Inter-House Rifle Shooting Competition

The revival of the Inter-House Rifle Shooting Competition in December proved a tremendous success. Four representatives from each house competed for three trophies - a junior pair, senior pair and mixed junior and senior pair concurrently with their age pair shoot. Granville emerged as winners of the Junior Trophy with a score of 190 points. Fayrer came second (189) and Forest third (183). Carr won the Senior Trophy (197 points), with Fayrer and Granville equal second (193). The Lee Trophy for mixed pairs went to Granville (193 points), with Carr and Fayrer equal second on 190 points.

Surrey Schools Competition Saturday 19th May

Our final Schools' Match of the term, the Surrey Schools' Competition, produced a secure, if not winning, performance and we finished a creditable 3rd overall, pipped by Wellington by just one point! RGS put in a very strong performance to win and certainly made their mark in preparation for the Schools' Week 'run'. Special mention must go to Bonnie Cheung (Cr) and Sam Owen (C) for our top two scorers on the day with 64.3 and 64.2 respectively (ex 70.14). 

Results:

1st RGS Guildford - 496.29

2nd Wellington - 479.16

3rd Epsom - 478.23 (a good 'V' count again) Top 'over 16' at 600x was confirmed as Jamie with her 34.5 (superb shooting) after the prize-giving

Surrey Schools and Sawyer Cup Saturday 12th May

It was a reasonably exciting afternoon, not only because it didn't rain for the first time in a long time, but also because the 600x shoot was called off half way through as a helicopter had made a landing in the danger area! With teams having got through between 4-6 shooters in their VIII (we had managed 6 through, good drills!) the decision was made to give the final total based on the 300x scores plus the first four firers' scores at 600x. As with several other teams, this left us slightly apprehensive, as you generally place one of your two strongest pairs 7th and 8th... As not everyone had completed a 600x shoot, the individuals were taken from the 300x shoot only. After a nail-biting wait in which respective student captains were speculating with each other based on what they felt they had achieved, the results were confirmed and our VIII had done it again. It was certainly a trickier day than last Saturday, which the scores reflect, but as with any set of tricky conditions, it places everyone in the same position and the team were able to consolidate last week's performance with a well-deserved second win. Special mention must go to our coaching/plotter teams of Henry Awin (H) & Bogdan Stoichescu (G), and Sam Owen (C) & Ben Ross (G) for managing admirably in very tricky conditions and gaining some valuable experience in the process. Ben Ross was also the top scorer on the range at 300x, with his excellent 'V-bull' count, retaining the trophy won by William Broad (ex C) last year. Chris Smith (Fa) and Michael Faulkner (P) also managed a storming 3rd place in the Reserve pairs.

 Final results were:

 VIII: 1st Epsom 371.17 2nd RGS 367.20 3rd Wellington 363.19

 Reserve Pairs 1st Wellington 63.1 2nd Oratory 58.3 3rd Epsom 58.1

Individual 1st Epsom (Ben Ross ) 34.3 2nd RGS 34.2 3rd Clfiton 34.1

LMRA Schools at Bisley Saturday 5th May

After our slightly slow start with the recent matches, the VIII put in an absolutely storming performance to win the LMRA Schools' Match at Bisley. The team were impressive in their autonomy and determination, with slick drills, accurate shooting and coaching combining to produce an impressive final score. The score is so impressive that it is 7 points above the highest score I have seen our VIII produce in one of these 4 early season matches since I started. Special mention must go to Sam Owen ( C) and Bogdan Stoichescu (G) for scoring perfect 35/35s at 600x. There sadly wasn't a prize for top scorer on the range, but Sam would have certainly been in the running with his nearly perfect 69.8 out of 70.14. The other key success was for Jamie Thompson (Wh) who came second in the Reserves match against some stiff competition. Our juniors shot well, but with many of them on their first match or else first CTR shoot of the season, weren't quite on form yet and so finished further down the pack.

Target Rifle v Harrow School Saturday 3rd March

The Target Rifle team visited Harrow to shoot against their VIII and reserve men in what was an entertaining afternoon. After a mixture of solid shooting we managed a clear win in all three parts of the match. The grouping part of the competition carries the heaviest penalty in terms of points if even one shot goes awry, yet should be the most straightforward to score well in. We would be expecting the team to score 20/25 points every time but we had a very unexpected 10 and 15 out of 25. Assuming all goes well, that is another 20 points or so that we are capable of adding to our current total for the final. We are still a little behind our strong position of last year; however, the team is putting in every effort currently to improve their scores and Bogdan Stoichescu's almost perfect 94/95 (top score of the day) is testament to that effort and dedication.

