SSH 291021 ED british shooting pathway champsAnita North reports from the British Shooting Pathway Championships, held at Nuthampstead SG on 16-17 October 2021

credit: Anta North

Over the weekend of 16 and 17 October, Olympic Trap (OT) and Olympic Skeet (OS) shooters gathered at Nuthampstead Shooting Ground for the annual Pathway Championships.

This championships provides a great opportunity for shooters taking their first steps on British Shooting’s Talent Pathway to test their training work. For some, taking part in this event provides their first taste of competition.

The 125-targets competition was not restricted to those on Pathway, but was open to anyone wishing to participate; those not on the Pathway, however, are not eligible to take part in the Pathway final or select from the prize pool of sponsored prizes.  

In Olympic Trap there were seven squads of competitors. After two days of shooting 125 targets, Matthew Paley and Niven Schofield lead the scoreboard on a 113. Maddie Purser led the women with a 109.

In total, three OT finals were conducted - two finals were conducted for Men (one overall and one Pathway), with no differentiation between Junior and Senior Men, plus a final for Women. There were prizes of cartridges up for grabs for the finalists.

The Women’s final saw last year’s winner Maddie Purser in a sudden death shoot off against Hermione Burns, taking the win after the 50-target final. Tegan Hart finished in third. Leah Southall, Philippa Stroud and Hollie Lumsden were the other finalists.

The Men’s Pathway final saw James Hudson win after a shoot-off against Harry Poolman, while Rhys Lewis took third place. The other finalists were Michael Young, George Harvey and Jake Janes.  

The Men’s final saw last year’s winner Mark Robinson take another win, with Ben Killian second and Tom Burns third. The other finalists were Dean Molnar, Niven Schofield and Matthew Paley.

In Olympic Skeet, there were four squads of shooters. After 125 targets, Gary Young led the scoreboard with a 113 and Sophie Herrmann was just two behind. They were joined in the final by Mackenzie Kempton, Phoebe Bodley-Scott, Sebastian Noakes and Steven Gould.  In the final, Gary Young took the win and Sophie Herrmann was second with Sebastian Noakes completing the top three. 

After the finals it was on to prize time! Cash prizes were awarded for Classes while cartridges were awarded to top places in the finals. In what has become a tradition of this championship, all shooters on Pathway were then tasked with choosing prizes from the array of sponsored prizes. These prizes were awarded for the 125 target results. Shooters were called out from the top, working down the results and alternating between Olympic Trap and Olympic Skeet results. Prizes included cartridges, gift vouchers, clothing and much more. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, everyone gets to go home with a prize, so there were lots of smiles at the end of this special competition.

A big thanks to Nuthampstead for hosting this event. A huge thank you to the prize sponsors, many of whom have been regular sponsors of this event, and some of which are new.

credit: Anita North

SPONSORS

  • Seeland
  • Plugzz
  • Nathan Sutcliffe at Cosmic Fireworks, 
  • Matt Panter at Anglo Italian
  • Marcus Iddon at Lyalvale Express
  • Mike Faux at Fauxdegla Shooting Ground
  • Ed Lyons
  • Deerhunter
  • Chris Potter Country Sports
  • John Rothery
  • T.M. Guns
  • Dave Thompson at Driven Sporting
  • Katy Poulsom at The Shooting Simulator
  • John Bellamy at Torne Valley Ltd.

Their generosity helps make this a very special competition. Here’s to next year!