At the airport on my way to Calgary

Just waiting at Vancouver Airport about to fly out to Calgary. I'll be posting updates regularly this coming week from the Canadian National Pistol Championships.

whoa.. boarding time.. more updates soon!

Results from first event

The 10m men's event is over and I finished as the 'High Visitor'. Shooting at the US Nationals you aren't able to go past the qualification to get into Finals if you aren't from the US. This also excludes you from being able to get any of the bonus points that they give out to the top 8 finishers.

My result from the first match was 564/600 which is a decent score for me. Before I got back into shooting in 2007 (after my 12 year break) my highest score had only ever been a 566/600. To give some perspective the Olympic minimum qualification score they'll accept is 563 but typical world class scores are in the 580 range with 594 being the current World Record out of a possible 600 points.

My second match went better, started out really strong with a 98 and finished the day with a 567/600 with at least six of my 60 shots being 9.9's. They only count as a 9 but when they show up on my screen they show it in a decimal so you know how close to the next scoring ring you are. 9.9 is as close to 10 as you can get. In the pistol discipline though a 9 with any decimal behind it is still only scored as a 9. Knowing I had soooooo many close shots felt good though. Makes me realize I can still improve a lot more!

My score of 567 / 600

My next event is the 50m outdoor event shot with my Pardini FPM which takes place on Saturday and Sunday morning. 

More updates to come! And check out @alharding on Twitter to get updates there!

At US Nationals!

Caught up with members of the Canadian rifle team (Ben Taylor, Mack Kohl, Connor Deneka, and Audry-Anne Dery) in Atlanta this past Friday. We tried to coordinate our trips so we'd all get in around the same time and well... this sort of worked. :)

Once we met up we explored a bit of downtown Atlanta and checked out the Centennial Olympic Park which was for the 1996 Summer Olympics. I always love seeing the legacy venues created for Olympic games and have been fortunate enough to see quite a few of them in North America. I can now check off Atlanta from my list. We called it an early night and got up early to go to the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta. The aquarium is amazing, one of the largest tanks in the world!

One of four massive Whale Sharks!

Relaxing panda @ Zoo Atlanta!

After taking in some of Atlanta (a bit sad we missed out on the Braves game!) we started on our 2 hr drive to Columbus, Georgia which is just outside of Fort Benning.

Once we got settled we got to the range and got ourselves checked in and going through the equipment control process. As a pistol shooter this was about a 10 minute process, for my fellow rifle shooting team mates, depending on when you got in line, it could take up to 2 hrs to get through. Good time to go for lunch and come back later! ;)

I'll post up results here on the evenings after I shoot but you can also check them out as they get posted online on the USA Shooting website - scroll down to '2013 Rifle & Pistol National Championships'.

Thanks to all my new followers following me @alharding! Don't mind all the tech tweets, I do have a day job! ;)

Competing at the US Nationals next month!

A month from now I'll be competing at the US Nationals at Fort Benning, GA. I'm registered to shoot 10m and 50m ISSF events. This will be my second time shooting there but my first time shooting the 50m event. Last time I shot there I did well enough to qualify for the Canadian National Development Team for 2012 and I expect to do better at this event.

I'll be missing the BC Provincials in a couple weeks. If you're planning on attending make sure to get your registration forms in ASAP.

After US Nationals I'll be attending the Canadian Nationals in Calgary in August.

Leaking batteries caused minor damage to LP10E

After being away most of March I came back to find my electronic trigger wasn't working. I took the cover off and saw that the batteries had started leaking acid and had been for awhile. These batteries were only a few months old. What the!?

I removed the bad batteries and replaced them but nothing would power on. I took the electronic components out and noticed a lot of white powder had leaked out and was corroding the metal. I used some vinegar, water, and a dozen or so Q-tips to clean everything up, but there is a bit of damage to the wood grip (more of a stain) and the battery cover plate had some damage. A bit of paint will clean it up.

Metal plate (bottom left) and top right of electronics compartment shows damage.

The lesson here is that I'll be removing the batteries completely if I plan on letting everything sit for more than a few weeks.

