Bywell Weekend 2023 - Bywell Shooting Ground 9/6/23 - 11/6/23
The Story of My First Major Championship Win
Although the events described in this post happened well over a month ago now, and the results are well known, I couldn't leave the blog without one of my most significant experiences so far in my shooting career!
The English and Dougall weekend is an annual pilgrimage on the DTL competition circuit, and is always a weekend of top shooting, unpredictable weather, and a story or two.
This year turned out to be extra special.
For starters, we were lucky with the weather - the sun was shining, the wind was steady from the same direction all weekend, and the new Laporte Grand Prix clays that Allan Henry had obtained for the weekend were flying very stable and consistent, making for excellent targets.
But before I could find all that out, there was a small matter of a 430 mile drive for me to get there!
Wednesday 7/6/23 - Travelling Day
This year, I'd decided that if I was going to a big shoot (depending on where it was), I would make it as easy for myself as possible by travelling up in plenty of time, and having a day to get over the journey and shoot some practice targets to get in the swing of things.
In the case of Bywell, that was travel up on the Wednesday, shoot a bit and take it easy on Thursday, then go into the Sponsors Day on the Friday as fresh as possible.
At least, that was the plan!
I left home at 6:30am, and travelled all the way to Michaelwood Services Northbound on the M5 with no hassle at all, getting there around 9am.
After a half-hour stop, during which I bought myself a foot-long Subway and a cup of coffee as I usually do on my way to a big shoot weekend, I was on my way again.
My journey included a short detour towards York to pick up another load of cartridges from Martin at M J Sporting, but even with that the remaining time was showing as a pretty usual 7 hours.
Everything was going great - until I got on to the M42.
My progress was abruptly halted by solid bumper to bumper traffic on all lanes.
The cause?
Everyone trying to get into Castle Donnington for Download Festival!
I was there crawling forward for an hour and a half before I got free of it - only to find exactly the same thing on the M1 5 miles further on!
Mercifully, I was only trapped here for about 30 minutes, but the 2 hour delay had ended my hopes of a hassle-free trip.
So instead of making it to Martin's by around 12:30 pm like Google Maps said, it was well past 2pm when I rolled to a stop outside his place.
The cartridges I was collecting were Express Power Golds, first made known to me by Malcolm Brown a few weeks prior.
Martin had tried them as well, and explained to me that he was switching his branded cartridges over to them after being seriously impressed - great patterns, smoother to shoot than Super Comps, and cheaper too!
After an hour or so of loading up, and refreshing myself with lunch bought at my last fuel stop, I was on my way again with a bit of extra ballast - 2000 Power Golds, and 500 Super Comps to make up the quantity I wanted.
Add that to the 750 Super Comps I already had in the boot (brought in case the arrangements fell through), and the little Fiesta was lugging a fair load!
Thankfully, the rest of the journey was pretty straightforward with just a little bit of congestion around Newcastle, and I finally rolled to a stop outside my lodgings for the weekend (The Turk's Head, Rothbury) at around 5:30 pm - 11 hours or so after I set off in the morning!
I must say that the beer tasted especially good that night!
Thursday 8/6/23 - Practice Day
Being able to take things a bit easier the day after was very welcome.
When I got to the ground around 10am, I found a good number of fellow South West shooters already there, and discovered that some of them had done the drive in 6 and a half hours and avoided all the blockages that I hit!
Oh, what it is to be a lorry driver and know all the detours!
But that also meant that, friendly banter aside, I picked up some useful tips for getting around the worst spots on the route, and I'll do my best to remember those for future reference.
Keen as we were to shoot, the practice lines weren't open until 12, so in the meantime, and after a mid-morning cup of coffee, the inevitable visit to the gun shop happened - and I found this:
A black action K80 Supersport with a £13,500 price tag!
Now, you're probably asking, "Why were you even looking at it for that money??"
Well, I wouldn't, except that my thoughts revolved around a few things.
