Three hundred young athletes had UK pistol and air rifle supremacy in their sights at the National Schools Shooting Championships at Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock.
The event on 8th and 9th February was a closely fought contest between regional winners from across the country who were supported by special guests including Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner Dean Bale and Paralympians Issy Bailey and Ryan Cockbill - all British Shooting School Championships Ambassadors.
In the individual disciplines, Grace Arnott, of King Langley School, in Hertfordshire, won the Junior Pistol title.
Ayush Chauhan, of City Academy, in London, came took the Senior Pistol Final title, while the intermediate competition was won by Raissa Vickery, of St Albans High School for Girls.
In the Junior Pistol Team category, Taunton Preparatory School won with a score of 488.
Shropshire’s Ellesmere College were the Senior Pistol Teams winners with a score of 512 and Leweston School, from Dorset, took the intermediate competition with a score of 462.
The competitors, aged 11-18, hailed from 140 schools up and down the country and Gorgs Geikie, the founder and manager of the Schools Championships who was the last pistol shooter to have competed at an Olympics at London 2012 said the enthusiasm and talent proves the event and the sport has a bright future ahead.
“Everyone competed fantastically,” said Gorgs.
“All the volunteers and supporters did such a great job to make sure it went smoothly.
“The scores have been brilliant, and it shows there’s some really strong talent around the UK.
‘There’s been a huge interest in the competition throughout the entire season, which is incredible especially given the qualification rounds were competed in remotely due to Covid.
“The future of this event is looking very exciting as it keeps growing year on year.”
Gold Coast Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Dean Bale, added: “It’s been great. To see so many young athletes coming through in this grass roots environment is incredible, and I’ve been blown away the number of participants today.
“When I was younger, I was only really exposed to target shooting through the scouts so to see schools now getting involved and offering a new route into shooting is exciting to see.
“There’s a whole range of ages and when we got to the finals of each category the competition was very close – it was very tense and great to watch!
“I think the Championships is going to help bring more shooters in at grass roots level to feed up through the Talent Pathway and eventually into the World Class Programme.”
Chris Derbyshire, Managing Director at Inspiring healthy lifestyles, the not-for-profit charitable leisure trust which runs Chase Leisure Centre, said: “It was a privilege for Inspiring healthy lifestyles to be able to host the event at Chase Leisure Centre.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the competition days and it was inspiring to see such talented young people from across the country competing as well as children from local schools giving it a go.
“I’d like to thank Cannock Chase Council for their support and look forward to working with British Shooting again in the future to ensure that the event is even bigger and better next time.”
It’s the first time the National Schools Shooting Championships has been held since 2020 due to the pandemic.
It began in 2015 as a pistol only event and it’s the first time it’s incorporated the British Shooting Schools Rifle Championship, completing the repertoire of air gun shooting.
Locally based Rugeley Rifle Club were instrumental in helping to secure the championship at Chase Leisure Centre and provided a number of volunteers at the two-day event which was followed by an activity day for children from Cannock Chase schools.