2013 BC Air Champ... 2 yrs in a row

Had a great shoot this weekend in Richmond, BC for the 2013 BC Airgun Championships finishing 1st for the second straight year. My scores were 563, 556, and 567 for a total of 1686, only 6 points ahead of fellow BC Team teammate Edmond Lee.

On day 1, the first match I shot a 99 and 98 in my first 20 shots which was my best start ever. My score dropped a bit in the afternoon so I need to work on that. It can be a bit draining shooting a second match only a couple hours later. Endurance!

The second day started out decent with shots 11-20 resulting in another 99. Below is my scorecard for the 567.

567/600 score card from 2013 BC Airgun Championships

Taking a bit of a break the next few weeks and then will start ramping up training leading up to June when I'll travel down to Fort Benning, Georgia for the 2013 USA Rifle & Pistol National Championships.

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!

Match Winner! Finished the weekend with my highest score of 2012!

Great weekend of shooting! My scores for the weekend were 552, 563, and then I finished Day 2 with a 569. For my non-shooting friends the points are out of a possible 600 and 563 is the minimum qualification score for the Olympics.

569 is the highest score of 2012 for me and for the better part of the year I struggled to get into the 560+ range so this was awesome for my 'competition confidence'

Here is the cool Match Winner trophy for the competition:

Match Winner Trophy!

I need to board a plane but will post up results when I get them. :)

One last competition for 2012

My last shooting competition for 2012 will be a local event called The Hibernation Match in Richmond, BC. I'll be taking a very short break (2 weeks tops) after that and then will start getting ready for the 2013 competition year.

I hope to see lots of BC shooters out for the Hibernation Match next month on Nov 2-4! Registration information can be found here.

Catching up on updates

You ever have one of those days (or weeks?) where you feel like you're off course by just a few moments in time? That sort of sums up my trip to Nationals. It all started when I was driving to the airport and in the parking lot ahead of me a car kept speeding up and slowing down as they passed each row of cars looking for an empty space. It seemed like they were in a panic and being the airport parking lot I can safely assume they were running late for their flight. Each time they did this as the car slowly crept forward I could see their head turn to the right, then to the left, then back to the right, then back to the left. I was following behind, patiently, waiting to get to the far end of the lot where there are always spots. Only a few rows in they stop, turn their head back to the left and point at something. Without hesitation they put their car into reverse and sped backwards so they could turn into that row of cars. They sped backwards. Without looking. Right into my car. Luckily there was no damage other than what looked like my license plate stamped into the back of their bumper.

I wondered what would have happened if I had left home a little earlier (or even later), would I have been right behind that car at that moment or just have driven into the lot, parked my car, and carried on to catch my flight.

The next 'off' moment came when I had finished shooting the 10m event and saw I was not going to make it out of the qualification round. I went and had lunch and dropped off my gear at the hotel. I got back to the range to watch Finals and they announced that I was in 8th position (non-Canadians had been removed from shooting in the Canadian Finals). There I was, without my equipment, and expected to shoot in about 5 minutes. I borrowed a gun I'd never shot before from Team BC's Jamie Berta. No shooting glasses, no flat soled shooting shoes, not even my competitor number to wear on my back. Uhhh. I had 8 minutes to get the gun sighted in not fully knowing which adjustment did what or by how much down range. No shooting glasses? No problem, I just squinted to block out the extra light (normally I shoot with a blinder and an almost closed iris). No competitor number? Not a problem a piece of paper, a pen, and some tape can't fix. I was definitely 'amateur hour'. I finished the Finals the best I could with a gun that didn't fit my hand... I had nothing to lose anyway, you can't drop from 8th (last in Finals) to anything lower.

If I had taken a few more seconds to look at the results maybe I wold have noticed the non-Canadians ahead of me in the standings. Maybe I would have kept my equipment with me and maybe I would have shot with my gear and maybe I could have climbed to 5th, 6th, ,or 7th.

No point trying to play the would have, could have, should have game though. It's done and I need to move forward, learn, plan, and adjust.

In the 50m event I got gold in the Sharpshooter class so that was pretty cool! Plus our Team BC (John Berta, Edmond Lee, and me) were able to snag silver in the 10m team event. Top shooting by Edmond Lee who was able to secure 3rd place in Canada in the 10m individual!

50m Gold in Sharpshooter class

Back to the range tomorrow! :)