As the recently appointed Trap manager for Bedfordshire it’s my pleasure to report on the County Championship held at Northampton S.G. on 13th April 2008.

The weather was bright and sunny when the first squad went out.  However, it soon changed to overcast and then rain, becoming very changeable all day so making conditions difficult.  I’m pleased to report that the turnout of eleven for the county was excellent given the response in recent years.  My sincere thanks to all of you for making the effort to come and compete in the event. 

The targets were excellent although on a couple of layouts the microphones were a little sensitive, causing a few spurious pulls.  That being said, the standard of shooting was good considering that most of our contestants shoot this discipline very occasionally.  The winning score of 96/281 by Phil Coxall was very creditable as the overall high gun was 98/292.  Chasing hard all the way was John Taylor who finished on 96/278.  They were separated only by 3 second barrel kills, which demonstrates how important the first barrel kill is in DTL. 

The scores of all contestants are set out below:

It would be great if we could build on this result and put together a county team for the Regional and National Championships.  So, if any of you out there would like to try out for the team please let me know.  My contact details are here.

Tony Busvine
County Trap Manager