Friday 6th September | Written by Jason Pepera-Hibbert
Another early start with many of the team waking up as early as 3:30am (helped by the jet lag!). There was excitement in the air as we were all eager to prove ourselves in the first day of competition. With squadding allocated and register cards ready, we began a packed day of shooting, register keeping and butt-marking.
The wind was just as sleepy as we were, meaning there were many high scores at 300 and 500. However at 600 and 900, the Tubb Range gave us a teaser of what was to come later in the week.
There were some mishaps however! Simon and Jon C. missed the school bus down to the butts causing one relay to be delayed by a few minutes, arriving to rapturous jeering from their fellow competitors.
Team members in the top 10 at short range were Pete, Jason, Simon, Matt and Jeremy. For long range, Simon continued his run of form with the highest score on the range at 900 yards with a 150.12! (ex 150.15), Jon U and Dave Rose also finished with 149s.
The Aggregate for the day was won by the US’ Mike Halsey with 449.31 ex 450.45, followed by our very own Simon with 448.28, with Jason and Jon U also in the top 7.
A quick turnaround from shooting saw us go to the famous St. James Hotel just south of the range. Legendary cowboys and outlaws roamed the halls back in the days of the Wild West, saloon doors and all! They left bullet holes in the ceiling from their numerous gun fights of which 20 are still in the dinner hall. We were joined by some members of the Bald Eagles Rifle Club for dinner at the hotel and let’s say the food did not disappoint.
Our final activity of the jam packed day was Elk spotting. A herd of ~200 were nearby the Santa Fe trail so we took out our spotting scopes to observe these magnificent animals (from a distance). The astute among us noticed the Buck of the herd which was almost double the size of the rest. Truly a night to remember.
Tomorrow we have our first team match where we are entering 4 teams under the English flag. Another early night for us!
“We’ve heard some comments that y’all are feeling we’re rushing you too much between details. To that I say: Welcome to Raton!”