Sussex Interclub 2024 Round 5 at Horsham

Aft’noon all. ‘Proper’ Summer weather – at last – for the SIHFT Summer Series.

Well done all Hawks (not many of you, I know) for setting out a great course for us today and feeding and watering us too.

I’d hoped that the forecast zero wind for the first part of the shoot would stay true – but it didn’t. Not lots of breeze, but certainly not to be ignored. And you needed to keep close track of the direction. Was I the only one to give an inside edge of one of the targets in the field, when it was so obviously blowing left to right, only to have the pellet move 3 pellets left ? Arggg!! If only that was my sole error of the day.

Of course, one of today’s entrants did make just one error. Hats off to Jon Newton-May for an oh-so-nearly clearance. If I heard right, your only miss was the free-stander.

Another score more than deserving a mention in despatches is Paul Charman’s 56. A PB for him, 2nd highest score of the day and, if you don’t know Paul, that was with his trusty Steyr lobbing .22 calibre lumps of lead.

Today’s winners of the long-distance travellers’ award goes to Leon and Mirjam – popping in to Sussex from Holland. Some say they joined us while en-route to other/bigger HFT or FT comps elsewhere in the UK; I prefer to think they travelled specially for the SIHFT and found another event to make the journey worthwhile. We wish you both well, on your other (less important) trophy hunting journey.

Anyway …. Here are the results from today. If you’ve not seen (or forgotten) the results table layout, perhaps the only column not obvious from its heading is the last one – the “T”. This denotes that this person’s score has been included in their club team result.

Firstname Surname Club Class Score % Badge T(eam)
Jon Newton-May Buxted O 59 100.0% G(old) T
Paul Charman Buxted .22 56 94.9% G T
Roger Dibbens Oaks O 55 93.2% G T
Howard Kalisch Buxted O 55 93.2% G T
Nik Orr Oaks O 55 93.2% G T
Charles Peal Oaks O 55 93.2% G T
Kevin Wickson Buxted O 55 93.2% G T
Paul Bradford Buxted V 54 91.5% G T
Steve Britland Horsham O 54 91.5% S(ilver) T
Stefan Avey Oaks O 53 89.8% S T
Mike Burgess Oaks V 53 89.8% G
David Henderson Meon Valley V 53 89.8% G T
Mark Rackley Oaks V 53 89.8% G T
Aaron Friend Oaks O 52 88.1% S
Vince Guy Oaks O 52 88.1% S
Phil Moody Horsham V 52 88.1% G T
Darren Purnell Buxted O 52 88.1% S
Ihab Alfred Bisley R 51 86.4% G
Matthew Franks Oaks O 51 86.4% S
Ewan Hobbs Iden Fern O 51 86.4% S
Maciek Pajek Horsham O 51 86.4% S T
Richard Wheeler Ford O 51 86.4% S T
Daniel Hudson Meon Valley O 50 84.7% S T
Alan Renwick Meon Valley Sticks 50 84.7% G T
Owen Wilson Buxted R 50 84.7% G
Jean Greatrex MAD Sticks 49 83.1% S
Steven Avey Oaks O 48 81.4% B(ronze)
Paul Blaxall Meon Valley V 48 81.4% S T
Alicia Franks Oaks L 48 81.4% S
Leon Peute Visitor O 48 81.4% B
Derek Watson Horsham R 48 81.4% S T
Trevor Hudson Meon Valley Sticks 47 79.7% S T
Glen Turner Ford O 47 79.7% B T
Kevin Allen Horsham R 46 78.0% S T
Dave Barnes Meon Valley V 46 78.0% S
Jason Perrine Oaks O 46 78.0% B
Justin Roberts Ford O 46 78.0% B T
Barry Wade Buxted V 46 78.0% S
Chris Allen Buxted O 45 76.3% B
Hugborg Hudson Meon Valley L 45 76.3% S
Steb Martinez Ford O 45 76.3% B T
Roy Pearce MAD V 45 76.3% S
David Irving Oaks O 44 74.6%
Steve Saunter Buxted Sticks 44 74.6% B
Mirjam Stark Visitor L 44 74.6% B
David Wheeler Ford O 43 72.9% T
Simon Whittick Horsham Sticks 43 72.9% B
Richard Wickenden Ford O 43 72.9%
Carrol Lamport Buxted O 41 69.5%
David Wilshaw Meon Valley R 41 69.5% B
Barbara Pearce MAD L 40 67.8% B
Charlie Grey Ford R 39 66.1% B
Kim May Horsham L 39 66.1% B
Ray Munnery Horsham O 37 62.7%
Sebastion Mazurczak Horsham .22 34 57.6%

Three additional and very special trophies (made by Derek’s wife) were awarded based on decisions made by Mike B and our host club Chair and given out to :
• Jon Newton-May – for so very nearly clearing the course
• Paul Charman – for his quality .22 lobbing PB score, and
• Mirjam Stark – for travelling the longest distance of any SIHFT entrant (I dare say she will share with Leon)

And for the first time in 2024, a SIHFT Platinum badge was on the cards. 5 people held 4 Golds before today and all 5 won the required 5th. Hence Platinums were handed out to
Charles Peal
Howard Kalisch
Mark Rackley
Mike Burgess and
Nik Orr

All club teams had at least the full complement of 5 members, leading to the following team results :

Club Round 5 scores Round 5 points Total points
Buxted 279 12 56
Mile Oak 271 11 58
Horsham 251 10 44
Meon 248 9 50
Ford 232 8 43

Today’s draw winners were:
Bonus Bunny £55 – Roger Dibbens
Air Arms Goody Bag – Jean Greatrex

Can you spot any errors in this post? Have I spelt your name correctly? Do I have you down for the correct club/class? – please message me directly if not.

This report will soon be followed by the ‘full’ cumulative individual league table, in class order. It will also reveal what badges you have won so far (so who could be in line for a Platinum before the end of the year) and your current lowest score, which you stand to ‘drop’ if you shoot in more than 5 rounds.

SIHFT Round 6 will be hosted by Mile Oak on Sunday 1st September.

Between now and then, there’s loads happening …… We have Round 2 of the Buxted HFT Open on the 4th August, the Sussex Extreme the following Sunday (11th August), also at Buxted. Closely followed by Rounds 7 & 8 of the UKAHFT which is a double-header at Maldon & District (AKA MAD) in Essex on 17th & 18th of August and finally Round 3 of the Buxted Open HFT on Sunday 25th August. Looks like the Buxted HFT course setting crew have their work cut out for them.

Happy and safe shooting ahead of 1/9/24

Biggles