562 / 600 - 3rd place finish at Hibernation Match

The competition is now over and I shot the following scores 555/600, 556/600, and a 562/600 today. The combined score was enough to put me in 3rd place in the Master class and the top pistol shooter from British Columbia. Some excellent competition flew out West to attend this match. Stan Wills from Alberta placed 1st, Jesse Olsen who is originally from Burnaby, BC flew in from Saskatchewan and placed 2nd. Jesse recently returned to Canada after attending the Military World Games in India a few weeks ago.

The big story from the pistol side of the competition was with the junior men shooters. Matthew Hendry (Saskatchewan) and Tyler Johnson (British Columbia) who broke records at the Canada Winter Games did very well at this competition. Matthew Hendry was the overall Match Winner beating all of the Master class. I'm looking forward to seeing how he progresses... at 17 he's going to be one to watch. Tyler Johnson shot a new personal best of 568/600 which is a new BC Junior record. Nicely done! That score betters my 566/600 record I set in 1993 and tied again in 1995. The BC Men's Air Pistol Record is 578/600 set by Arno Baron in 2000. I've got more work to do. ;) Earlier this year at the 2007 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix a BC team record I set 12+ yrs ago was also broken by a few points. This is great to see!

I'm definitely pleased with my own progress this far, considering I've only been back at it for 6 months (after 12 yrs away from the sport) and I'm only 4 points off my Junior personal best.

The competition season for me is finished until February 2008 when I travel to Toronto for the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix. I'll be back to training after a short break later this month and will finally get around to making some of the updates I've been working on. I'll also try and get the rest of the match results posted.

A quick shout out to British Columbia Target Sports Association.