New season! Training for 2016 ISSF season is well under way!

The new year is a great time for doing a check-in with yourself to reflect on the previous year and get set for the current year. 2015 was an exciting time being a pre-Olympic year and being able to compete at the Pan Am Games in Toronto Canada and to have also competed in South Korea and Germany.

This new year has gotten off to a great start -- unlike the speed at which I post here.. ;)

I'm a couple weeks into my 2016 training plan after taking the month of December off. I visited family, moved, and have been focused on making sure I'm on the right track going into the 2016 ISSF World Cup season.

My current plan is to compete at the World Cups hosted in Bangkok, Rio, and Munich as well as competing at the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix (April) and Canadian Nationals (TBD). I'm looking forward to all 5 of those competitions especially Rio which will be the pre-Olympic event held at the Rio 2016 shooting venue.

Canada has not been able to secure a quota spot in any men's pistol events since 1996! Time to change that!

The last Rio 2016 opportunity to secure a quota spot for Team Canada was at the Pan American Games last Summer. For me, it's all about the next 4 years and I have my sights set on Tokyo 2020!

This year I will be focused on the 50m Olympic style shooting event. It's one of the most difficult precision pistol events going back to the 19th century. Shooting has been an Olympic sport since the 1896 Olympics in Athens! The 50m event has had very few changes over the last century and it's only 1 of 2 shooting events whose targets have never changed -- most targets in other shooting events have been reduced in size over time to make it more difficult.

As a software developer, I'm always looking for ways I can leverage those skills to improve my shooting and currently I've tapped into some video game technology to study my movements, timing, follow through. Here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on:

Hacking code to get to Tokyo 2020!

Keep in touch here or find me (@alharding) on Twitter and Instagram and I can be found on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/allanharding

Finished as top Canadian at 2015 Canadian Grand Prix

Finals just finished at the 33rd annual Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in Toronto and I finished as the top Canadian in the men's 10m event. Great shooting from Team Chile!

I had a slow start on day 1 of the competition but really settled in this afternoon to make it into Finals.

Next up is a small break for a couple work trips then it'll be time to get back into training for the Pan Am Games team selection.

Competing at the 2015 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix

2015 is here! I've been busy getting my training and competition calendar for 2015 all planned out and am excited to be competing in a couple weeks in Toronto.

This is the 33rd year that this international airgun event has been hosted and is the largest airgun competition in North America. Details of the event can be found here, here, and here. ;)

I'll be arriving in Toronto on Feb 5th!

Tied my PR at the 2014 CAGP!

I'm back from Toronto where I was competing at the 2014 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix and pretty happy with how I've started 2014.

Normally I'd fly into this event on Thursday to give myself a full day before competing but with a busy work schedule and everything I cut my trip down by a day. I literally got off the plane and went straight to the venue and got in some pre-event training.

I had a tough time getting to sleep at a decent time thanks to the 3 hr time zone change. I think all in all I got maybe 4 hrs of sleep before shooting at 8am (5am to what I'm used to). My first of two matches went really well with my 60 shot series going 94, 94, 94, 95, 97, and ending with a 97 for a personal record tie of 571/600 -- which was the highest 10m men's score shot over the weekend! I shot a 571 in 2011 when I was here at the same event.

Team BC took 1st place and I took the Gold in the Master class

After shooting my 571 I spent the rest of the day in a High Performance Rifle and Pistol Clinic which was really useful and packed with lots of information. The main takeaways for me were from Dr. Kristine Dalton and her team from the The University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science. Vision in shooting sports are crucial and she covered topics such as ocular dominance, tear film quality, and vernier acuity. Awesome. Other great sessions were Dr. Demetry Assimakopoulos and Dr. Ceara Higgins on injury prevention and athletic performance (with Olympian Avianna Chao), Olympian Sharon Bowes on training at your best, Lou Pino talking about mindfulness training and the InteraXon Muse, and Steve Hunt, on developing consistency in performance.

My second day score was 558 which put me in first place after the two qualification matches. I ran into issues during the Finals which I should have prepared better for. Lesson here is to make sure you're current on rule amendments and find out from the officials if they're going to be following them. Important!

Our BC Team, consisting of Thomas Logan, John Berta, and me took 1st place!

Next up in the month of March is the BC Championships, City of Calgary Championships, and then the first stop on the 2014 ISSF World Cup tour in Fort Benning!

Complete results from 2013 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix

Here are the complete results from the 2013 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix that was held in Toronto.

In my last post I forgot to mention Team BC won the bronze in the team event!

