Back at it! - Team Gold in the Netherlands

Reflecting on the recent international shooting competition in the Netherlands, where I had the honour of representing Team Canada alongside Michele Esercitato and Stuart Burns, the overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment is hard to put into words. Our team's gold medal victory, triumphing over Belgium and Germany, was a testament to our individual skills and a powerful reminder of the strength of collaboration and shared goals. This event marked my return to international competition after a four-year hiatus, largely due to the pandemic, and it was the first time I had competed at this level since deciding to pick up my pistol again after a two-year break. Returning to the shooting range, training at the Sunshine Coast Rod & Gun Club, was filled with doubts and challenges. Yet, the support from my community and the relentless pursuit of excellence drove me forward.

Allan Harding, Stuart Burns, and Michele Esercitato

Team Canada takes gold in the men's team event!

This competition was more than a return; it reawakened my passion for the sport. Despite the physical toll and the mental hurdles, standing on the podium with my teammates, knowing we had achieved something remarkable, was incredibly rewarding. The thought of retiring had crossed my mind, with a focus on coaching and contributing to the sport off the range. However, this experience has reignited my competitive spirit, and I'm now looking forward to the possibilities, including the 2028 Olympics. The road here hasn't been easy, but it's been worth every moment. As I continue this journey, I'm reminded of the resilience, dedication, and love for the sport that has brought me this far.

Intershoot recap and what's coming up next

I'm back home now and somewhat adjusted back to Pacific time zone. Those quick trips to Europe always feel too short and definitely take some adjusting. There and back. Plus training and competing 4 days of the week while I was away is a lot. Typically going to an ISSF World Cup you would do pre-event training 1 day and competition the next day for a single event.

My first day went well with the 565/600 and missing Finals by only a few points. The following days were more of a challenge. I shot a lot of 9.9's which in 10m pistol and the integer scoring they're counted as "9" even if they are a hair width away from scoring "10".

It was great to catch up with old friends from around the world there and to meet some new ones as well!

Me and Ramon Suarez (@olympicpistol)

Me, Nikhil Kumar, and Saurabh Chaudhary (@SChaudhary2002)

The Netherlands is beautiful, I'll aim to be back for Intershoot 2021 next year! Hopefully I can stay a few more extra days!

Sun setting outside the Sherlock Holmes pub

Packed and ready to fly home!

Up next will be:

• Mar 6-8: BC Airgun Champtionships - Vancouver, Canada
• May 22-24: Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Toronto, Canada

Then in June I'll be back in Europe for the ISSF World Cup Series stages in Munich, Germany and Baku, Azerbaijan.

Intershoot has started!

Inrtershoot is officially under way. 270 competitors at Intershoot across men's pistol & rifle and women's pistol & rifle disciplines. 3 days of competition has begun!

Open training at Intershoot

All setup for some precision shooting!

Today I shot a 565 with 22 x's. My 'x' count was the second highest out of the male pistol shooters so I'm pretty happy about that. I did have a few flyers though which dropped my score from where I should have been given the volume of 10s I was shooting. Lots of good deep 10's but have some flyers I need to work on also. The area where those two 7's landed mean I was anticipating the shot.

My 565 from the first competition complete with 22 x's

Complete scores can be found here but if the link doesn't work I have a screenshot of them from the first match below (open to make larger):

Day 1 results for men's 10m pistol

My teammate Stuart Burns finished 29th and Robert Katz finished 33rd.

Tomorrow's match starts at 4pm CET, which is late in the day so my team and I will just be taking it easy before the competition. Tomorrow's scores will also be used for the team score. Go Canada! On Saturday we shoot at 8am CET and then will do a little sightseeing before our flight Sunday morning

Arrived in the Netherlands

I arrived in the Netherlands! It was a bit hectic just getting to Amsterdam. My original flight plan was to fly at noon Sunday from Vancouver and arrive to Amsterdam Monday morning and meetup with my teammates Stuart Burns and Bob Katz. That flight got delayed however so I needed to take an earlier flight from Vancouver to Toronto to make my connection.

Outside of the Rijksmuseum

In the library at Rijksmuseum

Ship!

Plane!

Beer!

me and Stuart Burns

Standing in front of cool light up bottle display

Nice ice cold Heineken at the end of the tour

We got to Amsterdam early to be able to get adjusted for the time difference... +9 hours difference for me! Powered through most of the first day and today is our only full free day so we went and did a bit of sightseeing! Rijksmuseum, wandered around a bit, and the Heineken Experience!

Tomorrow we will check-in at the Intershoot competition and get our equipment checked, fees paid, and get some pre event training in. We compete Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, then fly home Sunday morning.

As always, you can follow along @alharding on Twitter and Instagram!

Stay tuned for more ...and thank you for the awesome emails!

Happy New Year!

I'm definitely late getting this post from drafts to published! ;)

Happy New Year all! I was rather quiet this past Fall due to focus on work related projects and less about shooting training. It's been a hectic year with getting let go from my job and figuring out my next chapter.

Highlights from 2019 in my Instagram best nine. Ask me about anything in the comments below!

Highlights from 2019!

It's now 2020 and lots of "stuff" is in the works. Some I can talk about now and some I will later on.

For now...  shooting!

Upcoming competitions I'll be competing and representing Canada at:

• Feb 4-6: Intershoot - The Hague, Netherlands
• Mar 6-8: BC Airgun Champtionships - Vancouver, Canada
• May 22-24: Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Toronto, Canada
• Jun 2-9: ISSF World Cup - Munich, Germany
• Jun 22-30: ISSF World Cup - Baku, Azerbaijan
• Aug14-19: Canadian National Pistol Championships

Busy schedule filled with lots of travel. The one I am still figuring out schedule for is the Grand Prix in May as it conflicts with the BC Provincials but is also very close to the ISSF World Cup dates. Main issue is it's a lot of travel between Vancouver and Toronto. I'll connect to Munich via Toronto airport.

I'll be doing at least one blog post a month this year so stay tuned for more updates from Europe next week!

Intershoot results

I've been asked about Intershoot results and realized I haven't posted in awhile. Intershoot 2019 Netherlands results!

At The Pier in The Hague

The first match went well but I know I could have done better. There were some easy points I lost which I shouldn't have let go. It doesn't take much of a break in focus though when you're dealing with millimeters at a distance of 10m. After the first match I ended up not feeling well due to something I ate and stayed in bed a couple days only getting up to go compete and make the best of the situation.

Also got a chance to meet up with Ramon from Olympic Pistol which was pretty cool! Thank you for the t-shirt and Belgium chocolates!

Kim Britton, Ramon Suarez, and me @ Intershoot 2019

Next up are the BC Airgun Championships in Richmond, BC in a couple weeks!