Karen Caves and Wendy Dalton reported on the CPSA web site Gold medal success at the 2009 European Championships held in Granada, Spain 28th May 2009

Granada is a Shooting Ground that is not unknown to our British shooters having been there twice before. Not only the Great Britain Team travelled to Spain but also a number of individual shooters made the trip, making it a good strong Great Britain contingency.
 
The competition was held over four days with 50 targets a day. The first day saw no less than thirteen 50 straights followed by twenty four on 49. Amongst the 50 straights for Great Britain were new cap Nicholas Gowrie, Ed Ling, Nigel Caves, and David Lloyd. At the close of the 2nd day there was only one 100 straight, Azevedo from Portugal showed he was going to be a force to contend with. Amongst the British shooters who closely followed on 99 were Ed Ling and David Lloyd with Nigel Caves on 98. The Senior Team consisted of Chris Tate, Ed Ling and Rod Gould and were lying in 3rd position but with only 3 targets between them and the leaders, France.
 
In the Veteran’s class Kevin Borley was tying for first place on 96 closely followed by several others on 95 including JJ Reilly. The Veteran’s Team consisting of Kevin Borley, Peter Boden and Steve Ling who were one target away from the leading Portuguese Team.
 
The Super Veteran’s Class was being closely contested with Gordon Lee just one target behind the leader on 96. The Super Veteran’s Team consisting of Gordon Lee, Joey Jones and Fletcher Watson were leading with 2 targets clear of the Italian Team.
 
Ladies Class was again, very closely contested with Abbey Burton on 92 lying in 4th position. The Ladies Team, Abbey Burton, Mary Rowley and Rachel Yardy were lying in third position behind the Italian and French Teams.
 
Scott Morgan, a new cap in the Juniors had got off to a roaring start shooting 98 out of the first 100, his Team mates Nicholas Gowrie shooting 96 and Tom Ward 90 put the Juniors in a comfortable lead.
 
The results at the 150 target stage showed how close the competition had been running, both Individual and Team scores so close together. One of the downfalls of the Competition was that there was no main scoreboard so no-one really knew where they were standing after the previous days scores had been posted on the wall.
 
Going from the seventh round to the eighth, no one could see what their opponents had done so could not see their finishing positions until the final computer printed sheet had been displayed on the wall. Everyone was clambering around trying to see and at the same time announcements were being made, in Spanish about numerous shoot offs. There was no real help for any of our shooters with regards to these shoot off and what they were for. Never the less the Bulldog British spirit came through and the shoot offs went ahead.
 
The final results posted showed what the Great Britain Team had achieved.
 
The Senior Team, Chris Tate (196), Ed Ling(197) and Rod Gould(190) had won the Gold with six clear targets to spare. The Veteran Team Steve Ling (180), Kevin Borley (191) and Peter Boden (189) took the Silver Medal 9 points behind Portugal. The Super Veterans consisting of Gordon Lee (189), Joey Jones (182) and Fletcher Watson (181) took the Gold nine targets ahead of the Silver medal winners, Italy.
 
Ladies, Rachel Yardy(184), Abbey Burton (183) and Mary Rowley (181) pulled themselves from 3rd position overnight to take the Gold Medal by only dropping three targets between them on the final day. The Junior Team which consisted of two new caps, Scott Morgan (193) and Nicholas Gowrie (190) along with Tom Ward (189) also took the Gold Medal to make it four out of five Gold Medals for the GB Team. The Gold Medal tally did not finish there though, Kevin Borley took the Individual Gold Medal in the Veteran’s Class as did Gordon Lee in the Super Veteran’s Class.
 
There were numerous placings within the classes well worth a mention, Ed Ling on 197 in fourth position, Chris Tate and Nigel Caves on 196 in 6th position. Scores that in previous years, would have won the competition.
 
There was also the accumulative scores counting towards the European Cup with several of our shooters also achieving medals in this. Kevin Borley took the Gold in the Veterans, Joey Jones and Fletcher Watson took the Silver and Bronze respectively in the Super Veteran class. Abbey Burton took Silver in the Ladies. Nicholas Gowrie and Scott Morgan took the Silver and Bronze respectively in the Junior class.
 
This was such a brilliant effort by the Great Britain Team to pull off such a superb result. It was a proud moment to stand and hear the National Anthem being played for the 6th time. This result was achieved by all their own hard work, totally financed by the Universal Trap (UT) shooters and most of all, the Team members themselves.
 
As Team Managers we would like to say how proud we were of the Great Britain Team both for their total commitment and their conduct whilst representing their Country. Thank you, the Great Britain UT Team for putting GREAT back into Shooting.