New season, new look... a shiny new allanharding.com

A few weeks ago I was working in Photoshop to come up with a better presentation for my shooting blog. I had a bit of extra time tonight before going to practice and wanted to get something new up before I left. Let me know what you think:

new look for allanharding.com

Now I have this new look just in time for the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix which I will be updating daily from.

I fly out tomorrow morning and have practice and registration on Friday and then shoot the 1st of two matches on Saturday morning.

Volunteer Opportunities - Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

Living in Vancouver and knowing the Olympics are coming to the city in a couple years is pretty cool. On February 12th, the Volunteer Opportunities website is going live so you can sign up for some 25,000 jobs.

...from the Vancouver Province:

"We have a shift of people making sure that the flame doesn't go out," said Donna Wilson, 2010's boss of human resources. "We fondly know of them as 'flamewatchers.' "

I'm going to submit an application maybe I'll get to be a flame watcher! :)

The process for becoming a volunteer sounds lengthy with phone screens and a 5 hour security screening and training session. You will be able to apply at www.vancouver2010.com.

I leave for Toronto next week and will be blogging daily once there.

2008 B.C. Airgun Championships - February 29 - March 2

The Joe Elkin Memorial - 2008 BC Airgun Championships are being held once again in Richmond, BC on February 29 - March 2nd. The BC Target Sports Association website has been updated with PDF downloads of the Regulations and Registration forms.

That will be an extremely busy week for me as I'll be in Toronto from February 21 - 26 and then will only have a couple days before the BC Airgun Championships.

Less than 4 weeks to go until the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix. Exciting! :)

"Ban handguns says Toronto mayor"... uuuhhh yeah okay.

From : National Post

"Mayor David Miller called for a total ban on handgun ownership after the fatal shooting this weekend of a passer-by outside a club on one of the busiest stretches of Yonge Street."

I haven't blogged about the negative perception handguns have by some people. It's truly unfortunate how tragic some violent crimes are. It's also unfortunate that more often than not a gun is used during the crime. If all guns were banned some other weapon would be used. It won't prevent crime, it would just reduce crime with handguns, something else would take it's place. Tasers? I welcome any comments about where you stand on this issue.

I worry about what all the negative news means for my sport. I primarily compete with air pistols but would like to be competing in the 50m pistol events this coming year. Both are Olympic events. Hopefully getting all of my paperwork in order won't be difficult.

Now for the good news...

My hotel and flight are all booked and confirmed. I'll be in Toronto February 21 - 26, 2008. I'm looking forward to this match, being an Olympic year I suspect a lot of national teams from other countries will be attending. The event has room for 300 competitors so it is definitely going to be interesting to see how I do.

If you're going to the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month (especially anyone from British Columbia) let me know (email me: al [ @ ] allanharding.com), I want to make sure we get our teams registered and to see if we can get a BC Team dinner or something going one night.

2008 is MY year... everyone's actually!

Happy New Year!

Well I was going to spend some time over the Holidays to clean up my blog a bit but instead I got sidetracked building a little Facebook application which I just finished the first version of tonight. It's called 2008 is MY year and lets you enter goals for 2008 and track your progress to achieving them. The nice thing is starts to show you where you're investing your time which can lead to some clarity in your personal work / life balance.

I found myself keeping notes on Post-Its, note books, sometimes in text files on my PC or laptop but I needed something a bit more concrete to help me accomplish them. Now I've got them right in Facebook (and soon outside of Facebook). If you have a Facebook account do me a favour and try it out and offer up any feedback you can. Thanks!

As for shooting... vacation is over. I'm back in training mode and getting ready for my 1st big match of the year -- The 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month in Toronto.

Wishing everyone all the best this year! This is YOUR year! Go!

Confirmed registration for 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in February

I received confirmation that I am registered for the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix being held in Toronto, Canada next February. This is the largest airgun competition in North America and usually attracts teams from Japan, China, Europe, and the USA.

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Lots of changes happening in my life these days. Good changes. Positive changes. I've been getting my work / life balance shuffled around a lot, changing diet, sleeping a lot better. Good stuff.

This past weekend I ran the 5km Santa Shuffle run in Stanley Park. I ran this last year and got a time of 42:00 and this year I beat my time by about 9 minutes and finished it in 33:10. I usually don't run a lot due to the impact on my foot and leg -- I have a metal plate and 7 pins in my left leg thanks to a break a couple of years ago. I'm happy with my new time and will target 30 minutes next year.

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I still haven't found much time to update the look of allanharding.com but I think I'll get around to some updates over the holidays. :)

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.

UPDATED: Richmond Airgun Match this weekend

I've been slow to update allanharding.com and keeping busy with life, training, practice, work, etc.

I'm shooting at a local competition in Richmond, BC on November 2-4. The event is being held at Sportstown BC and both relays are completely full and a wait list has been started.

UPDATE: I got my numbers wrong... there are 30 positions available and 58 competitors registered for the competition.

