Shoulder-to-Shoulder Catch Up

There's been a bit of a delay in getting these scores out to people.  Sorry for the wait.  Since the Sarisbury match, City has had a few further matches and we've now finished our the 2016-17 shoulder-to-shoulder season (which will also be our last season at the Hambrook St range).  Our performance was a bit of a mixed bag of results if we're honest but it's not without its highlights.  Here's how we did.

Havant A - 491 A. Morley (99) A. Perry (99) J. Alexander (98) J. Allsop (98) L. Hanna (95) M. Nevatte (97) M. Reynolds (95) T. Brown (99)

Portsmouth City - 485 A. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (99) I. Cooper (98) J. Rowe (95) T. Sommerville (96) R. Ashman (94) S. Hart (95)

It's fair to say that we were outmatched on this one.  We weren't quite able to get a full team together but congratulation to Havant for a very respectable winning score.  A small note of congratulations should also go to Tom Sommerville for his first counted-in score.

So by this point, we'd shot 10 matches and lost 4.  I wish I could say we turned it around after this, but there was one more defeat to come...

This time we really were reduced in numbers and could only muster a team of 6.  It was a close match... but didn't go our way.

Portsmouth Railway - 484 J. Ring (98) M. Carter (92) C. Coles (99) C. Richards (96) N. Toms (96) N. Perman (95) K. Hardyman (95)

Portsmouth City - 482 I. Cooper (98) A. Nevatte (94) G. Scruton (96) J. Rowe (97) P. Upchurch (91) S. Hart (97)

So where our defeat against Sarisbury meant we had to say goodbye to any hopes we had for winning the championship this year, these defeats against Havant and Railway meant we had to say goodbye to achieving runner-up, as we had last year.

Thankfully, the news gets better for City from here.

Portsmouth City - 484 I. Cooper (99) A. Nevatte (93) L. Haskett (96) P. Upchurch (90) S. Hart (98) J. Rowe (98) R. Ashman (89) T. Sommerville (88)

West Meon A - 480 G. Stone (89) P. Hannington (95) M. Atkins (95) G. Dixon (92) A. Smith (100) D. Corbett (98)

So we got back on the winning track but congratulations need to go to A. Smith of West Meon for his ton.

Wickham had started very strong this season but, like City, had encountered a slump mid-season.  This was a home match for City, so we had the advantage and thankfully, we pressed it.

Portsmouth City - 491 J. Rowe (99) A. Nevatte (99) I. Cooper (99) G. Scruton (98) S. Hart (95) P. Upchurch (90) L. Haskett (96)

Wickham A - 483 R. Long (95) T. Malleson (97) T. Caister (98) S. Dismore (98) M. Barnes (93) J. Willsher (95)

A very strong showing from many of the team.  No tonnes, but those 99s are nothing to be sniffed at.  Our final match was against HMS Excellent and while our record against them is good, City had lost its last two away matches.

HMS Excellent A - 474 J. Atkins (97) T. Dugan (93) W. Dugan (96) I. Andrews (90) T. Thompson (93) E. Metcalfe (93) I. Thomson (95)

Portsmouth City - 487 G. Scruton (100) A. Nevatte (95) J. Rowe (100) I. Cooper (95) M. Simmons (92) R. Ashman (94) P. Upchurch (93) S. Hart (97)

So Portsmouth City finished the season on a high note!  Congratulations to G, Scruton and J. Rowe on their tonnes, especially to Jonny, for whom this was his first Portsmouth & District shoulder-to-shoulder ton!

So here were the overall stats for Portsmouth City's 2016-17 season:

9 wins, 5 losses (last season was 11 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses)

Team Average: 487.1 (last season was 486.7)
See all the results here.

Further results to come...

City vs Chichester (Mid Season Report)

Thursday evening saw Portsmouth City's final match before the shoulder-to-shoulder season breaks for Christmas and New Year.  This was actually the home match against Chichester that was supposed to start our season but due to bad traffic conditions had to be rescheduled.  Here's how the shooting went:

Portsmouth City - 486 I. Cooper (96) J. Rowe (96) S. Hart (98) L. Haskett (92) G. Scruton (99) A. Nevatte (95) P. Upchurch (97) T. Sommerville (92)

Chichester - 469 W. Williamson (91) K. Tulloch (90) J. Peart (98) C. Wade (89) S. Jenkins (94) N. Logan (92) G. Hawker (89) N. Hayward (94)

City's score of 486 was sufficient to win the match and although it continues to nudge our season average down, now standing at 487.3, this is an improvement on our mid-season average last year of 486.7.  Both clubs managed to field a complete team of eight and we look forward to facing Chichester again on their own range in 2017.