Apart from really liking how it looked, this K80 felt very similar to mine.
It was nicely balanced (though a fraction lighter), the stock fit was very good, and the sight picture looked the same.
You don't see many black action K80s on the circuit, and it had the step rib trap barrels that Krieghoff don't sell on new guns any more (I think you can still get a set from the factory, but they are something like £3,500).
And this one was the new Supersport configuration with the adjustable Parcours stock.
Why is that important?
Well, the stock that's on mine right now fits very well, but looks a bit ungainly.
I would rather like to have one that has the same fit, but without the need to kick the comb right over and put a lengthening spacer on it.
So now you ask, "If you really want the stock fit, why not just get a stock?"
Good question - brand new ones start at £2,800 for a non-adjustable Parcours version, and finding second hand ones on the market is nigh-on impossible - or I'm just not looking in the right place.
And if you're paying that sort of money, you're almost half-way towards a good older second hand K80 which are going for around £7000 at the moment.
Another reason to consider the purchase was to reduce the number of guns in my cabinet, and remove the possibility of switching back and forth (which is something that I've experienced in the past).
So anyway, I was rather intrigued by possibilities and while I had the opportunity, I brought my guns into the shop, and asked the question (purely hypothetical because at this point I still didn't have a full licence, but it was on the way) - how much would it be to change.
The answer - £6,000.
Which, when you consider that the black and gold K80 had been there for 12 months, had recently been marked down from £16,000, and Bywell were willing to knock another £500 off the price tag for me, was not unreasonable.
I was told that if we did the deal and I paid a deposit, the gun could stay there until my certificate arrived and was filled in, and then all the guns could be transferred via RFD (Registered Firearms Dealer) whichever way they needed to go (which was pretty neat).
But it was a lot of money, and I didn't really want to lock myself in to paying instalments for the next 12 months!
(Looking back with hindsight, I really shouldn't have even considered the purchase!)
So, I did the sensible thing and said I would think about it over the weekend and see if the gun was still there on Sunday afternoon.
Of course I would go back in and look at it a couple of times before then, but in the end it was bought on Sunday and headed for Ireland - which removed all possibility of me doing something very stupid!
Anyway, back to Thursday, and with practice lines open, I bought three rounds of 25 and headed out in the company of friends to see what targets Bywell were providing for the weekend.
In a further twist to the story, I wasn't sure if or how well the first target was going to break because on Tuesday night, my K80 barrels were held in a wooden bench vice in the workshop, and I was using punches and a hammer (for gentle persuasion) to change the front hanger.
Doing this changes the point of impact of the bottom barrel relative to the top one, and allows you to have one pattern higher, lower, or in the same place as the other (which is what I wanted).
I found out at Fauxdegla, and confirmed it while shooting at Bisley, that the bottom barrel on my K80 was shooting considerably higher than the top one, so the number 5 had to go.
But I wasn't entirely sure which number I needed to replace it.
My K80 is fixed-choke 5/8 - 5/8, and I was aware (thanks to the walking Kreighoff encyclopaedia that is Steve Janes) that the fixed-choke barrel hangers are different to the multi-choke barrel ones, and that an FC hanger is equivalent to an MC one two numbers higher.
So I did the right thing and ordered a number 7 and a number 8, making a reasoned guess that one of them would be right.
And then, just to add even more twist to the tale, I had an email from Alan Rhone to say that they were sending me the number 8, but they had no number 7s in stock!
They would order one in special from Krieghoff for me if I wanted, but it would take a few weeks to arrive.
So the number 8 it was.
I had no way of pattern testing the gun to check if it was right, so it was simply put it on and hope!
All doubts evaporated on the first target - it vanished in a ball of smoke - and I went on to shoot three perfect rounds giving me 75/225 in practice.
This was a great settler for the weekend!
I could have gone for one more round, but it would have been a waste of energy.
I'd found out what I needed to know (the gun was set up great), I was shooting pretty well, and I felt ready for the weekend.
