DURC sent a team of four to the first competition of the 2001-2 Air Rifle season. Attendance was low due to difficulties with transport and lack of training time for new club members.
The new WTSC mobile range was used: this range is currently the largest in the country with 15 firing points. It currently hosts the National Squad training sessions as well as other large competitions. Previously, only the UCD range could cope with these events.
The DURC contingent arrived in WTSC early on Sunday morning, despite having attended the Olympic Council of Ireland's seminar on coaching in the University of Limerick the day before. Mark, Peter and Ben shot on the first detail, Steven acting as ``buddy'' for all three. The ``buddy'' system, recently introduced in DURC by Steven, has proven a great success - the ``buddy'' acts as another pair of hands for the shooter while setting up on his/her firing point and general dogsbody during the match to minimize disruption for the shooter, who then trades role with the ``buddy'' on the next detail. This allows for one-to-one supervision of new shooters as well as improved performance of experienced shooters.
Steven and Mark both set personal bests of 571 and 544 respectively and both went through to the ten-shot final, where Steven had the best final score of the match. Mark was shooting with his new air rifle and other gear - and despite some silly technical errors that lost him up to 15 points, shot a PB. Proving that the right equipment can make a serious difference to performance. For reference, 570 is the Minimum Qualifying Score, or MQS, for the Olympics; 537 is the qualifying score for the National Developmental Squad; and 559 is the qualifying score for the National Squad.