THE 2011 EUROPEAN F CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS BISLEY - ENGLAND
We do everything from score-cards to organising the prizegiving - we always try and book someone famous for that, but end up with a member of the GBFC Association!
The event itself - once we have got through the practice day and everyone has started shooting - tends to get a little easier. We still get asked lots of really important questions like “Any idea what the wind’s going to be like tomorrow?” or “Did anyone else have vertical problems?”. Even “Do you think we could start a little later tomorrow as my wife wants me to take her to the shops first?” We even had a “ How can you justify £15 a year GBFCA membership?” from one shooter, whilst he had just eaten his body-weight in free biscuits, whilst drinking his free coffee!
Thankfully, we have very few protests and the like to deal with, as our Chief Range Officer copes with most of these, on the spot, in a fair manner - basically you’re wrong unless you can convince him otherwise - a fair system which we don’t intend to change. Despite almost 50% of the entry from overseas, there is no real language problem, as most shooters use the universal language of ‘shout and point’ and seem to bumble along quite well.
Still, I always feel much better when the last detail is down and shooting – it’s nearly over! Stats are down to Karen Robertson, who has a little caravan on the range near the clock tower and has the results out very quickly after each match. So that’s easy, we just leave Karen to it, passing her the odd pizza under the door - which we keep locked! We tell Karen this is to stop people bothering her, little does she know!
As always, we have a Shoot Dinner on the Saturday evening and again this year, we went to the Army Clubhouse for a hot buffet and a few drinks. It was extremely good - as was the firework display on Stickledown afterwards, ably set-off by Colin Shorthouse - he’s the only one mad enough to do it - thanks Colin.
Sunday, and only the Teams Match to go now and that falls into place fairly easily and just sort of happens. This year we had extra teams on the day, which proved logistically challenging but, as always, we coped and managed to start on time. It was encouraging to see over 14 Rutland (4 man teams) competing and I know everyone enjoyed themselves at the Teams Match but I will let Laurie expand on that.
So there you have it, in a nutshell, what it takes to organise a major F Class event – possibly the largest F Class event in the world. The event has grown from 43 competitors back in November 2005 to 180 and hopefully over 200 next year.
If you have any aspirations to shoot F Class, why not come along and have a go? It’s the friendliest big competition in the world and you will be made very welcome.
I will finish by saying thank you to everyone involved, especially the 39 Staff who worked very hard in butt marking, Range Officering, stats, etc. etc. to make our Europeans the shooting and social event of the year! See you next season?
Vince shoots Open Class
In my six matches, I only shot with one English- speaking shooter – no, that’s not fair – they all spoke English - to a high standard - even though it was not their native language. It was a great international atmosphere and I almost felt as though I was the one shooting abroad! So thank you Dieter, Klaus, Marco, Helmut, Hans and of course Barry, for your company on – and off - the firing-point.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to shoot with any of the Ukraine team – these guys really made their mark, with Vyacheslav Kovalshii featuring in a nail-biting last-detail shoot for victory in the fading afternoon light with closest rival and current World Champion Gary Costello watching every shot. The two of them had never been more than a couple of points apart all weekend.
But, that’s what happened on Saturday afternoon – the competition actually started on Friday morning at 8.30am. The forecast for the weekend was not good and I wasn’t surprised to be donning the waterproofs
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