Friday 9/6/23 - Sponsors Day
While I was pleased with how the practice went, I've been to more than enough big weekends now to know that the first day of competition rarely goes as well - except that this year, I felt that something was different.
It was something I'd never had before, a certainty that I could get something from the weekend - though I really didn't know what it was going to be.
So out I went on the 12:00 wave to see what would happen.
After second-barrelling my fifth target out in round one, I concluded that I probably wouldn't be finding out what it was that day, and used the rest of the competition to really get used to the targets.
At half-way, I was on 50/149, that second barrel the only dropped point so far.
But a miss in round three and one in round four dropped me back to finish on a 98/293 - exactly what I shot at Fauxdegla two weeks prior, and, as I thought, not enough to trouble the prize fund.
Dan Price finished the day top of the board on a 100/299, and I was sat in equal 23rd in a group that contained Steve Janes, Nick NcKeown, Simon Ede, Paul Neal, Nick Haley, Chris Smyth, Chris Jones, Marcas Robertson, and Richard Greenlaw - pretty good company to be in!
Andrew Hetherington, Cody Brady, and Enoch McCauley (all 100/298) had to shoot-off for overall second and third, which Andrew won with a 25/74.
Cody shot a 24/72, and Enoch a 24/71.
Jim Doherty (99/297) won AA class by shooting a 25/75 in another shoot-off against Connor Harris, Edd Furber, and Ian Mullarkey.
Enoch's third place finish in the shoot-off meant he dropped back to win A class.
C class was won by Cameron McKay (98/281).
Richard Chambers took B class with a 99/294.
Emma Holden Hardy convincingly won the Ladies category with a 99/296, with Charlotte Kitchen taking second on a 97/285, and Bernadette Quinn (95/282) securing third by winning a shoot-off against Karen Allen (96/282) with a 25/74.
Cody was 1st in Juniors, Enoch 1st in Veterans, Mike Hartley 1st in Super Veterans (99/296), and Joe Turner shot a 98/287 to win Colts.
Saturday 10/6/23 - The Dougall Memorial DTL
By Saturday morning, I'd got the 11 hour marathon drive out of my system, and just as well - I was on the line at 9:30am today and tomorrow!
I felt that my performance the day before had been about average.
Not a sensational score, but there were lots of positives.
I'd found the targets well; most of them were blown apart with conviction; the new hanger was working a treat; and the Express Power Golds were something else - in fact I think they are the best cartridge I've ever used, and they instantly became my new favourite!
The feeling that I could get something from the weekend was still there, so all that together hinted at better things to come.
The squad I'd chosen to shoot on had some formidable shooters on it - Gerrald Sweet on peg 1, Cory Doble on peg 2, and Phil Morgan on peg 4.
James Sheffield, who I don't think I'd met before was on peg 3, and I was on peg 5.
This was somewhat of a tactical decision on my part.
Shooting with people you know are going to push you on can lift your performance, and the rhythm and timing of a good squad helps you get into the flow of things.
And so it proved.
James, being a completely unknown quantity as far as I was concerned, had a rocky start by missing his first one out, then not having the best first and second rounds, but all credit to him for raising his game in the back 50, getting all of them with only three second barrels and finishing on 97/283.
Gerrald surprised me a little by having quite an off day compared to what I know he can do.
His first round really hurt him with two misses and two second barrels, and after that he was almost shooting for fun.
Normal service was resumed in round two with a perfect straight, but another two whole misses in his third round dropped him even further down the order.
Another perfect straight in round four stopped the rot, but the damage had already been done, and he finished on 96/286.
Phil surprised me a little more by actually missing a whole target half-way through his first round, and it took me a moment to put that little distraction in a box before I shot my next target.
In fact, it was a classic deja-vu moment.
During the 2017 South West Single Barrel Championship at North Cornwall, I was shooting next to Phil then, and both us started off on fire, turning everything we shot at into balls of dust.
Then he missed one, it got in my head, and shortly after I missed one too.
