12 July 2013

First of all, let us apologize for not posting anything earlier.  Your humble scribe only arrived in Bisley on Tuesday and is playing catch up.  This post will provide a quick summary of events that the 2013 team have participated in thus far and some of the results achieved.

On 5 July, we competed in a friendly with the North London Rifle Club (2ss, 10 to count at 900 and 1000 yards).  Canada was victorious by one point over the NLRC President's Team (580.62 vs 579.70), with the NLRC Chairman's Team, Canada B Team and NLRC Captain's team finishing 3rd through 5th respectively.  Bruce Bullock was the high Canadian with a 98.13.  Following the match, the team enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the NLRC, who were once again excellent hosts.

Once again, we sent a contingent to the north to participate in friendly matches in Altcar and Huddersfield.  In the team match at Altcar (2ss, 15 to count at 300 and 600 yards), Canada finished second behind the Manchester Rifle Club by 8 points.  Top Canadian was Pierre Tremblay with a 148.12.  Canadians who travelled north include Fazal Mohideen, Tony Betts, Gary Bowman, Jim Paton, Serge Bissonnette, Scott Murray and Stan Frost.

Our annual trip to Wales was unfortunately cancelled due to range closures in Wales.

We fired in another friendly team match yesterday against the Barbarians.  This match was fired at 900 and 1000 yards (2ss, 10 to count).  In somewhat challenging conditions (0-7 minutes right with some quick changes), Canada managed its second victory by a margin of 12 points.  Top Canadian was Scott Murray with 98.9.  The Barbarians hosted us at the London Middlesex Rifle Club for some refreshments and a small award ceremony.  Our thanks to Richard Baillie and the rest of the Barbarians for their excellent hospitality once again this year.

Following the team match, we hosted our annual Barbeque at the Canadian Pavilion.  The Royal Canadian Army Cadet National Rifle Team were our guests along with several other invited folks.  The steaks were delicious and the sides were plentiful.  Thanks go to Gary and Julia Evans and the staff for their assistance and to grillmaster Spinney for his fine work on the BBQ.  The night was concluded with Des Vamplew, Serge Bissonnette and Stan Frost presenting Mr Phil Harrison, Secretary General of ICFRA, with an honorary Life Membership from the DCRA in recognition of his excellent work with that organization.  It was an excellent evening and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Today, the warm up matches start with the Century (2ss, 10 to count at 500 and 600 yards) and the Admiral Hutton (2ss, 10 to count at 900 yards).

I shall try to blog later with the results of today.