SHOOTERS arriving at Braidwood for the last qualifying shoot of the winter series on Sunday were greeted by a warm and sunny day befitting the middle of July.
There’s no doubt that a beautiful day contributes to an all-round genial atmosphere. That, combined with some excellent targets, contributed to a high-scoring day.
Struan Brodie (Denholm) missed an overhead on his last stand, otherwise he’d have finished the trophy round on 39 ex-40. Nevertheless, his excellent 38 was sufficient to win the Gamekeeper Statue outright, George Brown (Cumbria), Rab Neil (North Berwick) and Gordon Boertien (Lockerbie) just one behind on 37.
Those aged 18 and under shot for the Junior Shield. Young Joe Davidson (Cockermouth), who has only recently started shooting with a 12-bore, broke 29 to lift his first Braidwood Trophy. Michael Nairn (Galashiels) was second, a mere two clays ahead of Ryan Stewart (Melrose) while 12-year-old Lewis Hislop (Selkirk) shot 18 in his first competitive event.
The second layout saw two guns tie the lead on 37. Jim Brodie (Denholm) and Kyle Smith (Dunbar) shared a four-clay advantage over the remaining guns, Dick McCallam (Cockermouth), John Crag (Edinburgh), Lindsay Gordon (Preston Pans) and Stuart Rankine (Jedburgh) all finishing on 33 with another eight shooters including layout one winner, Brodie Jnr, right up there on 32.
Brodie Junior may have taken the trophy from his father, but despite both he and Smith carding overall scores of 70 ex-80, once again Brodie Senior dug deep to win the day’s aggregate title with his total score of 72.
The next shoot, the club winter series shoot-off, is on Sunday, March 25, when Donald Livingston defends the title. He and Jim Brodie enter the 80-target event joint favourites with an average winter placing of 1.5.
David Bertram (Earlston) defends the Best of the Rest trophy the same day. Entries close at noon, all welcome.