Prescott Cup 2022 – Day 1 - North Cornwall SG 15/4/22

After a 3 year wait imposed by a very inconsiderate pandemic, the second Prescott Memorial Cup competition is at the half way stage.

The event first took place back in 2019, and we had a brilliant 2 days of shooting. 45 competitors packed out North Cornwall Shooting Ground, and I had some stiff competition from some of the South West’s best DTL shooters. In the end, my 100/297 the first day, and 100/299 the second day gave me an 8 point margin of victory, and the pleasure of looking after the trophy (for the next 3 years as it turned out!).

When I handed back the silver this morning, I was fully expecting that I’d need a similar performance if I was to retain my title. There aren’t so many entrants this time, but among them are some proper heavy hitters, and others who have found form before heading off to Northampton for the first England DTL Team Selection weekend next week.

The three men I was most concerned about were Richard Chapple, Chris Smyth, and Phil Morgan who had made the journey down from South Wales.

Richard’s long experience of all-round shooting and steadyness has helped him shoot some monstrous scores at important events in the past, including a 100 straight at ABT which is no mean feat. He’s usually near the top of the scoreboard and fully able to take advantage of any slips.

Chris is arguably the strongest DTL competitor in the South West. He doesn’t shoot very often through the clay season, normally sticking to the County Team selection shoots, and County and Regional Championships, but when he turns up, you WILL need your A game.

He regularly qualifies as Team Captain for the South West Inter-counties, and last year was pretty much unstoppable. Between July and November, he shot 9 competitions, missing just 1 target in 900, and scoring 2667 out of a possible 2700 points.

Phil is a shooting legend. Former World DTL and World ABT Champion, vast experience of different disciplines, and a multiple major championship winner. When he’s on form, you will need everything you have to stay with him.

His recent performances have included a 100/300 a few weeks ago at Cheddar Shooting Ground, followed a week later by a 100/299 (also at Cheddar), and I had to pull out all the stops at last year’s Bisley 200 competition to stay in front of him and win the shoot.

However, today just shows how you mustn’t assume anything.

The forecast promised us ideal shooting weather. Overcast and not much wind, which it was when we got to the ground. The targets looked very good when we checked them, and I was expecting some seriously high scores.

As the first round totals came in, it looked like I was going to be right, though not about the early front runners.

Myself, Chris, and Phil all started off with slightly less than perfect 25/74s, while Richard had a bit of a rocky start with a 24/69. That, unfortunately, set the tone for the rest of his day, and he never really got going.

Out in front of everybody on perfect 25/75s were Ollie Durovic and Nick Shadrick.

Ollie has put a lot of work into his DTL over the last few months, and is in solid form ahead of his first attempt at qualifying for England. Nick is another very tough and steady shot who has worked his way up into AA class, and is quite capable of mixing with the top of the scoreboard.

With things now under way, the wind changed, and couldn’t decide which direction it wanted to blow from. It wasn’t strong, but strong enough to play about with the targets.

Ollie was the only one who managed a to hit all of his in round 2, although he needed the 2nd shot on two of them.

One got away from Nick completely to give him a 24/72.

Chris also had one escape, and another almost did the same until his 2nd barrel connected and finished the job.

My second round was a 24/69. I was having some difficulties with the microphones not picking up my calls, and my concentration was starting to wander. What didn’t help matters was that the wind was now pushing the targets higher, so you had to be vigilant and push up to them or you would be underneath.

Phil had a completely unexpected dip with a 23/68. He wasn’t best pleased with that and said he had no idea where he was on the two he missed.

The halfway stage looked like this. Ollie was firmly out in front on 50/148. Nick was right behind him on 49/147. Chris was in touch on 49/145, and then it was myself on 49/143 with Phil breathing down my neck on 48/142.

Now it started to get interesting.

Back on the layout with slightly lower and more consistent targets, I set about steadying the ship and smoked my way through a 25/75. Phil did likewise.

Ollie seemed to lose whatever was fuelling him in the first half of the day for some reason, and he faded with a 23/66.

Nick had another one escape from him, and another that needed the 2nd barrel, which meant that he couldn’t pull away from the group and establish a lead of his own.

Chris obviously preferred the higher, trickier targets on layout 2, but once again there were two that needed his 2nd barrel, and he also could not pull away into the lead.

After 3 rounds, myself, Nick, and Chris were in a 3 way fight for the top spot. Chris and I were on 74/218, Nick had 73/218, and hot on our heels was Phil on 73/217. He was joined there by Dave Sleeman, who had quietly plugged away and also shot a 25/75 in round 3.

Dave is another shooter who is quite capable of putting in some serious scores and challenging for the win, and it’s great to see him back on form.

Ollie had slipped back to 73/214, but could still take advantage if events allowed.

The question now was, would anyone be able to pull clear in the last round?

The answer turned out to be no! None of the lead group were able to find a 25. Ollie had a similar round to the one previously and ended up on 96/283.

Phil fared the best, except that another target unexpectedly got away from him somehow. His 24/72 took him to a first day score of 97/289, enough to share the top spot on the scoreboard overnight.

Nick and Dave both had a 2nd barrel to go with their complete miss, giving them 24/71 each, and it was enough for Nick to join Phil on 97/289. Dave positioned himself nice and close in 3rd on 97/288.

Fourth place overnight happens to belong to myself. My fourth round was a bit of a disaster (2 complete misses and a 2nd barrel), and I thought I’d thrown away all chances of retaining my title there and then. I nearly had a complete mental collapse, and the last 10 or so targets were quite a battle to stay in the game.

It just shows that you should never give up, because right now I’m sat on 97/287 and in touching distance of the leaders. I’ll need a top performance tomorrow, but the defence is well and truly alive.

Will I be successful? We’ll just have to wait and find out!

My day 1 scorecard.