So we are now at the mid-point of the 2016/17 season.  City has 10 championship points: 5 wins, 2 losses.  In 2017, we'll face every team again and in face of stiff competition from Wickham, Sarisbury and Havant, we'll need to make sure we win every match to be in with a chance of winning the cup this year.

The 2016 Summer Report, pt 3: Indoor Shooting Postal Leagues

Hampshire Indoor Summer Postal League

Last year, Portsmouth City’s A Team was very pleased to win Division 1 of the summer postal league. We would have been similarly pleased to defend our title this summer but had to settle for 3rd place this year – well done to Windsor Rifle Club and Fareham Rifle Club’s A teams for coming 1st and 2nd respectively. The upside of this competition was that we still beat Sarisbury (which doesn’t happen very often)!

Unfortunately, the summer postal leagues are never as well subscribed as the winter leagues, leaving fewer divisions and therefore meaning that teams of a wide range of ability are forced to compete against each other. This was the case for Portsmouth City’s B team - M. McCormick, D. Reeves, T. Rowe and D. Herron (with T. Sommerville very kindly subbing in for one round) - but these shooters should hold their heads up high that they competed, got all their cards shot, and all improved their shooting as is reflected by their improved averages of the second half of the season, compared with the first.

In the individual postal competition, G. Scruton won Div 2.

Dave Reeves was also very pleased to win a Moore Memorial Trophy for his performance in Class D!

Portsmouth & District Indoor Summer Postal League

The individual postal summer league finished only a few weeks ago with some of our shooters achieving very respectable places:

Ian Cooper (Runner Up, Div 1)

Jonathan Rowe (Runner Up, Div 3)

Tamsin Rowe (Runner Up, Div 9)

David Owen (3rd place, Div 10)

Eastern Region Summer League

A number of Portsmouth City shooters managed to achieve respectable scores despite not necessarily achieving a particularly high place in the division.  One notable exception to this was Tom Sommerville and Matt Simmons, who came 1st and 3rd respectively in Division 12.

Newmarket & District Short Range Open Postal

The Newmarket shoot is a short 4-card competition that happens between February and May (yes,  a little bit before summer technically, sorry) and this year Portsmouth City had 11 people competing.  The club was very proud to have a number of their shooters placed in this competition.  Gordon Scruton won the B Class and there was success further down the classifications as well.

Tom Sommerville & Tamsin Rowe both newcomers to the sport and with less than a year of experience under their belts, showed that there is certainly some raw talent that the Portsmouth City team will be looking to develop and capitalise on over the next few years.  Tamsin won the E Class with a very respectable score of 369 (out of 400), beating Tom, who came runner up, by only one point!

Tom Sommerville & Tamsin Rowe (or Mr Somerville and Tasmin as their certificates would have you believe!)

Tamsin also came Runner Up in the C/D/E class ladies' competition, meanwhile Gordon and Jonny came Runners Up in the A/B pairs competition.

One last thing that happened over the summer was a personal achievement and one that a shooter never really forgets - Lauren Haskett, now using a new jacket equal to her abilities, got her first ton!  Well done, Lauren, may it be the first of many.

The 2016 Summer Report, pt 2: Shooting Outdoors

The Hampshire Long Range Open Meeting

In preparation for the ELEY finals at Bisley (see part 1) a number of our shooters were keen to get a bit of outdoor practice in beforehand.  As a result, a few of us went up to Andover Rifle Club to enjoy a fine day of shooting on their outdoor range.

This was a Double Dewar match, meaning two cards shot at 50m and two cards at 100yds.  Each card has a maximum of 200 points on it, so final scores are out of 800.  The shooting is a little different from the standard indoor shooting, which we do at 25yds; the targets are further away but they are also bigger, and therefore because they are bigger, we can shoot more than one competition shot into each target.

Let's compare:

A standard 25-yds indoor 10-bull (the shots have been coloured red to make them clearer in these pictures).

Zoom in on the 25-yd card and you see that there is only one competition shot per target.

