Tourism, Culture and
Recreation
October 27, 2009
The following is being
distributed at the request of Sport Newfoundland and
Labrador:
Newfoundland and Labrador Shooters Dominate the Medal
Standings
at the 1st North Atlantic Air Gun Challenge
Shooters from New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador ,
gathered this past weekend at the Frank Zahn High
Performance Marksmanship and CSCA Training Facility in
Memorial�s School of Human Kinetics and Recreation to
compete in the first North Atlantic Air Gun Challenge. A
total of 15 junior and senior athletes shot two relays
each of 10 metre air rifle or 10 metre air pistol over a
three day period. Newfoundland shooters dominated the
event taking all the championship titles and six medals.
This competition revives an almost 30 year old event
where each of the Atlantic provinces would host a
regional championships every four years. However, in its
first incarnation the event was only for outdoor small
bore rifle and pistol. Now with an eye towards improving
the region�s performance at the 2011 Canada Winter
Games, it was decided that this competition format would
be exclusively an air rifle and air pistol event,
following the format of Olympic competition.
With a very excited crowd
cheering on the men�s pistol finalists, Tony Smith shot
1,137.7 out of a maximum of 1,309.0 points. This left
him as the undisputed Grand Champion. New Brunswick
native, Yves Boudreau finished second overall to claim
top open and top junior men�s in the pistol event.
The next event shot was
the women�s rifle finals. Brenda Greene handily claimed
the title of Women�s Rifle Grand Champion with a final
result of 859.7 out of 909.0 points. Our provincial
junior team shooters Samantha Marsh and Meghan Harris
took gold and silver respectively with the bronze medal
going to Nova Scotia�s Nichole Marshall. Samantha also
took honors for top open in women�s rifle.
With men�s finals as the
last event of the weekend Dave Woolridge fired 1229.6 to
take the Men�s Rifle Grand Champion title. Our
provincial junior team shooters Ben Taylor and Jason
Harnum won the gold and silver respectively in the
junior men�s rifle event, with Eric Higgins of Nova
Scotia taking the bronze. Ben was also declared the open
rifle event winner.
It is worth noting that
this competition is the first entirely electronic
interprovincial competition from the qualifying rounds
to the finals. That is, the shooters fired on targets
that could detect the shot and then calculate its score,
as opposed to the more conventional paper target, where
the hole in the paper is measured using a scale. Also,
the finals were fired in front of a large audience of
over thirty spectators. During the finals the top four
shooters in each event faced off in a test of nerves as
their scores were announced aloud to the cheers of the
spectators. For many of the shooters it was their first
time ever competing in the finals. To their credit they
were able to keep their cool and focus on the
competition. Such competition experience will be
necessary to ensure successful performance should they
make it to the Canada Winter Games in 2011.
It was widely agreed from
athletes, coaches, officials and spectators that this
was a good competitive experience. Plans are now in the
works for shooters to return in May for a junior
training camp, and for the three provinces to compete
next fall in New Brunswick.
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Media contact:
Dave Woolridge
709-778-0405
dave.woolridge@mi.mun.ca
2009 10 27
11:50 a.m.
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