Some of the team were awoken slightly earlier than planned by biblical quantities of rain thrashing on the hotel tin roof at 4am. By 6:45am it had cleared and the team met for breakfast under hot, humid, but clear skies.
7:15 and everyone was aboard the trusty team bus driven by the ever calm Godfrey Heinz. After a couple of inevitable false starts due to missing kit we headed off to Timehri Range, a mere ten minutes away, without the need for a police escort.
Rifles were retrieved from our friends at the GDF (Guyana Defence Force) and re-assembled followed by a quick inspection of the impressive 1000 yard range. The president of the GNRA, and Chief of Defence Staff, Brig Omar Khan, then made his arrival, landing in a helicopter between 900m and 1000 yards. When the chopper was spotted on approach there was initially some chat that it might be Jumbo Lewis making an unscheduled appearance.
Speeches then commenced, followed by a prayer and then a ceremonial first shot fired by the Brigadier to open the Guyana individual championships. After a short zeroing session the first shoot of the day was at 300 yards with high heat, humidity and a tricky little wind producing a mixed bag for the team with Ed Feast coming out on top with 50.5 (ICFRA targets).
Lunch was followed by 500 yards, where once again the competitors were tested by the elements, with your diarist deciding to bracket his target by scoring a V bull on the targets either side of it. We then progressed back to 600 yards for the final shoot of the day.
Once again, Ed Feast took top gun with another ‘possible’ 50.4 which, although this requires confirmation, most likely wins him the day with a 147.15
A special shout out to the members of the Guyana team for their organisation and supplying the huge quantities of water and a well recognised ‘rehydration’ drink which will be unnamed as they didn’t sponsor us.
Depositing the rifles back into the hands of GDF we made the short trip back to ‘barracks’ and our first ‘sundowners’ meeting before dinner and (for most) and early night.
Lollipops awarded : 9
Lollipops to date : 15
