Air Rifle Nationals 2002

Distribution

Dr. Trevor West	DUCAC Chairman
Aubrey Storey	DUCAC Secretary
Terry McAuley	DURC President and Director of Sport
Michelle Bennett	Physical Recreation Officer
Tony O'Donnell	Student Record
Susan Thompson	Trinity News

Summary

Venue	Wilkinstown Target Shooting Club, Navan, Co.Meath
Date	April 13/14, 2002
Discipline	10m Air Rifle

DURC Attendees
Steven Watterson	Mark Dennehy
Ray Reilly	Keith White
Peter Byrne	Nithin Santhosh
Adrian Costigan	Kate Fanning
John Keeney	Rob McAdoo
Victoria McDowell	Doug Woolett
Deirdre Ninaber	Ben Jones

Scores
Steven Watterson	574	578
Mark Dennehy	543	538
Ray Reilly	544	519
Peter Byrne	531	528
Nithin Santhosh	526	524
Adrian Costigan	488	522
Kate Fanning	491	500
John Keeney	506	483
Rob McAdoo	457	422
Victoria McDowell	426	419
Doug Woolett	378	427
Deirdre Ninaber		537
Ben Jones		533

Prizes Won
Steven Watterson	Bronze, National Open; 3rd, Class A
Peter Byrne	2nd Class C, National Open; 3rd Class C, National Championships
Nithin Santhosh	3rd ClassC, National Open
Kate Fanning	1st Class D, National Open
John Keeney	2nd Class D, National Open; 3rd Class D, National Championships
Rob McAdoo	3rd Class D, National Open
Deirdre Ninaber	1st Class D, National Championships
Ben Jones	2nd Class C, National Championship

Report

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DURC sent a large team of 14 people (13 competitors and one administrative officer) to this year's Air Rifle National Championships, which were held in Wilkinstown this year for the first time in a decade, in the new NTSA portable range. This range shows how uncomplicated the requirements are for an olympic discipline like 10m Air Rifle. The full range seen here can be disassembled and moved in only three hours, though it does require several people and vans to move the various components. So long as an appropriately sized venue is available, the range can be used. This range should be examined with the new projectile design in mind - it demonstrates how the most important requirement is the physical size of the hall, but also the necessity for permanent fixtures - a three hour setup time would be prohibitive in anything but a temporary range like this one.

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The DURC squad shot extremely well, even given the required 5am starts on Saturday and Sunday (necessary to arrive in Wilkinstown with sufficent time to prepare to shoot). All bar Mark Dennehy and Steven Watterson set personal best scores, and Steven held the lead in the National Open until the last few shots. The National Open was held concurrently with the National Championship to allow for international shooters like Steven to compete. Steven managed to secure the bronze medal for DURC in the Open.

The Colours squad used this event as a warm-up and training exercise for the colours match (due to be held in Wilkinstown on April 26th), and given the scores acheived, this was judged to be a resounding success. The squad learnt many valuable lessons in match strategy, and also gained some experience of shooting under pressure. Deirdre Ninaber, shooting in her first ever air rifle match, managed to take first place in class D with a 537, a phenonomally high score for a beginner, and which will see her moved up to class B with her next competition. This bodes very well for the upcoming colours match, which this year is an offically CUSAI-recognised Intervarsity for the first time.

The DURC Squad. Back Row, left to right: Doug Woolett, Ray Reilly, Peter Byrne, John Keeney, Adrian Costigan, Ben Jones, Mark Dennehy
Front Row, left to right: Victoria McDowell, Deirdre Ninaber, Kate Fanning and captain Steven Watterson

Misé le meas,



Mark Dennehy, DURC Secretary