2024 South West Single Barrel Championship + 100 DTL – North Cornwall Shooting Ground 7/9/24

After a couple of weeks of not shooting, and a start that felt a bit rough as a result, I went to North Cornwall Shooting Ground today and managed to finally get my name on a trophy that has been an elusive beast for me for the last few years - the South West Single Barrel Championship.

Conditions were perfect for shooting - overcast and dead still.

This one has been on the list to get ever since 2017. Back then I had an absolute stormer of a year, shooting my first 100/300, earning my first England cap, and holding the Devon DTL, Devon Single Barrel, and South West DTL Championships all at the same time, amongst other good things.

But in that year's SW Single Barrel, I made the mistake of trying to beat Phil Morgan instead of focusing on my own shooting, and ended up completely out of the contest. That was a harsh but very valuable lesson.

Since then, I've either been away shooting somewhere else when this event happened, or the score wasn't quite good enough to do the job on the day.

Yesterday though my recent good form helped me through, and I shot 23, 25, 25, 24, finishing on 97.

I was happy with that. But I’ve shot a 98 in this event and lost out before (Paul Westaway shot a brilliant 99 in 2018 - myself and Simon Ede, who also shot a 98, were gearing up for a shoot-off until we found out!). The squad list contained names quite capable of catching me, and in the end it was Simon again who equalled my score. This time though there was nobody in front of us, and we lined up for a shoot-off to decide who would take the trophy home.

Both of us started strong, powdering the first few out. Then Simon graciously (but completely unintentionally of course) let one get away. Although the rest of his targets paid the price for the mistake, it wasn’t enough. Last year's experience of shooting off for the Dougall Memorial at Bywell really helped me stay steady and keep doing what was working, and the final result was another 25 straight to me, and a 24 to him.

Well shot Si - especially seeing as he, together with Andy and Albert, were all running the event as well as shooting, and had the misfortune of a rare trap breakdown to deal with just after everything started. We had to open up the spare layout, but that didn’t take long with the number of willing hands on offer to help. You did a good job keeping everything going chaps, as always.

The Veterans win went to Martin Howe who shot 96, and Justine Howe won the Ladies on 91. That was definitely a happy car heading back to Somerset!

2024 South West Single Barrel Championship winners L-R: Veterans Champion Martin Howe, Senior Champion yours truly, and Ladies Champion Justine Howe.

Sensibly, the 100 DTL happening alongside was kept separate from the Single Barrel by giving people the choice of one or the other. I can tell you from experience that letting shooters shoot two competitions at the same time can be total chaos if not managed properly!

Leading the way and taking High Gun and B class honors on the DTL was Darren Vicary with a solid 96/282. 10 points behind him and 1st in A class was Andy Hill with 96/278. And winning C class with 82/236 was Andy Brown.

Well shot to all the prize winners from both competitions, and thank you to Simon, Andy, and Albert for another really good competitive shoot. Also thanks to Steph who did a great job of looking after the scores and office admin all day, and Vics Catering Van for keeping us all fed and watered.

Job done then, victory secured by just 1 target, and the 2024 SW Single Barrel trophy can join the Devon DTL and Devon Single Barrel trophies on my shelf for a while.

Ironically though, it means that once again I’m one trophy short (Simon did a masterful job of winning the 2024 SW DTL Championship earlier this year), so I’ll have to wait and see if I can get the full set another time...