The final results were as follows:

Epsom VIII: 670

Harrow VIII: 657

Epsom Pair: 137

Harrow Pair: 121

Epsom Reserve: 64 (Tom Hudspeth)

Harrow Reserve: 56

Target Rifle v Lancing College Saturday 25th February

The squad performed well in the unfamiliar range and very quickly adapted to the different snap target mechanism which, under a fully automated set up in the Lancing range, gives each pupil their 5 target exposures in different combinations, rather than all targets following the same sequence. Although our overall VIII score is a little down on this time last year, our top IV are looking very strong and put in solid scores. Special mention must go to our captain Henry Awin for the second highest score on the range and top scoring for the Epsom team and to Ryan Lee for winning the reserve man portion of the match.

The final results were as follows:

Epsom IV 'A': 355

Epsom IV 'B': 310

Lancing IV 'A': 314

Lancing IV 'B': 307

Combined scores to generate:

Epsom VIII: 665

Lancing VIII: 621

Reserve Men: Epsom (Ryan Lee) 79 Lancing 69

Target Rifle v RGS Guildford Saturday 4th February

The results were as follows:

Epsom VIII: 665

RGS VIII: 726

Epsom Pair: 155

RGS A Pair: 151

RGS B Pair: 140

Top scores:

Liam Cheek (RGS): 94/95

Ben Ross: 93/95

 Staniforth

The team battled valiantly this term to overcome the difficulties presented by their relative inexperience after our leavers departed in the summer. The final Staniforth shoot showed a marked improvement of 8 points on our score in the first stage, but unfortunately was not quite enough to keep us in the top three this year and we finished 4th overall with a final score of 772. Having led the first stage with 1st and 2nd places for their A & B teams, RGS Guildford were a little surprised to finish 2nd in the final by one point to Ampleforth, who finished on 783. Once again Ampleforth made a huge points gain (just under 40 points) in between the two stages.

OE Match Saturday 10th December

The OEs finished 5 points ahead of the College VIII this year (OEs 782, Epsom 777) but it should be noted that half the OE VIII were last year's Ashburton-winning U6th, so the College was, in many ways, a victim of its own success. Key mentions must go to vice captain, Zedrick Cheung for slotting in perfect 100s in both the OE match and the Staniforth final, and captain, Henry Awin also for his 100 in the OE match. Both were top scores for the day in the OE match and were delighted to have beaten William Broad in his debut as an OE.

Target Rifle v Lancing College at Epsom 15th November

Lancing College have a smaller squad than Epsom, so the competition was played with teams of IV for this match rather than full VIIIs. This format worked well on both sides as it allowed the juniors to compete directly with the seniors in a way that isn't always possible. Results are as follows:

IVs competition:

1st Epsom 'A' 386

2nd Epsom 'B' 384

3rd Lancing 'A' 380

4th Epsom 'C' 361

5th Lancing 'B' 346

Reserve Men competition:

1st Epsom - Seb Sander 94

2nd Epsom - Ryan Lee 90

3rd Lancing - Henry 89

4th Lancing - Louis 85

5th Lancing - Jack 83

'Polo' pairs competition:

1st Epsom 'A' - 24.2 secs (Bonnie Cheung & Ben Ross)

2nd Epsom 'B - 25.8 secs

3rd Lancing 'A' - 30.2 secs

4th Lancing 'B' - 46.2 secs

Special mention must go to Seb Sander for winning the Reserve Man competition, Bonnie and Ben for the Polos (with no practice!) and Zedrick Cheung for top scoring on the day with 99.

Clayton Challenge at Bisley 18th June

1st: Epsom 493.24
2nd: Oratory 492.18
3rd: Greshams 491.26
4th: Cheltenham 488.27
5th: Wellington A 473.10
6th: RGS 462.12

The Epsom 'B' team, which was predominantly made up of our new recruits this year, came an admirable 9th out of 13 teams, which is a really solid result at this stage.

We were unlucky not to place for the individual competition, which was won by a 67 to our top score of 65; however, the credit to the team as a whole is that their overall average scores are clearly high (winning overall despite not necessarily having the 'top shot' on the range), which bodes extremely well for the month ahead. Both Epsom teams were impressive in their level of organisation and focus.

