10th August
Saturday dawned chilly and with a certain dampness in the air. At 06:30 (the 0 standing for Oh my god its early) the team struggled out of their military beds (super hard plastic covered mattresses, covered with a mattress protector and a sheet that was the regulation 9 inches too short – basic, but surprisingly comfy!) and blearily made their way into the camp canteen for breakfast.
A nameless individual attempted to immediately burn the place down with the help of a ‘sticky’ toast machine, but deft knife work prevented disaster.
Several cups of coffee, glasses of OJ and lashings of cereal, toast, eggs, hash browns and bacon/sausages later we all queued up outside the Vice’s room to be issued with various flavours of ammunition. This ranged from Boer war vintage handloads to Canadian Hornady with plastic tipped bullets.
Suitably equipped, by 07:30 the team had loaded the various vans with shooting kit and rifles and then headed off to the range (about five-mitree drive).
The course of fire for the day was individual 2 sighters & 10 to count at 300, 400 and 500 yards in the morning and then an individual 2&10 at 600 yard after lunch followed by a team shoot at 600 yards.
The 300 yards started promisingly, with Trevor Bryan slotting in a 50.7 in to come second, closely followed by Le Capitain in third place. 400 yards is where it got interesting though… This is the Quebecois equivalent of a ‘long range’ shoot – by the simple expedient of using a 300m target as the aiming mark. Trust me, this is a small target at 400 yards and the bull is teeny. Add a bit of wind to the mix and things can start to go wrong quite quickly. For some, things did go wrong, with 46 being a score heard a few times… but not for all with David Nuthall and Jeremy Tuck showing the way with possibles.
With some of the team licking their wounds we fell back to 500 yards and a more reasonably proportioned target. This was the second part of the shoot, with scores from 400 & 500 making up completion 2. By this time the wind was showing itself but not necessarily adhering to the normal practices of blowing the bullet the same direction as the flags were showing it should. Indeed, some of the flags were downright dishonest in their indications! Once again, some fared better than others and when all was done Jeremy Tuck had come 2nd and David Nuthall was 1st.
Lunch was provided on the range by our hosts in the form of salads and wraps – all very good. These came with a drink made up of a concoction of 10 vegetables… several of the team pointed out that, if they drank this, they would be well ahead of their ‘five a day’ target, whilst others commented that what was missing was Worcestershire Sauce and Vodka – as it did taste a lot like a Bloody Mary mix.
Suitably fortified, the team looked to 600 yards, then looked at the sky, then ran for cover as it started bucketing down with rain. Thankfully the match was delayed until the brief shower had passed, at which point everyone climbed the mound and did the business with another light but ‘tricky for some’ wind. David Nuthall had the best showing with a third-place finish. This made him ‘clean’ (no points dropped) on the day and cleaning up the prizes with a win in the daily aggregate too…. Some team wag suggested that David should now be known as “Daz” for his proven ability to clean up.
Le Capitain then collected plot sheets and proceeded to select five teams of four, some with ‘built in’ coaches and others with the luxury of a dedicated coach. These teams were ordered to select a suitably witty name and then to immediately progress back to 600 yards and shoot in a light but changeable wind. The results were a win for the “Last Chance Saloon” team with 199.20, England Extractors were third with 198.17, Machine Gun Crew 4th with 193, English Roses 5th with 192 and Under 25’s 6th with 192
So ended the shooting day, with the team returning to their barracks where the management rustled up some suitable sundowners to celebrate the start of the tour. Then a quick shower and change prior to heading off to the ATPQ (Association de Tir de la Province de Québec) dinner. Showering in the barracks proved a little bit of a lottery with some rooms having a shower shared between two rooms and others requiring a use of a communal shower…. both of which had their own separate challenges.
Dinner was held in a local Quebec restaurant which was suffering a slight identity crisis by the look of it. It was a cross between a sports bar, a cinema (free popcorn), and a theme park (There was a guy wandering around in a beaver costume). Prizes were presented to the days winners, plus to the top Under-25 competitors for each match, which resulted in Katherine Fleck, Harriet Bramwell and Saxon Brewer-Marchant all getting medals. Special mention should go to David Nuthall’s presentations which were accompanied by a chorus of ‘We love you David, we do’ which I suspect was last used on the football terraces.
The management were presented with ATPQ polo shirts by the ATPQ president and Le Capitain them made a speech thanking our hosts (some of it in passable French). He also presented an engraved EnglishXX Silver Salver which will, he hopes, be used as a future trophy in the ATPQ provincial meeting.
The evening ended with various van drivers gritting their teeth to what some may describe as ‘singing’ whilst returning their charges to the barracks. By the time the MPs turned up to find out what the racket was the team had hit the sack, ready for the next early morning call.