Article

FITASC Sporting European Championships

championships

British shooters put on a fantastic display at the FITASC Sporting European Championships over the weekend.

Many of the country's top shots made the trip to France to compete in the competition, with a large number of them returning with medals.

In the main competition, Mark Winser shot 190 ex 200 to finish level with Frenchman Mattheiu Delmas at the top of the leaderboard, with Carl Bloxman and Nick Hendrick tied just one shot behind. Shoot offs were required to decide the top three places, Bloxham seeing off Hendrick 18-17 to take third place with Winser falling just short of his French opposition to finish second. Brett Winstanley, Steve Brightwell and Kevin Jobling also put in respectable showings to secure top ten places.

In the Ladies category there were no surprises as Cheryl Hall shot a superb 181 ex 200 to finish four clays clear of her nearest competitor and add another title to her already impressive collection. Pet Easton shot 166 to finish fifth whilst Lucy Pitt, fresh from winning the CPSA English Open Sporting Ladies title, secured 13th place. Sarah White also appeared at the top of the learboard, shooting 156 to finish 14th.

The Veterans and Super-Veterans leaderboards were dominated by British shooters. In the Veterans catergorym Carl Bloxham took gold, finishing three shots ahead of Steve Brightwell. Kevin Joblin finished fourth after shooting 184, two shots ahead of Martin Doughty and Nigel Hart tied for fifth, who in turn were one shot ahead of Graham Stirzaker and Chris Smith in joint seventh. Stephen Williams, Tony Manvell and John Price also breached the top 15. The Super-Veterans saw Colin Saich come out on top, after shooting 177 ex 200, with David Asher third, Barry Green fifth, David Hallett and Nicholas Williamson tied for sixth and Jay Neville ninth. Andrew Cooper and Andy Shore also made the top of the leaderboard, finishing 11th and 12th respectively.

The Juniors saw three shooters make their mark on the top 15. Joshua Brown shot 175 ex 200 to finish fourth, with Josh Bridges taking ninth place and Henry Young finishing in 13th. Young and Bridges also made up two-thirds of the Junior Team; Sam Ward was the third shooter as they claimed the silver medal.

The British Ladies Team of White, Easton and Becky Mckenzie also took second place with a combined total of 464, whilst Adrian Parkin-Coates, Jake Moore, Mark Stevenson and Andrew White were runners-up in the Senior category as well.

Steve Brightwell, Martin Doughty and Nigel Hart won the Veterans category by a massive 46 shots, with Asher, Michael Haw and Barry Green also topping the Super-Veterans category.

Our congratulations to all those who took part in the championship and played a role in these fantastic results.