Ramblings from the Commonwealth Games, 2014 During the recent Games, held at Barry Buddon Range in Scotland, I sent back a number of reports. However, due to the vicissitudes of modern electronic communication, they did not make it to the DCRA web site. Since they may be of interest to some people, I have compiled them into a modest diary, presented here for your pleasure. Jim Thompson Friday 25 July I'm not sure if any sort of report or blog has been set up for the DCRA web site, but, if not, here are a few comments from me after Day One of the competition. Strictly, of course, as a Technical Official, I am not part of the Canadian Team, so must be pretty neutral. I'll try! The Range at Barry Buddon faces north of east, out to the North Sea. The Tay Esturary is to the right, and the Carnoustie Golf Course to the left. The major problem is an insidious seamist, known here as a "har", perhaps because when it rolls in there is nothing that can be done except to laugh hysterically "har har"! It is a major potential and actual problem as I have observed during the couple of days of practice since I arrived and especially today. When the targets quite literally vanish in a few moments there is little that can be done except to stop shooting. Today (Friday 25 July) was the first day of the Pairs Fullbore Rifle Event. The ranges due to be fired were 300, 500 and 600m. The first "har" rolled in towards the end of the 300m, which was just able to be completed. Things cleared up a bit so that 500m was fired without problem. However, with the first shooters on the mound at 600m, the "har" came back seriously. That range was due to start at 1545, but this was quite impossible. The mist remained thick, and there were frantic discussions with weather pundits and the overall shooting administrators. It was finally established that most of the range and butts people (nearly all volunteers) could not stay much after 1800. This meant that if the mist had not cleared by 1650, it would not be possible to have everyone fire the distance. And it had not cleared, so shooting was abandoned for the day. Of course, some malignant law came into effect, and by 1715 it was clear and sunny, but by then it was too late. And indeed, by 1800, the mist had rolled in again. The plan now is to start earlier than planned tomorrow and fire the 600m range, followed by the 900 and 1000 yards as scheduled. One can only keep a lot of fingers and toes crossed that the weather will cooperate - "har har"! On the basis of the two ranges completed, this will be a very tight competition. Two points cover the top nine teams! These scores are unofficial, collated by on-range stats, since the official stats has no electronic link to the range and scores must be sent back a distance of 600+ yards by runner. Even India was a little better than that! [HPS 200. 40] 1. England 200.29; 2. Australia 200.26; 3. Jersey 199.26; 4. Northern Ireland 199.25; 5. Scotland 199.22; 6. Canada 199.21; 7. South Africa 198.21; 8. Guyana 198.19; 9. Wales 198.17.
Tomorrow could be very interesting! Saturday 26 July This was a good day for Canadian shooting! As I said yesterday, I have, in my appointment at these Games as Chairman of the Jury, to remain relatively neutral, but I cannot disguise my delight and pleasure about our winning the Silver Medals in the Fullbore Pairs today! Warmest congratulations to Jim Paton and Des Vamplew, and to their mentor, Pat Vamplew, on this achievement! I will describe the day briefly, since it was not without its stock of problems. Following yesterday's postponement of the 600m range of the Pairs, it was decided to shoot that range early today, then to be followed by the 900 and 1000 yard scheduled distances. All was reasonably well at the start, with overcast skies but a clear light. There was a delay in starting while some wind surfers had to be cleared out of the off-shore danger area! However, towards the end of the 2nd detail, there were some patches of mist beginning to form. By the time people had moved back to 900y, there was a full blown "har". This lasted until nearly 3 pm, so that we were beginning to despair of a finish today. However, from then on the light was clear, but for the first detail at 1000 yards later on there were some very heavy rain showers. The wind, which has been coming from the shore (east) up to now, switched completely and blew down range. It was not a heavy wind, but the changes in direction, plus wet and heavy wind flags made it tricky to read. As I wrote last night, the results at the end of the first two ranges were very close - only 2 points covering the top 9 teams. After 600m, there was a little reshuffling of the pack, but it all remained very close. England and Australia were "clean" with 300 - England ahead by 2 vee bulls. Canada was in 7th place with 298.30, having in fact slipped two places (on vees) after 600m. The 900m produced some significant changes in the situation: England, still "clean" on 450, one point and 6 vees ahead of Australia; Canada now in 3rd place with 447-46., with Scotland close behind. The 1000 yard shoot did its usual sorting out - the conditions being described to me as insidiously tricky! England maintained its strong shooting with 145/150 at this range - matched by the Canadian pair. Others, notably the Australians has a good deal more problems. So in the end the results were: 1. England 595.77; 2. Canada 592.54; 3. Scotland 590.65; 4. Australia 586.66; 5 Jersey 585.57; 6. Guyana 585.47. Apart, of course, from England's victory and Canada's silver medals, I think that Guyana's performance was truly excellent in being unexpected. The Medals Ceremony will be tomorrow afternoon. The Individual competition also starts tomorrow, with a "Queen's I", 7 shots at 300, 500 and 600m. The weather is predicted to be mostly fine, perhaps a few showers, but less chance of the dreaded "har"s.
