I must admit after not shooting fantastically the week before at the Masters I was very nervous of shooting the Ironman especially against my pal Darrel White who shoots skeet fantastically. When we register I shot mid 30s ex 50 and he managed 46 ex 50. Over 400 the gap could have been embarrassing.
I decided to travel up and come home both days to keep cost's down and so I could sleep in my own bed rather than a hotel bed. I set off early Saturday morning leaving at 6:45 and arriving just after 8am to start shooting at 9. A quick sandwich from the Dartford kitchen and I headed over to the ranges.
I started very slowly and timing wasn't great. Peg 8 I blanked which didn't surprise me as I hadn't shot a target like that since February. I still managed to escape with a 20. I kicked on from there and shot two 24s then a 22. meaning a shot 90 on layout 2. Darrel was shooting on layout one and we exchanged scores. he had managed a 92 so immediately he had a 2 clay lead on me. However I think this helped me focus and concentrate even harder.
layout 1 the clays seemed to be moving around more however I managed a 24. Suddenly fatigue really kicked in and I dropped down to a 21. I managed to take on some drink and some food and jumped back up to complete with a 23 and 24. Meaning a 92 and an improvement. Darrel equally improved though putting in a massive 95.
That meant after day 1 he had a 5 shot gap on me. I was absolutely shattered and gave it my all but was still extatic with how I shot and the adrenaline meant I had a good drive home to see Kath & Jack.
DAY 2
Fortunately I wasn't on until 11:45 sunday. I had a soak in a hot bath in the morning as I ached still from the day before and it helped me relax. I collected my gun from mum and dad then headed back down to Dartford at 9:15. I had a smooth and traffic free trip and pulled into Dartford for 10:40am.
I caught up with Darrel and Mick Kirby who also shot well on his first day. We were all tired however all determined to match and beat our previous days shooting. It was nice to catch-up with Kelly & Scott from Dartford also and promised Tony who runs the pool I would have a go after I shot the skeet.
I started on layout 4 , the wind from yesterday had gone and I started steadily with 23. With confidence I then managed my First NSSA 25 straight. I had only ever managed 1 straight in skeet before and that was almost a year ago also at Dartford. For me I had achieved something that I never expected to do over the weekend with this alone. The excitement of it though did affect me and my next 2 rounds I dropped down to a 22 and 23. Leaving me with a 93 which was an improvement on the Day before.
By now I was exhausted , I was hoping I may have caught Darrel up by a clay or two however he had other ideas and put in a 94 which gave him a further clay gap now. Realistically I had to now shoot four 25's to stand any chance at all and hope he would drop some.
I started the round superb and got round to 6 straight however i then dropped 3 clays on the low house. This really was unforgiveable and let it get to me the next round also dropping another 3 clays. I now knew i had no chance realistically of catching Darrel and calmed right down. I managed a second straight 25 then finished on a 24. Therefore finished on another 93.
Darrel also shot a 93 so we ended up day 2 one clay apart which for me was an achievement on it own.
Final scores therefore Darrel 374 Sam 368 ; only a 6 shot gap.
It was a fantastic weekend and i am very pleased for Darrel who shoots a lot of skeet and has put a lot of work into it..
I finished the day shooting both pool shoots which were very tricky but very enjoyable then headed home to Suffolk for a well earnt rest with my family.
I ended up in the top two of my Class and await the outcome due to some admin problems with others classifications. Fingers crossed some monies are to follow.
Thanks to all my supporters and sponsors especially Joe Garnham of GBS Contracts & Lydia Abdelaoui of Gamebore cartridges for their support.
happy shooting
Sam
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