Good way to start 2013

It was great to be in Toronto again and to see shooting friends from across Canada at the Canadian Grand Prix. I arrived Thursday night wearing multiple layers expecting it to be cold... it was! -13 ºC at times (8.6 ºF). I didn't go out too much although Team BC did venture out in the cold to walk about a half mile to a restaurant. It was pretty much one of those 'in the snow uphill both ways' kind of things. Haha.. The wind and wet snow didn't help but it was good to get out of the hotel for a bit.

Saturday I shot a 562/600 and right near the end of the relay I was on the power went out in the entire building. Elevators were on emergency power and it was pretty much pitch black except for a few emergency lights. Later that night the fire alarm went off in the hotel around 10pm. Twice!

Sunday my combined score of 562 and 558 got me into 7th position going into Finals in a field of 58. The main highlight of Finals was the fight for 1st place between Roger Daniel from Trinidad and Anthony Munoz Choez from Ecuador who were tied for 1st place. Roger Daniel, who has been to the last 3 Olympics had an amazing Final and finished in 1st. Experience definitely coming into play.

I'm off to Ottawa for a couple days then back to Vancouver to get ready for the BC Championships.

Will be at the Canadian Grand Prix in Feb - Toronto

Happy New'ish Year!

Been a couple months since any new posts so here goes the first one for 2013.

Only a couple weeks until the largest indoor 10m shooting event in North America. More details about the event can be found on the CAGP Facebook page. I'll be arriving on the 14th and spending the weekend there and then heading over to Ottawa on Monday for a couple days.

The event organizers announced awhile back that it wouldn't be using the 2013-2016 ISSF rules changes which I'm sort of happy about as I haven't completely bought into them yet, but I guess I'll need to at some point. ;)

A couple weeks after this match, will be the BC Championships, then I'm taking part of March off. Yes!

2012 BC Airgun Champion!

The BC Airgun Championships were this weekend in Richmond, BC and I became Provincial Champion with scores of 556/600, 562/600, and 565/600. I'm still sorting out some issues with my gun's grip and it seems like I need to tighten the screws on the grip about every 10 shots or so.

New grip has been ordered anyway! :) Should arrive in April giving me a few weeks to train with it before the World Cup in Milan, Italy this coming May.

Also, before I forget here is a photo of our BC Team at the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix last weekend in Toronto wearing our awesome new BCTSA sponsored jackets:

(L-R) John Lublinkhof, Jessie Lublinkhof, Mathew Klein,
John Berta, Edmond Lee, Al Harding

I finished in 4th at the Grand Prix, which was a decent result considering I was dealing with technical difficulties.

Afternoon gun repairs

I'm in Toronto at the 2012 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix and had a 'everything that can go wrong will' type morning. My new batteries in my grip for my electronic trigger gave out after my 3rd shot so I had to get the screwdriver out and replace the batteries...good thing I pack spares! ;)

Several shots after starting my competition the electronic target carrier hooked on to the front sight of my gun and carried it about 4 feet down range before swinging off and crashing back down to the floor. No good comes from watching a highly technical precision crafted piece of machinery falling several feet. *cringe* ...disastrous. =/

It all happened in a split second...I press the button for the target carrier to go down range, it stutters a bit, swings over and hooks my front sight and drags it off the table. The next second is filled with not being able to do anything and a slow motion, "Noooooooooooooo". I finished the match as best as I could but was way off my average as I wrestled with some tools on the firing line to get things fixed.

Grip off to check for damage

I spent a couple hours with the grip off clearing out the broken wood chips from inside the gun. I'll most likely need to get a new grip.

On a positive note, it looks like our BC team is currently in 1st place. I'll get some photos of the BC Team with our awesome BC Target Sports sponsored jackets.

Back to making some minor adjustments to the gun.

2012 National Dev Team... time to step up!

I made the 2012 National Development Team! Yes!

Busy next few months...

February 11-12
I'll be taking my Level 1 Technical of the NCCP Coaching Course. I took the A+B components last year and now an opportunity to take the Level 1 Technical has come up so I'm going to do it. Details are available on the BCTSA website.

February 23-27
Going to Toronto, Ontario for the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix -- North America's biggest ISSF air gun competition. HUGE THANK YOU to BC Target Sports for funding assistance to attend!

Last year I finished as the top Canadian shooter, this year I plan to beat my scores from last year.

March 2-4
A couple weeks later I'll be attending the BC Airgun Championships in Richmond, BC. If you're planning to shoot make sure you register early -- Forms are on the BCTSA website! If you're interested in what this sport is all about, feel free to stop by and watch.

...and then I'll be going overseas to one of the ISSF World Cup competitions this year!

Going to the 2012 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in Feb

2012 is here! It's been awhile since posting up an update. I'm getting caught up on a few things after a busy last few months.

