As the Trap manager for Bedfordshire it’s my duty to report on the County ABT Championship held at Northampton S.G. on 12th April 2009.

The weather was overcast and drizzly with the Sun now and again trying gamely to break through.

I’m sorry to report that the turnout of four for the county this year was rather disappointing, but to be expected because of the clash with the East Midlands DTL Championship being held at Nottingham on the same day.  This probably meant that the DTL shooters who would otherwise come to Sywell S.G. for the ABT instead went to N&DGC. In fact, for this year’s ABT competition there were barely enough shooters to make 4 squads! Unfortunately, I was not able to compete, because I’m recovering from a dislocated shoulder. So I could not, as last year’s champion, defend my title.

The targets were excellent on both layouts and the microphones, that had been a bit troublesome last year were no trouble at all.  The standard of shooting for our County contestants was not quite as good as for previous years, although the Overall High Gun, a Northants shooter, did shoot 96!  So the weather could not be blamed for poor scores this year!

The Bedfordshire County Champion is John Hartog and congratulations to him from all of us at Beds CPSA.  My thanks go to B Scoley, R Hunt and A Hinkley for making the effort to compete in this year’s event.

Once again; it would be great if we could build on this result and put together a county team for the Regional and National Championships later this year.  So, if any of you out there would like to try out for the team please let me know.  My contact details are on the county web site at www.cpsabeds.co.uk

Tony Busvine
County Trap Manager

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