What followed was a slow destruction of my performance caused by fighting a personal battle, and it cost me a Championship win that would have meant I had not only the Devon DTL and SB championships, but the South West Region DTL and SB championships as well, all in the same year.
Not achieving that was very tough to take at the time, and taught me an awful lot about mindset and what I should be focussing on during competition.
6 years later, I'm much better at insulating myself from what other people are doing, and this time I just said to myself, "Unlucky Phil!" as I turned my target inside out.
The rest of his day was pretty solid, every target hit and only three second barrels, and he finished on 99/294.
Cory is shooting very well at the moment, and he was obviously seeing the targets really well, making clouds of soot right from the off.
The only blemishes on his scorecard came from a second barrel near the end of round 1, and another near the start of round 2.
His day finished with a 100/298, and the top score in Juniors by a four point margin.
My day went like this (cue internal dialogue).
"Right - pre-comp assessment - I'm on the same layouts that I was on yesterday - are the targets the same?"
"Yes - that means same hold points, and put eyes in the same place."
"Light conditions - not bright, but targets are showing really well through the glasses, and I'm picking them up early - lens colour is good."
"Wind - not much, from the same direction as yesterday, so targets should behave the same."
First round - 25/75.
"That's a good start, and somehow I'm shooting better than Gerrald and Phil - fancy that!"
"Cory's blacking them well too - good for him - but none of that's important to me, focus on the job."
Second round - 25/75.
"Hmm, this is getting interesting now."
Third round - 25/75.
"This is getting VERY interesting now!"
"Oh, hello pressure cooker - not boiling yet though, that's good."
"What can I do to keep you that way?"
"Hmm, better to figure out why you're there in the first place."
"It always happens when I get halfway or further with a perfect score - and I don't want to mess it up..."
"... and knowing what the result could be, and trying to achieve that score, is what's causing me problems!"
"When I used to play online First Person Shooters when I was younger, I never knew what score I would get at the end of a match - all I was focussed on was doing my thing and working to get as many points as possible."
"So why not do that here? - I don't need to know what my final score will be, it isn't important - let's just focus on causing those targets as much pain as possible!"
(Instantly feel better, pressure much reduced.)
Fourth round - 25/75.
"Hmm, a couple in there were a bit chippy, maybe through nerves and tightening up, but no matter - I got them."
"100/300 on the card, job done."
"Right - there will be a shoot-off later - I wonder who I'll have to knock out?"
And from then on, it was simply wait, save energy and mental reserves, keep away from the scoreboard and any conversations that might derail my mindset, and keep the task ahead ticking over on standby in the back of my mind until it's time to go to work again.
Not long after I finished my last round, I discovered that Chris Smyth, who had decided to make the long trip north from Devon for the first time in years, had also shot a 100/300 at the same time as me on a different set of layouts - so he was High Gun shoot-off opponent number 1!
During the day, the wind began to build.
Reports were filtering around the ground of who was on for what score, and one by one, the number of shooters who could join me and Chris dwindled.
Then, just when it looked like it would only be between us, Tony Dore also put in a 100/300 to make it an all-South-West three-way contest!
When all the shooting was over, and all the scores were in, there was a bit of time while all was checked, logged in the system, and any shoot-offs for classes and categories worked out.
During the wait, I made sure that I was ready to go in all my shooting kit, with the gun and 150 extra cartridges (just in case), and standing where I could not fail to miss the call.
Everyone starts gathering for the shoot-offs.
There was a bit more waiting while all the other shoot-offs were completed, which worked very well for me because I had the perfect opportunity to assess the targets on the layout that Tony, Chris, and myself would be using.
They were the same as the ones I'd been shooting earlier and the wind had died right off, so the plan was simply for more of the same.
And then, after everything else was settled, the three of us were called forward for the Dougall Memorial High Gun shoot-off.
