The Annual Midland Game Fair takes place on the third weekend of September at Weston Park, Shropshire – and is considered the Mecca of country shows by airgunners. As such, there are always plenty of shooting competitions, including the European Field Target Championships and the finals of the ATEO (Airgun Training & Education Organisation) Junior Championships.
2014 European FT Championship
The 2014 European FT Champion, Simon Ayres, prepares for the next target…
Run with the help of the BFTA (British Field Target Association), 110 elite shooters from Europe gathered to repeat the success of last year’s winner, the talented young Jack Harris. The two-day event was shot over 100 targets (50 each day), with Saturday’s fine weather allowing plenty of shooters to notch up scores in the high 40s. Three shooters dropped just the one target – Simon Ayres, former winner Conor McFlynn and Jose Redondo.
However, Sunday’s course proved the trickier, allowing a raft of other competitors to make ground on the initial leaders. The result was a seven-way tie on 94… with Simon Ayres deservedly winning the prestigious title and, with it, a fantastic Air Arms FTP900 PCP kindly donated by the UK’s famous gunmaker!
Champion – Simon Ayres (pictured)
Runner-up – John Costello
3rd – Andrew Gilliott
4th – Conor McFlynn
5th – Andy Calpin
2014 ATEO Junior Championship
Sponsored by BSA/Gamo, those youngsters who’d qualified at Countryman Fairs’ events elsewhere earlier in the year all converged on Weston Park for the grand finals. The three classes were hotly contested, with the winners as follows:
Ultra Class
1. Jasmine Pearce – 23
2. Will Gordon 19
3. Charlie Howard 15
Scorpion Class
1. Jamie Wilson 20
2. Thomas Beard 18
3. Luke Lobo Glaister 17
Barricade class
1. Toby Bartlett 13
2. Luke Lobo Glaister 12
3. Ellie Percival Mann 12
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Well-known airgun authority Nigel Allen is the editor of Britain's award-winning shooting magazine, Airgun Shooter (available worldwide). Email: nigel.allen@futurenet.com
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