Scouts throughout the district are always trying new and exciting activities and It's fair to say target shooting has always proved a popular choice as proved each year at Petworth Park Camp. There are Scouts that are happy to just have a go, Scouts that want to progress their skills and Scouts that have a natural talent for Shooting.
We’re a team of Scouts that all started shooting at a taster session. With years of hard work and dedication two of us now shoot at international competitions, representing Team GB in championship matches as far away as Luxembourg and even setting a new British record! Around this time every year we represent the district and county at the National Scout Rifle Championships. With that cancelled this year we thought we’d promote it instead.
The National Scout Rifle Championships is a 3 day event open to all UK members. Each year it attracts over 700 participants of all abilities and ages from all over the UK. It’s been running for over 40 years and is held at The National Shooting Center in Bisley, Surrey. There's a main competition and several other events too.
Those of us that attend from P&P tag onto the Worthing Scouts Shooting Squad.. We train with them every weekend, fine tuning our skills ready for the next competition. For us it's the highlight of the year.
The main competition comprises of 4 events -
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6 yard air rifle
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6 yard air pistol?
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Field target
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Knockdown
After that the choice is yours! Other events include
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small bore rifle
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full bore rifle
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archery
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crossbow
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target sprint
With upwards of 700 competitors it's fair to say the P&P contingent have had some fairly impressive finishing positions in recent years. Most impressive for us was coming 4th overall team in the main competition.
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2019 - 4th - main competition (team)
Marcus Barnes, Jack Lovett & Maddy Barnes
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2019 - 15th - field target
Marcus Barnes
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2019 - 7th - own pistol
Jack Lovett
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2019 - 9th - own pistol
Maddie Barnes
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2018 - 3rd - crossbow
Robert Whitling
If you’ve got a passion for shooting, a scout showing potential, or would like to get involved please do get in touch - dyc@pandpscouts.org.uk
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You can find more information on the nationals here - http://hampshirescoutrifleclub.org.uk/national-scout-rifle-championships/
You can see Maddy and Jack's accomplishments here -
https://www.airgunmagazine.co.uk/news/new-record-set-at-intershoot-2020/
Special thanks to the amazing leaders at Worthing District Shooting Squad for all your help and support with nationals and training each year.