Standing there on the line with Chris and Tony was definitely a major highlight of the weekend - three shooters from the South West who had travelled more than 400 miles north, out-scored everyone else on the day, and were now shooting off against each other like it was the South West Championship!
The fact that I was shooting against friends would have bothered me a few years ago, but I was now in a position that I'd been striving to get into for years.
This was a better chance than I could have imagined, and I was going to do whatever it took to bring that trophy home.
The levels of focus and concentration I had were far greater than I thought I was capable of, and the only goal I had was to absolutely obliterate everything that came out of the trap.
What followed was described to me afterwards by someone as a masterclass.
All bar two targets simply vanished from existence in a cloud of smoke, and the ones that didn't were hit very hard.
Every target was killed with the same rhythm and timing, and I finished the round with a 25/75.
Unfortunately for Chris, he had difficulty finding them consistently and had a poor start, second-barrelling his first target out, then missing his second, and having another second-barrel near the end for a 24/69.
He said to me afterwards that he found them different somehow to what he shot earlier, and didn't adapt to them properly.
Tony did what I expected him to do - carry on relentlessly from where he left off - except that half-way through, he second barrelled one target for a 25/74 - and that was all it took to decide the result.
After just the one round, I emerged as the Dougall Memorial DTL Champion, with Tony finishing in overall 2nd and 1st in Super Veterans, and Chris finishing in overall 3rd.
In the other results, Paul Chaplow won AA class after a four-way shoot-off against Jim Doherty, Paul Turner, and Andrew Young.
After one round, Paul and Jim were still tied with 25/74 each, so off they went again, Paul emerging as the victor with a 25/75 after Jim dropped another barrel for another 25/74.
A class was won outright by none other than Dave Sleeman who, like Chris, decided to dust himself off and make the long trip north from Cornwall to a major event, and then showed he's still got it by putting in a 100/297!
Chris Jones had a good day also, securing B class with a 100/299.
And, rounding out the class wins, Darren Crain surprised himself by shooting a 98/289 and winning C class by a 9 point margin!
Categories now, and in the Ladies, Emma Holden Hardy shot a 98/293 to add yet another win to her ever growing record.
But Lucy Hall wasn't far behind her.
Lucy was taking some time away from Olympic Trap this weekend, and showed she can still hammer away at DTL targets quite comfortably with a 99/290 and a 2nd place finish.
3rd in Ladies went to Caroline Whitehead with a 97/288.
With Cory taking the Juniors win with his 100/298, 2nd place went to Edward Armett (who was a force to be reckoned with during this year's England team qualification) on 98/294, and 3rd went to Iwan Mills who was only 1 point behind Ed on 98/293.
In Veterans, Edd Furber finished top with a 100/298, and Andrew Cameron, one of Australia's top DTL shooters and who was over visiting Paul Chaplow, finished 2nd by default after Tony Common was absent when called for the shoot-off (both men tied on 100/296).
There was no surprise to find out that Tony Dore finished top in Super Veterans with his 100/300, but David Baugh in 2nd (100/298) and Allan Henry in 3rd (100/297) weren't that far behind him.
Colts, and Joe Turner shot a 97/285 to secure the trophy, followed by Cameron MacKay from Scotland on 96/280, and Craig McKeown from Northern Ireland on 91/257.
Geoff Nutter was pleased as punch to win the Disabled Standing trophy with a 97/286, but he didn't have a lot of room to spare.
Craig Bebbington, a man who frankly amazes me after what he's been through (cancer treatment, considerable weight loss, and extensive surgery to his face requiring him to basically re-learn how to shoot from the opposite shoulder), shot a 96/285 and tied with Steve Kirby (98/285).
Then, he shot a 24/70 in the shoot-off to secure 2nd place in category, with Steve dropping to 3rd after shooting a 23/67.
Awesome work Craig, and very well shot.
In Disabled Sitting, Lorrie Greening continues to make the category her own, taking the win with a 96/284.
