The Jethro Memorial Shoot 2024 - Two Counties 10/3/24
It's hard to believe that it's coming up to three years since we lost Jethro, and it wasn't until Lanyon (Jethro's son) pointed it out to me that it properly sank in. "Where's that time gone??" I thought.
The last two years of this event have deservedly been the Simon Ede show. In 2022, he gave an absolutely masterful performance that I described at the time as nothing short of a demonstration of how to shoot DTL, and totally dominated the field with a 100/299. A year later in 2023, he showed us all how to do it again by shooting the only 100 straight of the entire day, a 100/296 and winning by a 3 point margin.
With the England selection shoot at Priory CTC now rapidly approaching, today was an ideal opportunity to see how I'm really running before that, and have a good crack at getting my name on the cup at the same time.
Here it is - the very smart Jethro Memorial Cup.
But I could only do that after I'd actually made it to Two Counties! A classic case of alarm goes off, hit snooze button, and accidentally dozing for another hour meant I got there about 15 mins before shooting started. Luckily Simon, Andy Vanstone, Morley Yeandle, and Lanyon had a space on their squad which was number 7, one of the last to go out. Thanks to Simon catching me on arrival and putting my name down, I had enough time to get sorted (cheers Si!).
Compared to the last couple of shoots at Two Counties, the conditions were excellent. The sun was shining and starting to warm everything up, the merest hint of a breeze kept the temperature nice and comfortable, and the targets were flying as if on rails...
... but not to start with! As the squads went through their first rounds we started having trap problems. Shooters would call for targets, the light on the box would flash - but nothing came out, or came out very late. It was so bad in our first round that we only got as far as our second target each before we collectively decided it needed sorting out.
The problem was simply battery power. This was the first time we'd had any serious power related issues since Richard took over running the ground. Despite being hooked up to solar chargers, the recent dull and rainy weather conditions had stopped the batteries from charging properly, and both layouts in use had to have a swift power source transplant. I said to Lanyon, "Perhaps it's your Dad looking down and fiddling to make things interesting for us!" I bet it was!
With new batteries the problems were fixed, and everything got under way again.
While I was expecting a fight for the trophy, my later than planned arrival didn't really give me any time to dwell on that before shooting started, so to some degree I simply went out and shot my first round and finished it with a 25/75 (though I was lucky a couple of times!).
Just as well I did, and stayed away from the scoreboard!
Simon started with a 25 straight of his own, albeit with 3 second barrels (a 25/72). Andy Hill did likewise. Keith Woolcock went one point better with a 25/73. And Andy Heywood was snapping at my heels after his first round of 25/74.
The rest of the field had mixed fortunes. The targets weren't particularly strong, and I think many people were simply attacking them too hard, or looking for them in the wrong place. You could shoot them quickly - but you had to be disciplined enough to keep the gun still until you had locked on and knew where they were.
This wasn't helped with different clays loaded in layout 1 and layout 2. Layout 2 showed up better when they left the trap purely because they were a better colour. Layout 1 had the last of the horrible eco-clays that Richard had to buy a while ago because he couldn't get what he wanted at the time (he put them on 1 because thats where they show up best against the background - and he wants them used up!). The box says "Exceptional Visibility"... but the paint job on them leaves a lot to be desired. I'll be very glad when they're all gone for good!
A full car park - always great to see.
Fortunately, my second round was on trap 2 with the good Laporte clays. These break really well if you centre them with a good shot pattern. On peg 3, I got a straight-away target that I caught just right about 6 feet from the trap, and absolutely dissolved it into a cloud of orange dust. It was still hanging there when Andy Vanstone, who was next to shoot, called for his target! I don't shoot many targets as well as that, but it's always a good feeling when it happens!
My scorecard had another 25/75 on it when my round was done, and a good job it did! Of the chasing pack, Keith also blasted his way through a 25/75, and Andy Heywood repeated his first round performance with another 25/74, bringing them both to 50/148, only 2 points behind me. Simon and Andy Hill didn't fare so well in their second rounds, and lost ground.
Someone who made ground though, and was in a good position should the 3 of us at the top falter at all, was Mike Webber. Mike shot a 24/71 in his first round, had followed that up with a perfect 25/75, and was now sat on 49/146. I was oblivious to how little room for error I had because I stayed away from the scoreboard, and felt like I was in my own little world, focussed entirely on my shooting (which is where you need to be to shoot high scores).
But I knew how well it was going, and knew that I'd shot a perfect 50 straight. I've been here before enough times to know that the next round will probably be the hardest for me.
Sure enough, in round 3, the pressure cooker started bubbling. Around a third of the way through, I couldn't help tightening up just that little bit, and that was enough to cost me a second barrel and the potential 100/300. The cooker is a mental thing that I haven't managed to work out yet, but I'll get there. It wasn't responsible for the other second barrel though - that was on the last target of the round, and I can only blame a lapse in concentration for that one. Thankfully it broke with the second shot!
So after 3 rounds, I was still in front on 75/223. But unknown to me, Andy Heywood had been relentless with yet another 25/74, and was still breathing down my neck on 75/222. Mike had also filled them in and was now on 74/221, easily close enough to pounce if something went wrong. Ignorance was certainly bliss! But even with no idea of how close they were, I knew I couldn't afford to drop any more points.
Round 4 was tricky. The pressure of shooting a 300 was gone, but once again we had trap problems caused by battery issues. I got through my first 5 targets OK on peg 5, and through the next 4 on peg 1 (where I seemed to have nothing but left-handers), but it was hard going. With my next target on 1 being the last before the peg change, I thought about persevering, getting it shot, then dealing with the problem. But the rest of the squad were already talking about a new battery, and I decided not to risk a silly miss because of the distraction.
Once again, a fresh battery sorted everything out, and I was relieved to see the hard left-hander I got after the restart smash into pieces with the first shot. The rest of the round went without any more problems, and another 25/75 on my card gave me a final score of 100/298, and sealed the trophy win for me.
Unfortunately for Andy Heywood, he couldn't maintain the very high standard of shooting he'd delivered all day, and missed two whole targets and barrelled another in his last round to finish on 98/290. That was still good enough for 2nd in A class though.
Mike was pushing me as hard as he could, but one got away from him in his last round and he ended up 5 points behind me on 98/293. That's still very solid shooting, and he picked up 1st in A class plus the satisfaction of being 2nd overall.
As I had High Gun, 1st in AA went to Simon, who had had a mixed day with 97/285 to show for his efforts.
Yours truly with the spoils - thanks SImon for taking the photo!
Keith didn't do so well in the second half of his day, but did enough to secure 1st in B class with 98/284.
Then, to everyone's surprise (and his own!), Al Dungey turned in a 99/290 that completely destroyed everyone else in C class! The closest to him was Paul Garnsworthy on 95/275! (Unfortunately, Al missed his target in round 1 so he didn't have a chance at the 100 straight.)
Well shot all who placed in their class, and thanks to everyone involved for making the day thoroughly enjoyable. I also found it very worthwhile preparation for the England selection at Priory CTC in just under a fortnight's time. There's one more local shoot at Bradford on the 16th of March before that, so I shall go there with the same approach and intention, and see what happens.