Special mentions must go to William Broad (C) and Sam Owen (C) for sharing the top score in the team for the day with a 65.4, and for Tom Hudspeth (P) for stepping up at the very last minute to fill an absence for us on the day.

Sawyer Cup - 14th May

Building on their success in the Surrey Schools meeting a week earlier, the College Target Rifle VIII swept to victory in the Sawyer Cup at Bisley.

In difficult wind conditions, Epsom trailed at 300 yards but produced some excellent shooting at 600 yards to take first place with a solid score of 502.37 points. RGS Guildford came second with 478.26 points and Oratory third with 475.14 points.

Although Greshams did not compete this year, Lancing, College, St Johns and Wellington also provided stiff opposition and the result is a good benchmark for the weeks ahead.

William Broad was in outstanding form, top scoring on the day with 69.5 points out of a possible 70, while Lucinda Taylor and Lewis Harland won first place in the Reserve Pair competition - the second year running that Lewis has taken this particular trophy. Lucinda also made the third highest score of the day with 66.5 points.

The scores were as follows:

VIII:

1st: Epsom - 502.37

2nd: RGS - 478.26

3rd: Oratory - 475.14

Reserve Pair:

1st: Epsom - 128.8

2nd: Lancing - 127.11

3rd: RGS

Individual:

1st: William Broad - 69.5

2nd: Oratory - 67.2

3rd: Lucinda Taylor - 66.5

Surrey Schools Meeting -  7th May

The College VIII put in a solid performance to take second place, beating Oratory, Greshams, Guildford, St John's, Cheltenham and Lancing.

Epsom shooters exhibited solid consistency across the team and were able to produce the necessary numbers to come runners up to Wellington with a score of 488 to Wellington's 505 points. In the pairs, the Epsom senior pair came third by only a v-bull.

U6th former Samir Amin recorded the third highest over-16 score at 600x for the afternoon, while Zedrick Cheung, taking part in his second and third shoot ever with a full-bore rifle, top scored across all of the cadets competing (just over 100 across the various teams) as part of the Epsom B pair.

"Zedrick's outstanding score out of 67.4 out 70 is no mean feat in such early days of training and reflects his clear talent for the sport," said Target Rifle Shooting coach Clare Huxter.

The final scores were as follows:

VIII:

1st: Wellington - 505.23

2nd: Epsom - 488.24

3rd: Oratory - 483.54

Over-16 pairs:

1st: Cheltenham - 125.12

2nd: Lancing - 123.7

3rd: Epsom A - 123.6

Top over-16 at 600x:

1st: Oratory 34.6

2nd: Wellington 34.3

3rd Epsom 33.2 (Samir Amin)

LMRA Schools Match - 30th April

This was always going to be a challenging match due to its placement on the calendar and our lack of what would normally be a warm-up shoot on the first Thursday of the new term; for several of the VIII this was literally their first time shooting the CTRs this year and, combined with tricky wind conditions and slow markers, resulted in some below-par shoots from the majority of the team. Their focus and attitude as well as team drills on the day were very good, so we are looking forward to the Surrey match with a suitable appetite! Final scores were as follows: 1st: Oratory 492.18. 2nd: Wellington 477.29. 3rd: Epsom 444.12. There was quite siginificant spread of points across the top three so we were far from the only ones finding the first match out tricky. Henry Awin (H) is to be commended for top scoring for the team with a 59.3, pipping William Broad (C) to the top spot by one V-bull!

Malvern Cup - April

The Malvern Cup, an early-season match in which we shot against Greshams and Lancing under two categories; Class A in which 3 'old-boys' and 3 pupils compete as a team of 6, and Class B in which 6 pupils compete. Results are as follows:  Class A: Greshams: 580.65 Epsom: 564.33 Lancing: 557.37   Class B: Epsom: 559.49 Lancing: 480.18 Epsom 'newbies': 390.10   Unfortunately we were unable to retain the Class A title this year as Greshams fielded an extremely strong team; however, our Class B team were successful in winning against Lancing and William Broad (C) also won the top-scorer medal for the whole competition (normally taken from pupils only but he top-scored even amongst the adults competing) with an impressive 99.13 out of a possible 100.20. The closest competition was the OERC captain David Rose with a score of 99.10.