Finished 3rd at the Western Canadian Air Gun Championships

I went into the Finals in a tie with Edmond Lee at a score of 1114 / 1200. I shot a 95.8 in the Finals which gave me a total score of 1209.8 which left me short 0.7 points behind Edmond who finished at 1210.5.

The best part of this weekend was seeing my average go up. Shooting more 10s, fewer 8s and an overall tighter grouping. I shot many 9s which just missed the 10 ring.

Stan Wills shot way ahead of us with a combined score of 1241.1. I remember shooting in the early 90s and seeing Stan shoot some amazing scores. I still have yet to beat him... I will do it in 2008. :)

Later that afternoon I went to the Calgary Firearms Centre with Dorothy Ludwig and Lynda Hare to meet up with Jason Caswell to try skeet shooting. Jason is one of Canada's best skeet shooters and went to the 1996 and 2000 Olympics games.

Skeet Shooting with Jason Caswell

Jason gave us a quick overview of what Skeet Shooting is all about. It was definitely a great experience being able to shoot a shotgun and get tips and advice from one of the best in the sport!

A great weekend in Calgary, beautiful weather, experienced so much and had an incredible time. I can't wait to come back next year. My next competition is on November 2-4, 2007 called the Hibernation Match being held in Richmond, BC in the same building I train in.

Arrived in Calgary for the Western Canadian Air Gun Championships

I arrived in Calgary Friday morning and ventured into downtown to see what Calgary is all about. I haven't been here in many many many years, actually I don't think I've spent much time here other than at the airport.

Medal ceremonies for the 1988 Winter Olympics were here

I started out by checking out the Calgary Tower and the various parks and buildings left over as legacies from the 1988 Winter Olympics held here. The Tower is pretty cool, then again I'm a huge fan of buildings and man made structures. I particularly liked the glass floor of the observation floor. Freaky!

Looking up at Calgary Tower

Stepping on the glass floor of Calgary Tower

Later on Friday I met up with my friend Lynda Hare who I was staying with and we got to the range and went through equipment check and had about 6 minutes to practice. It felt good. The range is well lit and the target carriers are electronic.

On Saturday I was on the last relay so I would be shooting at 11:00 am and then again at 5:00 pm. The first match went well with a score of 560 / 600. I can definitely tell the training and practice is starting to get me back to my old scoring range.

In between matches my friends Lynda and Dorothy and I ventured out to the Canada Olympic Park. This was something I really wanted to see while here as I always missed getting to see it on my other visits to these parts.

The Canada Olympic Park is buzzing with activity year round

We didn't have long but I got to see and experience what I wanted to see. I definitely want to come back in the Winter time. It's neat seeing the park so active in the Summer.

Good thing this wasn't actually on ice... I'd probably hurt myself. ;)

The Ice House at Canada Olympic Park

The indoor training facility called the Ice House is a pretty cool facility. Literally. ;) Apparently it is the only indoor training facility in the world for sliding athletes. We got to see bobsleigh athletes training on the indoor track.

Back to the shooting range, the second match started out well but my endurance for shooting so much in one day is not up to where it needs to be. My first 3 strings were 94, 95, 93 and it got harder and harder to lift the gun for the last 30 shots. I'm going to be working on this over the next few weeks as I have a local competition coming up in November where 3 matches are shot over 2 days.

I'm currently tied in 2nd with another BC shooter and will be shooting in the Finals tomorrow morning. I haven't shot in Finals since Nationals in 1995 when I shot in the 8th position. I was still a Junior at the time but shot high enough to shoot with the Men that year.

Finals are shot to the decimal point so shooting a perfect 10 is worth 10.9 points. BC shooter Edmond Lee and I are currently tied with 1114 points each.

Flying to Calgary Friday

I wasn't able to attend the match this past weekend. I've been getting out to practice when I can and the recent changes I've made seem to be working out well.

Who would have thought moving and super busy work schedules could be so time consuming! ;)

I fly out Friday morning and will be home late Sunday night. I'm going to try and find some time during the weekend to post up event photos and scores. Stay tuned to allanharding.com.

Vancouver's BC Top Gun match this weekend

It's been a chaotic last few weeks with a hectic work schedule and with moving. I've moved to downtown Vancouver to be closer to work, clients, etc. I'm still trying to get things sorted out in order and on top of that the BC Top Gun match is this weekend.

This weekend will be an early indicator of how recent modifications I've made to my grip, trigger, and stance are all working. I probably should have only made a few minor changes and seen how the changes worked but I've been super excited since getting back from Nationals and putting some new ideas into practice. :)

Next weekend I'm flying to Calgary, Alberta for the 2007 Western Canada Air Gun Championships. Once I get back from Calgary I'll shift into training mode again and I have a few goals I'm going to work towards. One of my top priorities will be giving this website a bit of a design change. ;)

I'm only competing on Sunday morning and need to finish moving and organizing a bunch of my boxes so I will send an update again after the match is over and the results are in.