh competitors qualify for the Confined Championship on Sunday morning. The Open Three-Position (3×20) Championship is held on Sunday after the prone Confined Championship. Class and Pairs prizes are also awarded, based on elimination scores. Para athletes are included in the main matches with appropriate accommodations, rather than in their own class.
The matches are all run on Megalink electronic targets, managed by Rob Warnes to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude. Just as a match shot on paper requires experienced scorers to run smoothly, running a match on electronics calls for an experienced operator and we’d be hard pressed to ask for better than Rob. A match also needs range officers and we were saddened to receive news of Kevin Hindle’s passing the week prior to the meeting. A silence was held for Kevin at the prize-giving. Our thanks to Nigel Craddock who stepped in to supervise proceedings and did a sterling job of learning the routine for ISSF courses on the job, ably assisted by Rob from the control booth.
Saturday dawned overcast. The rain held off, but a stiff wind kept shooting “interesting”. Visitors to Tondu will know that its location in the river valley can create some very turbulent and tricky conditions when the wind is in the right direction. Saturday was one of those days. Simon Green managed an exceptional 618.8 in his elimination match, with the next highest qualifying score being 615.4 from Sam Harris. From a field who might normally manage some scores above 620, many X-Class shots struggled getting to 610. Special mention should go to Richard Bray who managed a significant new personal best of 606.2 in his elimination match.
Lunchtime saw a minor crisis as an errant gust blew half a dozen targets off the firing point mantel. The 50m butt at Tondu is located some height above the range floor, with the targets suffering a significant fall. Fortunately, no electrical connections were damaged, although several of the target frames had separated from their stands on impact (not a word we like to hear in conjunction with ESTs!). Half an hour of plier and hammer action got the targets remounted (sandbagged this time) ready for the Open Championship, with no electrical or sensor failures. Score one for Megalink build quality!
The Open Championship saw competitors better dialled into conditions, with more of the field passing the 610 mark. Sam Harris became Open Champion with 616.2, followed by Dean Bale on 614.1. Sian Corish placed third with 612.5.
Sunday morning dawned calmer as the Welsh finalists assembled for the Confined Championship. Richard Hemingway had the best of it, becoming the 2023 Welsh Champion with 616.5. Sian Corish was runner-up on 613.8 and Liam Webster placed third on 612.3.
The 3×20 was closely fought, with Dean Bale ultimately winning with 578, followed by Wes Cann on 566, edging out Tom Diggle on 564.
Our immense thanks goes to all the volunteers, and to Tondu TSC for the generous use of their range.
