Well done to everyone in Kingdom “An Riocht” Rifle & Pistol Club for hosting another excellent Sanctioned National Match. Running a competition with such a wide range of rifle, gallery rifle and pistol disciplines is no small task, and the organisers, Range Officers, scorers and volunteers kept everything running smoothly across the weekend. The hard work that goes into preparing the ranges and looking after competitors is never taken for granted, and everyone who travelled to Kerry was treated to another well-run National.
There was plenty of competitive shooting throughout the weekend, with shooters from clubs across the country producing some excellent performances. Just as encouraging was the number of Personal Bests and class promotions recorded over the two days, showing that competitors are continuing to improve as the season progresses.
The home club certainly had plenty to celebrate. Mike O’Grady enjoyed an excellent weekend with strong performances in the rifle and pistol events, while Mark Kinane, Ellen Hoogendorp, Connie Kelleher, Jim O’Donoghue and Ellen McCormack were among the An Riocht shooters recording notable performances and Personal Bests. The home advantage certainly wasn’t wasted.
Across the visiting clubs there were plenty of standout performances too. Eamonn Toal continued his excellent rifle form, Ben Valunta featured prominently in the pistol events, while Con Dunleavy and Eamon Culhane were consistently among the medals.
It was also great to see Fermoy’s Julie Moran back on the firing point after illness kept her out of competition for the past couple of months, including missing the Irish Open and World Championships on her home ranges in Fermoy. Returning to National competition, Julie certainly made up for lost time, collecting a number of medals across the weekend and recording two Personal Bests, showing that despite the enforced break she has lost none of her competitive edge.
One of the nicest aspects of the weekend was seeing so many competitors recording Personal Bests. Those improvements, whether they came with a medal or not, are often the biggest achievement of the weekend and show the standard of shooting across the NASRPC continues to improve. With experienced competitors being pushed by newer shooters making rapid progress, every National is becoming more competitive than the last.
Congratulations to everyone who travelled to compete, whether you came away with medals, a PB, a class promotion or simply another enjoyable weekend on the firing point. Thank you once again to everyone in Kingdom “An Riocht” Rifle & Pistol Club for the warm welcome and excellent organisation.
We look forward to seeing everyone again at the next National which takes place on 8th August at East Coast Shooting Club.
The full results from An Riocht can be found here.
Challenges will be accepted until 10pm on Monday, 3rd August. Please send all challenges / snags to competitions@nasrpc.ie