After three days of training and competition seven Newfoundland athletes finished shooting at the 28^th Canadian Air Gun Grand Prix, in Toronto. This competition marks the pinnacle of their training season. By the end of competition on Sunday, Jason Harnum, shot 1,079 to take the gold, while David Ficken fired 1,054 to capture the silver. Both were in men's rifle sharpshooter class and both set personal best results. In sub junior women's rifle Samantha Marsh shot 727 to take the bronze. Ben Taylor had a 1,089, ranking 4th in the expert rifle class. Richard Power fired 926 to take 4^th in the Marksman air pistol. Both Taylor and Power were within five points of medaling. Tony Smith shooting as a pistol sharpshooter fired a 1,031 to place 6^th. Meghan Harris shot 628, better than her previous performance, to take 7^th place in women's rifle sub junior.

Friday evening, the opening relay, saw all our juniors on the line. Samantha Marsh started her competition with 367 / 400. Teammate Meghan Harris finished the evening with a 323. After a rough season Jason Harnum opened his match with a personal best of (542). Ben Taylor was beset by start-up troubles, but after a mid match break was able to turn his performance around, shooting 538. Pistol shooter Richard Power started his match well but towards the end of his relay fell back as he coped with ear trouble. He posted a 458.

Saturday morning presented new opportunities for our junior athletes and senior athlete Tony Smith. First to shoot, Tony, classed as a sharpshooter in men's air pistol recorded a 503. Our junior men's athletes immediately followed Smith's relay. Taylor seemed to regain both his visual and mental focus moving up to a 551. Harnum maintained his previous day's performance by shooting a 537. Combined with his first relay Harnum narrowly missed reclassifying as an expert. Power improved a little by shooting a score of 468. In the third relay of the day, Samantha maintained her performance with a 360, while Harris dropped on her first day shooting 305 points.

On Sunday Smith shot a better 528 points on his final relay in the men's air pistol competition. In an unexpected surprise, newcomer David Ficken, was able to shoot despite having his original flight to Toronto cancelled. Getting a stand by seat on Saturday, Ficken was able to shoot two grueling relays on Sunday posting back to back scores of 526 and 528. Both relays being better than any he had fired before.

Over the next two months these shooters will be shooting the provincial championships.

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Media contact:

Dave Woolridge
709-778-0405
dave.woolridge@mi.mun.ca