There were also Teams categories, Five Man and Two Man, with Team Hull (Paul Chaplow, Paul Turner, Curtis Woolley, Emma Holden Hardy, Marty Smith) winning the Five Man with 1474/1500, and Team Turner (Paul and Michael Turner) winning the Two Man again with 594/600.
Me with the Dougall trophy - I wasn’t allowed to bring the big one home, it’s far too valuable!
Sunday 11/6/23 - The English Open DTL
As soon as I smashed my last target in the shoot-off on the Saturday night, my first thought was, "Right - how can I get the English as well?"
I knew I was shooting well enough to do it - but I would still have to do everything right to pull off the double.
As expected, I didn't sleep at all that night, but having been in this situation before (though not for a few years - the last time was the Gamebore DTL Grand Prix 2017, Mid Wales, 100/300, 100/298, 100/300 over the three days) and having done quite a bit more travelling since then, I knew it was useless to get worked up about it.
So I just rested as best I could and turned up at the ground on the Sunday not fresh, but still with plenty left in the tank.
The big question was, could I leave the huge win of the day before behind (something that is very difficult to do)?
If I could, and put in another 100/300, I had a chance.
Anything less, and I would need to find seven four leaf clovers while the stars aligned.
The start was what I needed, a 25/75, and I was breaking them just as well as I had been the day before - except that I could sense the pressure to repeat the performance.
In round two, it happened - moving from peg 5 to peg 1, I made the mistake of moving my gun hold point slightly left of where it should have been without realising it.
Out of the trap came a hard left-hander, and I sent 56g of lead downrange only to miss it, twice.
If the gun had started about a foot or so to the right, the target was powder.
Instead it waved cheekily at me as it fell gracefully to earth.
And that was that - the Dougall win had tagged along anyway despite my best efforts to leave it behind, I'd cracked under pressure that was entirely self-inflicted (due to lack of experience with the situation), and my chance at holding both trophies was gone.
But now that the miss had happened, so was the pressure that caused it, and now I was absolutely determined to crush the rest of the targets and finish on 99/297, which I did.
That wasn't enough to trouble the prize fund though because there were no less than six 100/300s shot during the rest of the day - Jim Doherty (who shot at the same time as me in the morning), Andrew Cameron (building on his experience of yesterday), Chris Moule, Darren Bell, Alex Harris, and Michael Turner.
After the first round of shoot-offs, both Darren and Andrew were straight with 25/75 each, Chris had only dropped a single point (on 25/74), Michael had one miss and finished on 24/72, Alex was on 24/71 after a miss and one second barrel, and Jim finished last of the bunch with a miss and two barrels (24/70).
Andrew and Darren had to line up for another round.
Both men were shooting very well, and all Darren did was drop one point for a 25/74, and that was enough.
Andrew shot another perfect 25/75, giving him 50/150 in the shoot-off, and the win of the English Open DTL for 2023.
Darren was Overall Runner Up, Chris took overall third, and Michael was 1st in AA class.
In another instance of the underdogs coming out on top, Nick Haley had clearly found his mojo, and put in a personal best score of 100/299 to win A class outright.
Keith Blaney shot a 99/295 to secure the B class win, and perhaps the biggest surprise of all to those who know the results he has been getting recently came from Rod Greening.
Rod had some motivation - he wanted one of the prize guns provided by Browning for the highest in each class over the weekend - but even that wouldn't really explain how he managed to shoot a 99/296 and absolutely dominate C class by a 9 point margin!
He said to me since then that it was just one of those days - everything that he pointed at broke - but regardless of the reasons for it, it was still a great performance Rod!
In Ladies, Emma Holden Hardy (99/294) and Lucy Hall (100/294) continued their battle from the day before, though this time it would be settled properly with a shoot-off.
Emma once again showed how dominant she is in the Ladies category in DTL, emerging as the victor with a 25/73 to secure the trophy for, I believe, the 5th time.
Two targets got away from Lucy, giving her a 23/69 and 2nd in Ladies.
3rd in Ladies went to Ellie Whitehead with a 97/289.