A shot 50m outdoor card.  Only 4 competition targets.

Zoom in on one of the targets and you can clearly see 5 competition shots

A shot 100-yds card with two competition targets.

Zoom in on one of the 100 yds targets and you will see 10 competition shots.

So the upside of outdoor shooting is that there is less moving around from one target to the next.  The difficulty lies in changing light and wind conditions.

Matt Simmons, Jonathan Rowe, and Tamsin Rowe, all shooting at 100 yards for the first time!

Owing to the fact that none of us shoot particularly regularly outdoors, this match represented a steep learning curve for those of us for whom this outdoor shooting was all new and those more experienced of us who had to remember what we were supposed to be doing.  It was a great competition that presented Tamsin and Matt with their first outdoor experience, and Jonny with his first 100 yds experience.  None of us did astoundingly well, except perhaps Tamsin, who proudly took away the Phyllis Green Trophy (top lady in C/D class).

Well done, Tamsin!

The Bisley Weekend Aggregate

A couple of City shooters, Gordon Scruton and Jonathan Rowe, decided to not just do the ELEY final but go up and do the whole weekend aggregate of the annual Bisley meeting.  This involved three cards at 50m and three cards at 100 yds, making a sum-total of 120 competition shots (thus 1,200 points in total).  This was an awful lot of fun and we'd encourage as many of you as possible to set aside the weekend next year to join us.  There was camping involved, BBQing and lots of the infamous 'Bisley wind' to throw the shots off.

Particular highlights in the shooting over the weekend were Jonny's high placing in C Class at 50m and, to a lesser extent, Gordon's placement in A Class for his 50m.

The Dacorum Open Handicap Shoot

A little time after Bisley weekend, a few more shooters decided to go up to Buckinghamshire for a handicap shoot, this handicap was based on a shooter's declared average.  Much like handicaps in golf, this is a way for shooters with different levels of skill to enjoyably compete against each other.  This competition marked a couple more firsts for Portsmouth City shooters - for Mike McCormick it marked his first time shooting at 100 yards, and for Tom Sommerville it was his first outdoor shoot entirely.

Mike and Tom shooting on the 50m range.

No significant wins in this competition but it was a great, if slightly drizzly day and a fun time was had by all!

Havant's Final Fling 'Scottish Match'

This annual competition marks one of the last competitions of the outdoor summer season.  A Scottish match is one that is only at 100 yards, and in this case was 60 competition shots.  Portsmouth shooters, Ian Cooper and Gordon Scruton took part in this competition, both in A Class, and while neither got close to winning the class (well done to Cliff Richards of Havant for that) it was pretty close between the two of them.

That's the end of the outdoor round up, but the next part of this summer report will look at the indoor postal leagues.

The 2016 Summer Report, pt 1: The ELEY Final

It will not have escaped the notice of some of you that it has been some time since I’ve contributed to this blog – many apologies. Here’s a summary of how the club and its shooters have been doing over the summer:

Portsmouth City was proud to send 5 shooters to the NSRA/ELEY final this year. This was an excellent number to get to the 50m outdoor final from a total of 12 shooters who took part in the competition. For J. Rowe and M. McCormick, this competition was about besting their scores and standing compared to last year, while at the same time being in higher, more competitive divisions. While for the ladies, this was L. Haskett and T. Rowe’s first time shooting in these finals and thus their first experience of the infamous wind on the Century Range.

Here’s how everybody did:

G. Scruton (191, 188 – 379), Class A: 20th place

J. Rowe (192, 186 – 378), Class C: 4th place (achieved 4th place in Class E last year: 185, 192 - 377)

L. Haskett (189, 185 – 374), Class E: 2nd place

M. McCormick (177, 179 – 356), Class E: 7th place (achieved 9th place in Class F last year: 170, 182 - 353)

T. Rowe (179, 177 – 356), Class F: 9th place

So overall it was a great Sunday afternoon of shooting for Portsmouth City.  The next post will stay outdoors and review some of the other 50m and 100yd matches that City shooters have taken part in over the summer.

City vs Sarisbury: The Highest Scoring Match in Recent League History!

This evening was the away match at Sarisbury and it was a night of superlatives.

The last match of the year.

The first possible (100) from a City shooter this season.

The highest team score of the season so far.

