The Kellands Cup 2024 – North Cornwall Shooting Ground 21/6/24 - 22/6/24
Page 1 of the day 2 scoreboard. Day 1 scores are written in orange in the far right column.
Page 2 of the day 2 scoreboard. Day 1 scores are written in orange in the far right column.
This year, the Kellands Cup has been a cracking event with all the drama of a big shoot packaged into a slick, tightly run local weekender.
60 shooters battled it out over 2 days for a chunky prize fund. Class prizes were up for grabs each day, as well as combined prizes and cartridges to go with the smart set of class and High Gun trophies, awarded to the highest 2 day combined scores in each class and overall.
The Kellands trophies and cartridges for the winners. (Not sure what the can of Pepsi is awarded for…)
The conditions were a bit tricky, but otherwise very good and amazingly consistent (for North Cornwall that is!). A breeze from the West lifted the targets (some a bit more than others), while sunny spells helped to make them stand out against the clouds and warmed us up at the same time.
Day 1 set the stage for a showdown.
Both Nick Shadrick and Chris Smyth showed the rest of us the way, Nick finishing on 98/294 and Chris on 98/293, giving Nick an overnight lead of just 1 point. The rest of the field were a little behind, with the Welsh duo of Mark Williams (98/288) and the indomitable Phil Morgan (98/286) leading the chasing pack.
With the conditions on day 2 set to be a trifle better (but still a challenge), there was still plenty of room for an upset or two.
Nick and Chris both dropped targets early, and struggled to find the form of the day before. Inconsistency plagued them all day, giving the rest of us a chance to make some headway into their lead.
Phil Morgan set to work. Although he also dropped a target in round 1, he shot the next two rounds straight with only 2 second barrels, and was on 74/220 after three rounds.
Myself and Gary Burton, who both shot a ropey score on day 1, sorted ourselves out overnight and walked out to do battle with the targets. I was hitting them fairly hard, but I think Gary gets the plaudits for best smoke clouds (I said to him he should be disqualified for smoking too much!).
Gary about to turn another target into powder.
He was absolutely on fire, smashing everything and giving even the smallest of pieces left the second barrel for good measure. After three rounds he was on 75/221, and showing no signs of letting up.
Barny Jackson also found his mojo and joined in the chase, keeping Gary company at the top of the day 2 scores on 74/221 after his third round.
As is the case so often in shooting, the competition came down to the last 25 targets.
Gary and I kept hammering away. Both of us shot 100 straights (his was a 295 and mine was a 294), and amazingly we ended up dead equal after 2 days! Our day 1 scores did too much damage to our combined scores to challenge for any trophies, but we still ended up sharing 5th place overall.
Another Welsh visitor, Alan Williams, also finished his weekend in style with the third and last 100 straight of the 2 days, a 100/292.
Phil’s and Barny’s efforts were paying dividends. Nick and Chris continued to struggle (although Nick did enough to stay in combined 1st place), and with 1 round to go, Phil had just 1 point to play with.
Everyone expected him to go the distance and pinch the win, but a whole target got away from him and left Nick out in front as Kellands Cup Champion for 2024.
But that wasn’t the end of Phil’s day. Barny had kept his foot on the gas and plugged away to top the day 2 scoreboard with a 99/296. Phil’s miss set up a shoot-off to decide who would walk away with the AA class trophy.
Barny (bringing his gun up) and Phil in the shoot-off, with everyone watching the contest.
With one peg left for both men, and both a whole target down, Barny slightly rushed his last target and second-barrelled it. Phil typically smoked his, which meant he finished the weekend as Kellands AA Class winner.
Well shot chaps, to everyone else who collected a prize from either Saturday or Sunday, including those lucky enough to be drawn in the Lucky Numbers shoot-offs, and of course those who finished 1st in their classes over the 2 days. Each trophy winner also took home 250 Eley Gold cartridges in addition to the prize money, and as Kellands Champion, Nick had a double helping of 500 Eley Golds.
The list of class winners over the 2 days. Top group is AA, then A, B, and then C at the bottom.
The prizegiving, with MC Ede doing his stuff.
Somebody’s won something - can’t remember who or what!
The winners get the glory, but the shoot couldn’t possibly have happened without the people behind it all.
Tim Hill from Kellands provided almost all the prize money, and paid for everyone’s food and drink (provided by Vic’s Catering Van) for the entire event. (I jokingly told him he was mad, but got the straight faced reply, “You have to support these things.”)
Simon, Andy, and Albert put in a brilliant shift, keeping the traps filled and running, and making sure everyone was where they needed to be to keep the squads ticking through. All the shooting was done and dusted by 3:30 pm both days, which shows what can be achieved with 60 shooters on a ground with three layouts.
And last but by no means least, the girls who did a fantastic job of looking after the scorecards and scoreboard in the office. Without them, the whole thing would have taken twice as long!
On a personal note, I’m rather relieved to shoot a biggish score again. Next week, there’s a Devon DTL Team Selection Shoot at Bradford, and after that, I head North to Bywell once again.
This time though it’s for England team duty against the best in the world, and I’ll need all of my shooting ability for that!
My Day 1 scorecard - not good reading!
My Day 2 scorecard - much more like it!