Hi All.

With apologies for extreme tardiness in remembering to post here (v's Facebook) the narrative and results of the 1st round of this year's SIHFT competition series. 'ere we go ...

The Horsham Hawkes HFT crew welcomed us to host the opening round of the SIHFT 2024 series and delivered a well-run admin (big shout out to the parking monitors and those volunteering to see us safely back out on to the road), good breakfast offering and a good course but, given the date being the last Sunday in April, rather damper than we might have hoped for. Given the sheer volume of rain we’ve all put up with in the past week/month, I guess it’s no surprise that this may have been the boggiest I’ve ever known the Horsham ground to be. And with just a few (3?) short stoppages, mostly for target checks to be conducted, the shoot was completed in a very commendable sub 3hrs from kick-off to the end-of-shooting triple whistle blast. Not that time is critical, but it would be fantastic if the rest of the series gets close to this.

Very reasonable turnout too, with an entry of 58 – not bad considering the weather. We also had nearly the minimum of 5 members to make up the teams for all of the Sussex Team Trophy clubs; only Ford were 1 short and had to have a random card drawn to make up their number.

Score card completion too was pretty good, with zero corrections missing a marshal signature and all had the required witness signature. I found two cards with empty box where no Class was recorded. We have made the score cards a tad simpler this year by removing the need for you to record your rifle manufacturer and ditto for the scope. The scope magnification box and parallax and illuminated reticle settings remain. I spotted only one card today with these sections blank.

Anyway …. Here are the results. If you’ve not seen (or forgotten) the results table layout, perhaps the only column not recognised 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)
Mike Burgess Oaks V 55 100.00% Gold T
Kevin Hills Buxted O 55 100.00% G T
Howard Kalisch Buxted O 55 100.00% G T
Jon Newton-May Buxted O 55 100.00% G T
Dave Wade HRPC O 54 98.20% G
Dax Browning Meon Valley O 53 96.40% G T
Ewan Hobbs Iden Fern O 53 96.40% G
Nik Orr Oaks O 53 96.40% G T
Simon Vant Oaks O 53 96.40% G T
Darryle Bundock Oaks O 52 94.50% G T
Aaron Friend Oaks O 52 94.50% G T
Phil Moody Horsham V 52 94.50% G T
Martin Nicholls Buxted O 52 94.50% G T
Stefan Avey Oaks O 51 92.70% G
Steven Avey Oaks O 51 92.70% G
Matthew Franks Oaks O 51 92.70% G
Vince Guy Oaks O 51 92.70% G
Charles Peal Oaks O 51 92.70% G
Adrian Wright Meon Valley O 51 92.70% G T
Maciek Pajek Horsham O 50 90.90% Silver T
Mark Rackley Oaks V 50 90.90% G
Paul Charman Buxted V 49 89.10% G T
Roger Dibbens Oaks O 49 89.10% S
Kevin Wickson Buxted O 49 89.10% S
Chris Allen Buxted O 48 87.30% S
Carrol Lamport Buxted O 48 87.30% S
Marc Stephenson MAD O 48 87.30% S
Nigel Carter Purbeck FTC V 47 85.50% G
David Wheeler Ford O 47 85.50% S T
Dave Barnes Meon Valley V 46 83.60% G T
Nigel Buchan Buxted V 46 83.60% G
Rob Buckell Oaks V 46 83.60% G
Richard Wheeler Ford O 46 83.60% S T
Phil Beaton Horsham V 45 81.80% S T
Alicia Franks Oaks L 45 81.80% S
Tony Johnson Barbarians V 45 81.80% S
Roy Pearce MAD V 44 80.00% S
Dave Pullen Meon Valley V 44 80.00% S T
Martin Cook Buxted R 43 78.20% S
Kevin Allen Horsham R 42 76.40% S T
Hugborg Hudson Meon Valley L 42 76.40% S T
Robert Lindgren Horsham O 42 76.40% Bronze T
Kim May Horsham L 42 76.40% S
Ian Munnery Horsham O 42 76.40% B
Michael Myszyn Buxted Sticks 42 76.40% S
Darren Brind Oaks R 41 74.50% S
Martin Dudley Horsham R 41 74.50% S
Maryam Shapouri Oaks L 41 74.50% S
Derek Watson Horsham R 41 74.50% S
Richard Wickenden Ford O 41 74.50% B T
Chris Cullen Meon Valley R 40 72.70% B
Barbara Pearce MAD L 39 70.90% B
Steve Saunter Buxted Sticks 39 70.90% B
Trevor Hudson Meon Valley Sticks 38 69.10% B
Ray Munnery Horsham O 38 69.10%
Steb Martinez Ford R 37 67.30% B T
David Wilshaw Meon Valley R 33 60.00%
Tom Haynes Oaks R DNF 0

A tad more than a cock up on my part when compiling the results prior to inviting badge winners up to the table, was caused by my failing to sufficiently early correct an error made when setting the round top (100%) score. This meant that a few of you may have inadvertently been offered a Silver badge when you were fully entitled to a Gold; likewise for anyone getting a Bronze rather than Silver. In Open class this means that Adrian Wright should have had a Gold; Dave Barnes likewise in the Veterans class. So sorry folks. Hopefully this will be just a Round 1 glitch. For Adrian and Dave B, please approach me at Round 2 for your swap-out. You were not alone, but t’others were sorted on the day. If anyone else thinks they are also due a Badge upgrade, please do ask me.

As a very unexpected and pleasant ‘extra’ in Round 1, the Watson family had put together three splendid trophies for 1st to 3rd places. As there were 4 tied on 55, the winners were calculated on countback. Outcome was 3rd place Mike Burgess, 2nd place, Kev Hills and 1st place (the only one to knock over the lane 1 unsupported stander) was taken away by Jon Newton May.

And the team results were:

Club Round 1 Points won
Buxted 266 12
Mile Oak 265 11
Meon 236 10
Horsham 231 9
Ford 204 8

Today’s draw winners were:
£58 – Darren Brind
Air Arms Goody Bag – Darryle Bundock.

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.

Biggles