The highest scoring match in the Portsmouth & District League for at least the last three seasons.

Unfortunately, it was also:

The first possibles scored against City this season, and...

The first City loss of the season.

Here were the scores:

Sarisbury - 495 T. Gleed (100) M. Guille (98) P. Pearce (98) M. Frost (94) M. Holdway (99) G. Barber (97) P. Fitzsimmons (100) D. Cleeve (96)

Portsmouth City - 492 I. Cooper (97) M. Nevatte (98) A. Nevatte (98) P. Upchurch (94) G. Scruton (100) L. Haskett (93) S. Hart (98) R. Ashman (98)

So this was a high scoring match that saw City rise to the occasion admirably.  Our team average is now 486.6 and the team score of 492 solidly bests our previous best this season of 489 and is the best team score we've had for at least the last three years!

However, Sarisbury ain't the reigning league champions for nothing, folks!  Many congratulations to them for also shooting their highest score of the season so far and their highest scores for the last three seasons as well!

Special congratulations to T. Gleed, P. Fitzsimmons and G. Scruton for their possibles.

Mid-Season Report

Portsmouth City has shot 7 of its 14 matches of the Portsmouth & District 2015/16 shoulder-to-shoulder season.  So far we've had 6 wins and 1 loss and our current team average is 486.6.

(483) Portsmouth City vs Havant (480)

Win (see results)
(481) Portsmouth City vs Fareham (473)
Win (see results)

(487) Portsmouth City vs Chichester (465)

Win (see results)

(481) West Meon vs Portsmouth City (487)
Win (see results)

(487) Portsmouth City vs Portsmouth Railway (482)

Win (see results)
(483) Wickham vs Portsmouth City (489)
Win (see results)
(495) Sarisbury vs Portsmouth City (492)
Loss (see results)

Best shoulder-to-shoulder averages so far are:

1st: Ian Cooper (97.57)

2nd: Marian Nevatte (97.29)

3rd: Sarah Hart & Gordon Scruton (97.17)

City wins during the Summer Season!

Now that all the scores are in from the various competitions that Portsmouth City shooters were taking part in over the summer, here is how we did!

Hampshire Indoor Summer Postal League

A Team

Winners Division 1

(Ian Cooper, Adam Nevatte, Marian Nevatte, Gordon Scruton) 

B Team

Runners Up Div 3

(Mike McCormick, Dave Reeves, Jonny Rowe, Phil Upchurch)

Portsmouth & District Indoor Summer Postal League

A lot of shooters also took part in individual competitions over the summer and for some of them it was their first competition experience.  In the P&D indoor postal league, special congratulations go to Ian for winning his division, and to Gordon, Jonny, and Mike for coming runner up in their respective divisions.

Gordon Scruton

Runner Up Div 1

Ian Cooper

Winner Div 2

Phil Upchurch

3rd Place Div 5

Lou Stafford

10th Place Div 5

Jonny Rowe

Runner Up Div 6

Adrian Fallows

7th Place Div 8

Mike McCormick

Runner Up Div 10

Dave Reeves

5th Place Div 10

Civil Service Indoor Summer Postal League

The Civil Service indoor postal leagues provided the first match experience for George, Mark, Paul, Mike Carpenter, Dave Allen, and Dan.  Well done to all of them for completing their first shooting competition.  Special congratulations go to Phil, Jonny, Mike Hellyer, Paul and David Owen for winning their divisions.

Gordon Scruton

3rd Place Div 1 

Phil Upchurch 

Winner Div 7 

Jonny Rowe 

Winner Div 10 

Stephanie Furness-Barr 

Runner Up Div 11 

4th Place Ladies’ Div 1 

Mike McCormick 

Runner Up Div 16 

Dave Reeves 

Runner Up Div 10 

Mike Hellyer 

Winner Div 19 

George Herron 

Runner Up Div 19 

Mark Lipsham 

4th Place Div 19 

Paul Scrivens 

Winner Div 20 

Adrian Fallows 

Runner Up Div 20 

Mike Carpenter 

3rd Place Div 20 

Dave Allen 

4th Place Div 20 

David Owen 

Winner Div 21 

Dan Carpenter 

Runner Up Div 21

Eastern Region Summer League

Gordon Scruton

Runner Up Div 2

Jonny Rowe

Winner Div 7

Dave Reeves

Runner Up Div 11