Sunday 27 July This will be quite brief tonight, since it was a day with relatively few problems out on the range. The wind continued to blow down range away from the coast, so there were no "hars". There were a few light rain showers, but most of the day was sunny. The wind was mostly from around 10:30 but switching in angle quickly. The first part of the Individual medal event was fired, 7 shots at 300, 500 and 600 metres. There was only one score of 105, Geoff Grenfell from Australia. Then 7 more at 104, including Jim Paton, currently in 8th place, plus 4 more at 103. Des Vamplew had some problems at 600 and stands in 25th place with 100.05. The Medal Awards ceremony for the pairs was held this afternoon. Tomorrow is Stage Two of the individual, again at 300, 500 and 600m, but this time with 10 shots at each range. Monday 28 July Just one day to go! It's all gone by in a flash, but the days have been very busy and most things have gone reasonably well. It will be better if I vent over some ales at Connaught next month - and indeed there are things to vent about. The internet in my room is still down, and the phone is acting very strangely. I'm on the 'public' computer which has also flickered a couple of times, so I hope I can compete this brief report. The first two days of the Individual have now been fired - 7 at 300, 500 and 600 yesterday; 10 at the same distances today. The weather has remained fine after some early showers yesterday - today was sunny and warm. The wind direction seems to have kept the "hars" away. The same should be true for tomorrow, with the wind shifting to the west and increasing in strength. It sounds like an excellent last day to settle the Championship. With the scores so very close, much can change at 900 and 1000 yards! Standings as of tonight: 1. Le Cheminant, Jersey, 254.32 2. Richardson, Jersey, 254.30 3. Grenfell, Australia, 254.30 4. Coetzee, South Africa, 254.26 5. Paton, Canada, 254.23 6. Luckman, England, 253.32 7. Calvert, N Ireland, 252.31 8. McLeod, Scotland, 252.30 9. Patel, England, 252.30 10. Watson, Wales, 252.29 11. Alexander, N Ireland, 252.27 Six scores of 251. It could hardly be closer!
Des Vamplew has 247.22, having struggled a bit yesterday and earlier today. But he finished with a fine 50.6 at 600m this afternoon.. We finish tomorrow afternoon, with plans to chair the winner off the range in traditional fullbore style. Unfortunately the local ("smallbore etc.") organisers don't seem to understand this fully, so it will not be permitted to carry him into the medal ceremony itself. I'll report tomorrow as quickly as possible- electronics permitting! Tuesday 29 July Well it's over, and it was quite an afternoon! Some of you may have seen things on Facebook (look up "Barry Buddon Broadcasting Corporation (BBBC)" for Peter Turner's up to the minute reports. The BBBC did very much better than the BBC and, I suspect, the CBC! It was always likely that the breeze would change direction from right to left, as it became more westerly. However, during the afternoon, it did so in a very uncertain manner - switching from left to right and back again, which, with its strength, required large and rapid shifts in sight settings. Very often people were caught in the aim - and overall scores were low, bringing on a disaster for some. At 1000 yards, there was only one score above 70, a 74.4, and only one score of 70. Scores in the 30s and 40s were not uncommon. That 74 was made by David Luckman and was a remarkable shoot under the conditions. It gave him a total score of 401.42 ex 405, a new Games Record, and this on those tight and unforgiving ICFRA targets too. David had a superb shoot, dropping his first and then staying in the bull. All possible credit to him. There was very considerable shuffling of places from the list I gave you earlier. Jim Paton held his own over the rest of the pack, scoring 69-4, finishing with 397.35 for the silver medal; Parag Patel with 70-2 climbed from 13th place to 3rd to take the bronze medal. I won't go into the crashes, of which there were many. Suffice to say that Geoff Grenfell's 59-2 took him from 1st to 12th place. There was one quite remarkable short sequence when, with shots fired at nearly the same time on adjacent targets, Paton had a magpie at 9 o'clock, Grenfell an outer at 3 o'clock, and Luckman a... v-bull... one need say no more! Des Vamplew got caught in the maelstrom, scoring 53-0 at 1000 and finishing 28th. But he has his consolation of the silver medal for Canada in the Pairs. The top few: 1. Luckman, ENG, 401.42, Gold 2, Paton, CAN, 397.35, Silver 3. Patel, ENG, 394.35, Bronze 4. Calvert, NIR, 393.38
5. Alexander, NIR, 392.32 6. Coetzee, RSA, 391.34 7. Le Cheminant, JER, 390-40 8. Mace, GUR, 390.28 I might add that, as far as I know, Canada has three shooting medals at these Games - with two of those in Fullbore!! That may help us for the Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018! And so I must go and pack up. Some of us have a taxi tomorrow morning at 0500 to take us to Glasgow Airport, thence for me to Heathrow and Toronto and home. It's been a good, but very tiring few days, but there is not much time to relax before the ORA and DCRA! I'll sum it up and "vent" in due course! Jim