Aidan leads scores at British Shooting Trials

Aidan Healy was leading Three-Position Rifle competitor at British Shooting’s trial shoots in Wigan this weekend, exceeding his Personal Best and National Record in the process.

Aidan, who set a British Junior Record of 571/600 at the British 50Metre Championships in August, went one better to score 572 on Sunday. He had already shot a 568 on Saturday to win the first day’s trials. Olivia Beech of Rugeley came second on 561, with Louis Norman third with 559.

Aidan’s score will not be a formal record however as the trials were shot on Wigan’s 50 metre indoor range, serving a comparative role for selection purposes – three-position rifle is formally an outdoor event and records must be shot outdoors.

When outdoor shooting resumes next year, Aidan will also have robust competition from the north – Scottish junior Neil Sinclair shot a 576 on Sunday. This was the highest single match score of the weekend, although his aggregate over both days was lower than Aidan’s. We can expect to see records change hands in 2026.

Challenging conditions at Welsh 50M Open

This weekend saw competitors sweat it out in 29degree temperatures at the Welsh 50M Championships, held at Tondu Target Shooting Club.

Saturday morning saw uncommonly calm conditions for Tondu, leaving the firing point hot and humid. Competitors contested one of three elimination details with the top qualifers of each squad progressing to the Open Final on Saturday afternoon, and the top 15 WSRA members progressing to the Confined Final on Sunday morning.

Paris Paralympic Games medallist Tim Jeffrey managed the highest qualifying score to win X-Class with 623.7. He was closely followed by Alan Bain on 622.4. Chris Hunter also cracked the 620 mark with 620.3. In the Pairs, Rob Morgan and Alan Ainge of Torfaen took the B/C Pairs, whilst the Open Pairs saw a tie-break – Chris Hunter and Simon Green lost the countback to Tim Jeffrey and Alun Evans. Aidan Healy was top Welsh Junior whilst Chris Brown was top Veteran.

A welcome breeze picked up for the Open Final, where Tim improved on the moning with a score of 624.1 to become the 2025 Welsh Open Champion. Matt Dixon took silver and Chris Hunter bronze.

Sunday morning dawned with welcome drizzle and a fresher breeze. Liam Webster made the best of it to become Welsh Confined Champion with 610.1. Defending champion Richard Hemingway placed second, with Martin Newman in third. Liam became the first recipient of the DWF Phelps Welsh Outdoor Championship Trophy. In previous years prizes have been awarded for the confined championship, but the Association has now acquired a trophy for annual competition, which has been named to honour double Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Phelps.

Sunday also saw the Open Three-Position match, by which time the wind was back to “Tondu Standard”. Olivia Beech of Rugeley RC and Wigan TSC made the best of the difficult conditions with 564/600, closely followed by Alun Evans on 562 and Louis Norman on 558. A special mention to Neil Sinclair who suffered a non-allowable malfunction with his sights (meaning no extra time was granted) but managed to complete the match, finishing his entire Standing phase in the last 10 minutes with a 90 and 91, which got him to fourth place.

Enormous thanks go to organisers Dave Phelps, Rob Warnes and Niall Evans who brought the targetry to the site, ran the range and kept the event running smoothly. Thanks also go to Tondu TSC for the generous use of their range.

Full Results

Gold for Team Wales at British 50Metre Championships

The WSRA team won the Home Countries 3-Position Rifle Match at the NSRA British 50Metre Championships this weekend, pipping England by just three points – 1655 to 1652. Congratulations to team members Richie Bray, Alun Evans and Aidan Healy.

The team honours were matched with individual success – Alun won Silver and Richie took Bronze in the NSRA British Mixed 3P Championship.