My next shooting competition will be the 2012 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in Toronto Canada on February 24-26. Event details can be found here and on the events Facebook page.

More details to come!

2011 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix Results

Here are the complete results for the 2011 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix.

2011 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix Results

Finished as Top Canadian

After my new high score of 571 / 600 on Saturday I shot a 567 / 600 for a combined score of 1138. This put me in 2nd behind Trinidad and Tobago's Roger Daniel who shot 574 and 577 for a combined score of 1151. Roger's score put him 13 points ahead of me going into Finals, which is too far ahead to be able to catch up.

I'm pretty happy with my results this weekend finishing as the top Canadian shooter and second to Roger who has been to the last two Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing.

Next up for me are the BC Airgun Championships being held near Vancouver on March 4 - 6, 2011.

New personal best in 10M Pistol

I arrived in Toronto late Thursday to some light snow and cold weather. Really cold compared to Vancouver. ;)

Today's weather:
Toronto: -15°C
Vancouver: 7°C

The nice thing about the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix is it's shot in the conference area of the hotel so there isn't much need to go outside.

I shot this morning on Relay 3 position 23 and got into a good rhythm and shot my way to a new personal best of 571 / 600. That's 95.17% and a healthy 8 points ahead of the Olympic Minimum Qualification Score of 563 / 600. A solid improvement over my 2010 average of the low 560s (93.50%).

Here is how my scores break down:

Started out slow but around the 6th shot I started to get my shots closer to the 10 ring. Between shots 39 and 59 I shot 17 10's (including ten 10's in a row between shots 39 and 48).

This score currently puts me in the lead, but there are still quite a few shooters left to shoot today including shooters from USA and a team from Trinidad.

I shoot again tomorrow morning at 8am EST and then Men's 10M Finals are scheduled for the afternoon.

More updates to come!

Finally made the switch to air... no more CO2

I finally retired my CO₂ Steyr LP 10 and have picked up a Steyr LP 10E. I had that last Steyr LP 10 since 2001 and it replaced my Walther CP3 Match-MV which I had for over a decade before that. Classic!

There are quite a few technical changes from the last decade that have gone into the latest LP 10 iteration which are new for me. For starters there is the change from CO₂ to compressed air, the 8 duct compensator, the electronic trigger, and the ball bearing trigger.

I've started to train with the new LP 10E and getting the sights and trigger setup to something similar to my last LP 10. The electronic trigger is smoooooth! I've tried out electronic triggers in the past but until this year was always all about the mechanical triggers. This Summer at Nationals, when I tried out the new Steyr LP 10E from Air Guns Plus!, I was convinced it was time to switch to electronic.

My first competition with the Steyr LP 10E will be at the 2011 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in Toronto, Canada on January 21, 22 and 23, 2011.

Canadian Airgun Grand Prix -- January 2011

The 2011 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix will be held January 21-23, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. Complete details are available here:

• Grand Prix Flyer 2011 English Page 1.pdf
  
• Grand Prix Flyer 2011 English Page 2.pdf
  

This is one of the best shooting matches in Canada... see you there!

Finished 4th overall at 2010 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix

This will be a quick update... finished 4th overall at the 2010 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix -- one of my best finishes at this annual match. My scores for the weekend were 560/600 on Saturday and 560/600 on Sunday. Full scores are available here.
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I'll be at the 2010 BC Airgun Championships March 6-8.. details can be found at the BC Target Sports Association website. There are still a few positions open if you haven't registered yet.

6 points off the leader after Relay 1

I finished today with a 560/600, a little lower than my recent practice scores. Took me a little while to get settled into a groove. That's something I'll be working on more over the next few weeks going into the BC Airgun Championships next month.

My 3rd set of 10 shots though was a solid group and I got into a good flow.

tyler johnson snapped this photo of me between shots

I shoot again tomorrow morning, then Finals will be held in the early afternoon.

Arrived in Toronto

I left Vancouver early Friday morning and arrived in Toronto around 2:45pm local time that afternoon.



It's definitely a lot colder here than in Vancouver! Good thing I brought along my Olympic 2010 Mittens. ;)



I compete 12:30pm on Saturday and at 10:15 on Sunday and will post up details later.

Flying out to Toronto tomorrow morning

I'm all packed and ready to go to the 2010 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix held in Toronto, Canada this weekend. Leaving first thing tomorrow morning and getting in to Toronto around 2:30pm local time. Then off to practice, make sure our BC Team gets signed, and get ready for the competition the next morning.

I'm flying back Sunday evening and coming home to Vancouver to get back to more of this:

robson st in downtown vancouver. GO CANADA GO!

:)