Channel Islands selection

Henry Awin scored three perfect '50s' on the Maple Taste selection weekend (19th-20th March), no mean feat, especially as two were 50.9 out of 50.10! Henry has been selected as part of the UK Cadet Rifle Team travelling to the Channel Islands this summer. Nineteen Cadets participated in the final selection with a team of twelve being chosen at the end of the weekend.

Target Rifle v Harrow 5th March

VIII:

Epsom: 704

Harrow: 665

Reserve Man:

Epsom: 88 (James Scott, Carr)

Harrow: 54

The team put in some solid scores and it was a good opportunity for some match pressure in preparation for the Country Life final on the 15th March. Special mention must go to Jen Lewsey for top scoring on the day with 94/95.

Target Rifle v RGS Guildford 5th February

Another match success for the squad, which produced the following results: 

Epsom VIII: 703

RGS VIII: 677

Epsom Pair 'A': 164

RGS Pair 'A': 180

Epsom Pair 'B': 156

RGS Pair 'B': 163  

RGS's pairs were very strong but the College VIII held a decisive lead throughout the afternoon. Special mention must go to William Broad for scoring a perfect 95/95 and top scoring for the day.

UKCRT selection

College Cadet L6th former Henry Awin has been successful in the first 'cut' for the UKCRT tour to the Channel Islands this summer. He is due to attend Maple Taste mid-March for the final selection over the three day training weekend. There were a large number of applicants for the tour this year so this is an excellent achievement.

Target Rifle v Lancing College 15th January

The squad began the Lent term on fine form, shooting against Lancing with the new format of Group, Rapid and Snap in preparation for the Country Life in March.

Results were as follows:

Epsom VIII: 670

Lancing VIII: 639

Epsom Res Man: 83 (Bonnie Cheung)

Lancing Res Man: 72

The squad managed admirably given the fact that the majority of them had had only one practice on the new format so far this year. Special mention must go to Henry Awin (H) for top scoring with a superb 93/95 and Ben Ross (G) for coming a close second with 91/95.

Staniforth

Scores were as follows:  

1st: Ampleforth - 797

2nd: Dollar - 789

3rd: Epsom - 779

4th: RGS - 778

OERC Match

The results are as follows:

VIII

Epsom: 787

OERC: 775  

Pairs

OE As: 195

Epsom: 190  

Reserve Man: Chris Smith (Fa): 89   Top scorer of the day was shared by William Broad ( C) and Jen Lewsey (W) with perfect 100/100s.

New talent emerges in Target Rifle squad - October  9th

After winning the prestigious Ashburton Shield for a record 14^th time during the summer, the College's Target Rifle team, with a number of new faces in the line-up, has made a solid start to the new season.

At this stage of the term, the squad is developing new talent from the L6th and 5^th form, but despite the fact that five out of the 10 shooters in the first match of the season against RGS Guildford were competing in their first ever smallbore competition, the Epsom 1^st VIII, with three new members, won the match by 760 points to 746.

The strong performance was underpinned by captain William Broad, who scored a perfect 100 and recorded the top score in the match, and Ben Ross, who came a close second with 99/100.

Despite losing the pairs competition 173-187, both Epsom shooters performed admirably, particularly Bonnie Cheung, who was shooting the format for the first time.

Ashburton Shield Competition at Bisley 15th July

The target rifle team finished the term in style by winning the prestigious Ashburton Shield at the National Rifle Association's 150^th Anniversary Schools Meeting at Bisley. This was the 14th time overall and 13th time in the past 21 years that Epsom has won the blue riband event of the school target rifle shooting calendar, beating Charterhouse's record for the highest number of Ashburton wins by a single school.

This year's competition was a close run thing, with holders Gresham's School pushing the College VIII of Samir Amin, Alex Dowle, William Broad, Jack Ball, Alex Brunton-Reid, Alastair Mazumdar, Jen Lewsey and Jamie Gibbons all the way.

Epsom started strongly, winning the 300x and 600x distances, and despite faltering at 500 yards, the team held their nerve to win by a single point. The final scores were:

1st Epsom - 763.42

2nd Gresham's - 762.40 points

3rd Cheltenham - 753.39.

In addition to winning the Ashburton Shield and eight NRA silver medals, Clare Huxter became the first lady to win the Allhallows Salver as "Master" in charge of the winning school.

There were many outstanding individual performances from the entire squad throughout the meeting. Alex Dowle won the Monday Aggregate and was third in both the Tuesday and the Wednesday Aggregates, as well as second in the School's Hundred and 500x Aggregate. William Broad won the overall 600x Victoria competition, as well as the 600x Aggregate and Cadet Rifle Aggregate. 

