Izzy and Bill Clark competed at Aldersley this weekend in the NSRA West Midlands Airgun Open. In the B-Class Air Rifle Championship, Izzy took Gold and Bill Silver. Bill shot two days and also claimed Gold in the B-Class Aggregate.
Tag: NSRA
GB officership for Martyn
Congratulations to Rugeley Rifle Club Chairman Martyn Buttery, who has been appointed Adjutant for the GB Dewar Team in 2025 and 2026. The Adjutant is an assistant to the Team Captain, and typically takes on the Captaincy following their term as Adjutant.
Club representation at Bisley
Rugeley members represented at the NSRA’s National Smallbore Meeting this year, winning County and Home Country selections.
Six members shot the Weekend Aggregate, spanning Classes X to D.
- Richard Hemingway – X, 20th
- Alex Buttery – C, 21st
- Ian Abbotts – C, 33rd
- Liz Garner – C, 35th
- Brian Parker – C, 43rd
- Deb Truman – D, 20th
Martyn Buttery finished 42nd in the X-Class Grand Aggregate and represented Hampshire. Martyn won Silver with the County Sextette, and Bronze in the County 50Metre match.
Richard Hemingway was selected for Wales, placing third in the Home Countries International.
Richard and Liz both qualified for the Eley Postal Final, with Richard placing 17th in A, and Liz taking 3rd in E.
Paul Watkiss placed 9th in A-Class in the Benchrest Weekend Aggregate. John Passey placed 11th.
Rugeley dominate County Championships
Rugeley Rifle Club repeated its 2023 success at the Staffordshire Smallbore Rifle Association’s Championships, held at Baldwin’s Gate near Keele.
Richard Hemingway again led the charge, retaining his title as Staffordshire Long Range Champion, winning A-Class in the process. He also won the County 50Metre Championship.
Dave Glover won B-Class, was highest scoring Veteran and also earned the NSRA County Silver Medal – awarded to the highest scorer who hasn’t won it before.
Graham Delaney won C-Class and the R.W. De Nicolas Memorial Trophy for the top C, D or Junior shooter. Graham won D-Class last year. Vic Tyne was runner-up in C-Class and Helen Robinson placed sixth.
Paul Watkiss won D-Class.
England selection and Silver medal for Olivia at British 50Metre Championships
Olivia Beech was selected to represent England in the Home Countries match on Saturday at the British 50Metre Rifle Championships. Shooting on the difficult Malcolm Cooper Range at the NSRA Lord Roberts Centre in Surrey, Olivia scored 555/600, placing her fourth overall and between team mates Wes Cann on 565 and Lloyd Collins-Page on 532. In a tight-fought match England placed second with 1652/1800, just three points behind Wales on 1655.
Having comfortably qualified for the final, she held her nerve to win Silver, making her top female competitor.
Olivia’s performance comes after her GB selection to the Junior team attending the Nordic Championships in August. Hosted in Denmark this year, Olivia will be competing in the Junior Women’s Three-Position Rifle and the Mixed Team event alongside Louis Norman.
Rugeley awarded Performance Club status by NSRA
Rugeley Rifle Club is delighted to have been registered as an NSRA Performance Club.
NSRA Performance Clubs are those with an ethos of competition and athlete development. Achieving recognition as a Performance Club is testament to the hard work by the club committee and members in developing the facilities to allow quality training activities – particularly the new club room, training building and availability of electronic targets at 10m and 50m. It also recognises the effort by the club’s volunteer instructors and coaches, not only in developing athletes, but also providing support and continued development for instructors and coaches.
Top 5 finish for Paul at NSRA-Eley Final
Rugeley member Paul Watkiss placed fifth in the A-Class 10metre Air Pistol final of the NSRA-Eley Postal competition this weekend. Having shot two postal stages at the club, Paul qualified with the top 15 shooters nationally for the final at Bisley.
Well shot Paul!
National Selection and Championship Finals for Hemingway
Rugeley member Rich Hemingway had a sterling weekend at Bisley, shooting for Wales and qualifying for the Final of the British Prone Championship (the “Earl Roberts Championship”) at the close of the NSRA’s 2023 National Meeting.
On Friday, Rich warmed up by comfortably making it through the First Stage of the Earl Roberts, placing 9th of the 50 who qualified. That afternoon he went on to shoot in the Home Countries International, competing for Wales against England and Scotland. Wales narrowly placed third, close behind Scotland. Rich had the second highest score in the Welsh team, just a point behind Sian Corish – who was awarded the “Tartan Dragon” trophy for highest Welsh scorer.
Rich Hemingway with the 2023 Welsh Home Countries Team
photo credit: Eleanor Shorey theshorey.co.uk
On Saturday morning, competitors took to the range for another early start to contest the Second Stage of the Roberts, from which 40 qualified to the final. Placing 27th, Richard entered his first Roberts Final, making him the first Rugeley or Staffordshire shooter to compete in the final for some years.
Shooting a Double Dewar course – 40 shots each at 50metres and 100yards – the wind picked up significantly, as is appropriate for championship finals! In gusty conditions, many competitors struggled to keep their scores above 190, with a smattering of big flyers (including 4s and 6s!) seen along the range, especially on the 100yard portion. Keeping their cool amongst all of them though was 2022 champion Lina Jones, who retained her title with a score of 772. Rich finished his debut Final with 756, placing him 20th.
Staffordshire prizes in Eley Final
Three Staffordshire shooters claimed prizes this Sunday at the Prone Rifle Finals in the NSRA-Eley Competition. Rich Hemingway of Rugeley placed fourth in A-Class. Duncan Chilcott of Market Drayton placed 8th in D-Class whilst Alan Boyles placed 7th in E-Class.
Best of luck to Paul Watkiss, who has qualified for the Air Pistol finals in A-Class, to be held in October at Bisley.
International caps at Bisley
Rugeley enjoyed international success, with three members representing Home Nation teams at the Bisley 100 Meeting.
On Friday, Club Chairman Martyn Buttery captained England – an historic double after he also captained the team at Scotland 100 in 2019.
Rich Hemingway and Ryan Williams were both selected to represent Wales. They were joined by friend-of-the-club Liam Webster who earned his first Welsh cap. Liam shot at Rugeley for many years before moving to west Wales some years ago.
England ultimately won the match, scoring 3799/4000.
| England | 3799 |
| Scotland | 3755 |
| Wales | 3715 |
| Jersey | 3622 |