Not only was Lucy shooting off for the Ladies title - at the same time, she was also contesting 2nd in Juniors.
Cody Brady continued his good form over the weekend and put in a 100/296 to top Juniors again, which left Cory Doble (99/294) and Lucy to decide 2nd and 3rd.
It was another clear result, with Cory blasting his way through a 25/74 and firmly stamping his hold on that 2nd spot.
Veterans was an extremely tight affair.
1st and 2nd were decided during the main shoot-off to sort out the six 100/300s, and those went to Andrew Cameron and Chris Moule respectively.
3rd place went to John Laverick who finished only 1 point behind the main group on 100/299.
Super Veterans was similarly close, and another all-South-West affair, with Richard Chapple taking 1st with 100/297, Rod Greening in 2nd with his 99/296, and Tony Dore only just behind him on 99/295 in 3rd.
1st in Colts was Joe Turner on 99/293, 2nd was Cameron McKay on 97/282, and in 3rd was Craig McKeown on 95/278.
In Disabled Standing, Geoff Nutter was on a roll and won it with a 292.
Stephen Kirby was 2nd with 289, and Stuart Dawson 3rd with 285.
Lorrie Greening put the cherry on the top of her successful weekend by winning the Disabled Sitting category again with a 96/286.
And there are still more trophy and category wins to mention!
Parent and Child - Marcus and Hamish Munro with a combined score of 583/600.
Grandparent trophy - Phil Morgan has won this on many occasions, but not this year, as it went to Chris Moule with his 100/300.
Womble trophy for family pairs - Alex and Connor Harris with a combined score of 597/600.
Then we have the 5 Man Team - and an outcome I did not expect!
During the Dougall the day before, Simon Ede asked me about putting in a 5 man team for the English Open, and on that morning, he entered himself, me, Chris Smyth, Barny Jackson, and Dave Sleeman as The Wombles - and we only went and scored 1467/1500 and won the category by 2 points!
A nice glass trophy for the 5 Man Team win.
That was extra special, because the team in 2nd were some real heavy hitters - Curtis Woolley, Paul Chaplow, Marty Smith, Emma Holden Hardy, and Paul Turner!
Also at the English Open are Inter-Region trophies, and the IR Seniors win went to the East Midlands (Stuart Whitehead, Paul Neal, Marty Smith, Lee Wilcoxson, Paul Meakin, Mark Shaw, Curtis Woolley, Geoff Howlett, Connor Harris, and Steve Janes) on 1485/1500 (top 5 scores to count).
IR Ladies winners were Emma Holden Hardy, Charlotte Kitchen, and Caroline Whitehead with 574/600.
IR Juniors went to the North Region - Cory Doble and Ellie Whitehead with 583/600.
IR Veterans rounded out the weekend South West show, with Richard Chapple, Tony Dore, and Gerrald Sweet bringing the win home with 592/600.
The Highest Cumbrian was Paul Cannon with 100/297.
High Gun over 2 days, and High Gun over 3 days both went to Jim Doherty with scores of 599/600, and 896/900 respectively - brilliant shooting Jim!
The Veteran High Gun over 2 days went to Andrew Cameron with 596/600.
In the North vs South team event (20 shooters, all scores to count), the North won with 4,182/6000 (I think this is right - the score on the results webpage doesn't seem right at 48,182 - that's well over 160 scores!! - and the official CPSA scores printout doesn't mention it at all).
And with that, my mammoth report on the Bywell weekend is done!
Well shot to everybody who took home a class or category prize from the three days, and to everyone involved in making my weekend so special.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - without everyone attending these competitions, there would be no events like this, and I'm really looking forward to next year when we not only have the English and Dougall weekend at Bywell next June, but also a full week of shooting with the Home International and British Open, European Championships, and World Championships there in July.
That raises the interesting question of how I'm going to afford it, but there's no doubt in my mind - I'm definitely going for the England DTL team again next year so I'll find a way!