East Midlands Inter-Counties Skeet Championship 2008

Report on behalf of Trevor Sharp

It was a beautiful sunny morning which gave way to a chilly late afternoon for this years inter-counties Skeet at Northampton G.C.

Our juniors led by  experienced skeet shot Ben Pay back, from university at Leeds for the day (thanks for your effort Ben!), setting the early pace with a fine 94, Ben’s example inspired Matthew Galvin to his best ever skeet score of 79, well done Matt you can’t ask any more than to shoot your best.  Unfortunately a borrowed replacement gun upset Joe Heast’s confidence and rhythm and he was a bit off his best.  In total the lads managed to put together a 173 well done! 

Note from the “chair”:  As an aside we have received a letter from the junior squad thanking the Beds Committee and other individuals for the help that they are receiving.  It is nice to know that our efforts are being appreciated and I would like to add my thanks to those that are putting in time, effort and in some cases significant finance to support our juniors. 
Back to the skeet:  Our ladies of Jackie Tobbit and Gill Whinnett put together a 173 between them with Jackie shooting a 91. This placed them joint third overall with four teams behind them – I am not sure but I think that this is probably a best performance in skeet in recent times so well done to Jackie and Gill.  Having just typed that I am trying hard to resist the urge to say something about climbing hills! 

On to the vets: The team of Pete Green, Ian “Lou” Porter (ah now I get why they call you Lou!!) and  Trevor Sharp put together a 186 – Pete was top scorer with a 94 which included a 25 straight on layout 3, Trevor returned a 92. 

Finally the seniors – the team was Steve and Jim Whinnett, Andy Buck, Russell Hunt, Bob Scoley, John Hartog and Pete Lee.  Unfortunately the eighth member let himself and his team down by not turning up!  Pete led the way with a 97 with 96s from Jim and Andy as the team notched up 559.   I would like to extend my thanks to both Trevor for managing the team and entries is difficult circumstances and for those of you that turned up and gave your best efforts for shooting the competition.

Thanks JT.