The College also came third in the Schools' Fours with 335.9 points and third in the Reserve Man, with Henry Awin scoring 43.1 points, just 0.1 behind the winner.

The Sawyer Cup at Bisley 15th May

VIII

1st: Epsom - 480.22

2nd: Oratory - 474.13

3rd: RGS Guildford - 458.26

Reserve Pairs

1st: Epsom (Harland and Gibbons) - 113.2

2nd: Oratory - 110.4

3rd: Oratory - 90.3

Individuals:

1st: Oratory - 64.3

2nd: RGS Guildford - 63.4

3rd: Epsom (William Broad) - 63.4

Surrey Schools' Competition 8th May

Despite an utterly miserable afternoon weatherwise, with low temperatures and general drizzle, the squad were on fine form at Bisley for the Surrey Schools' Competition and pulled together to produce a series of excellent results. Firing point drills are becoming very smooth and this will hold them in good stead for the weeks ahead.

Results were as follows:

VIII

1st Epsom - 498.27 (a little down on last week's performance but admirable given the weather)

2nd Oratory - 481.19

3rd RGS Guildford - 463.13

4th Cheltenham - 448.22

Alex Dowle won the Talbot Tankard for the top scoring over 16 in the VIII, with a score of 67.8, the second year in a row that he has won this trophy.

Cadet Pairs:

1st Epsom A - 127.7  (Ben Ross and Sam Owen)

2nd Oratory A - 120.7

3rd St Johns - 117.6

In the separate competition held for the top scoring under and over 16 at 600x, Alex Brunton-Reed was pipped to the over-16 tankard by a mere 3 v-bulls and Jamie Gibbons by only 2 v-bulls. RGS Guildford had the top scorer in both age groups, but only just.

The OERC Vets team were also victorious in their part of the competition, beating the Old Guildfordians by 2 points.

LMRA Schools' Competition 1st May

The Target Rifle VIII returned to winning ways with a convincing win at the LMRA (London & Middlesex Rifle Association) Schools' Competition held at Bisley. The squad pulled together for their first outing as a full 16 and shot admirably throughout the afternoon. Final results put the Epsom VIII in first position with 513.43 points, Marlborough second with 461.16 and Oratory third with 448.16.

Had there been a prize for the top individual performance, William Broad would undoubtedly have been in the running with his score of 67.7 out of 70. Jack Ball was the team's second highest scorer with 66.8 and Alex Brunton-Reed third with 66.6.

Georgie Milne, on her first ever shoot with the squad, performed well in the Reserve Competition, scoring 60.2 to take fourth place place, just one point behind the third placed firer.

In the pairs, Epsom came 4^th, 6^th and 8^th as Oratory took the top three positions.

Clayton Challenge 24th April

The first match of the term provided a very useful learning ground for the whole team! We were unfortunately faced with a completely unexpected and unexplained 'miss' for one of our firers at 500x on their first to count. A difficult choice to swap rifles resulted and we invariably lost points in zeroing in the new equipment using 'counting' shots. The firer is to be commended for remaining determined in the face of the most challenging scenario possible for someone in competition. The point was proved with a V-bull finish! It meant that we were immediately 10 points down on where we should have been in the match, so it commendable that we finished 4th out of the 13 teams competing and 3rd in the Schools' portion of the competition. We had some other minor early season wobbles within our overall score as well, so things are looking promising for the season ahead.  

Results were as follows:

1st Wellington - 510.26

2nd Greshams - 491.25

3rd 126 Derby ACF - 490.26

4th Epsom - 489.27

5th Oratory A - 480.23

6th RGS Guildford - 470.20

William Broad (C) is to be commended on achieving our top score of the day with 65.5 out of 70, with Jack Ball (Fa) a close second on 64.4. 

Country Life Competition 9th March

The College IX are to be commended on some very steady shooting across the board and despite a disappointing snap series, we maintained an excellent position overall. Congratulations especially go to our top scorers of Jack Ball (Fa) and William Broad (C) for achieving a 93/95 and Jen Lewsey (W) for 92/95.

                             G       R       S      Land     Total

1st  Dollar              200    307    228    199       934

2nd Epsom            200    301    221     200      922

3rd Berkhamsted    195    292    226    199       912

4th Ampleforth        195    290    211    206      902

5th RGS Guildford   200    310    232   156       898