Hinckley sharpshooters lift Triple Town Trophy

EVERY season the three local air rifle leagues – Hinckley, Bedworth, and Nuneaton – take a break from their regular competitions to face each other for the Triple Town Trophy. Held over three nights, this season the competition started on Tuesday at the Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club.

Of the three teams, it was the shooters from Nuneaton that struggled the most. Although the competition allows up to 12 shooters, Nuneaton only had eight available, so they knew that every score would count, and this impacted them negatively.

Mike Sansome shot well for his 29; Jon Storer did nearly as well to score 28; and Melanie Jenkins managed 27, but they also had to count scores as low as 21, and so they finished on a disappointing 206 out of a possible 240.

The home side did much better, particularly their captain, Andrew Cryer, who gave them an excellent start with a 30. None of the subsequent shooters could quite match this but 29s from Rikki Hammersley, Linda Metcalfe, and Bill Bend; a 28 from James Bend; and the 27s of Jackie Bend and Tom Williams helped them to a decent 225 total. However, this wasn’t enough for them to win their home leg, as a strong Hinckley side established a six-point lead after the first night.

Mark Smith and Karl Bunting both scored 30s; there were 29s from Paul Huddlestone, Pete Finney, Glen Foxon, Nigel Hill, and Leigh Hall; and 28s from Glen Dainter, Phil Hood, John Bray, and Chris Sill, all combining to give them 231 for the night.

Thursday night saw the competition move to Ashby Road Sports Club where the home side managed to improve on their previous score, but only because local rules meant that clean bulls were awarded 5.1s. Nigel Hill did best on this occasion with his 30.4; John Bray very nearly matched this with 30.3; Paul Huddlestone managed 29.5; and Glen Dainter and Karl Bunting both scored 29.3s. The other scores in their 233.7 total came from Phil Hood, Chris Sills, and Pete Finney, who scored 28.4, 28.3, and 28.2, respectively. However, Bedworth did slightly better than the home side by improving massively on their previous total. James Bend shot almost flawlessly to score 30.5, only slightly better than Bill Bend’s 30.3. Tom Williams added 29.3; Todd Astill contributed 29.2; Linda Metcalfe scored 29.1; and Jackie Bend made it an excellent night for the Bend family with her 29.0.

The other counting scores – Andrew Cryer’s 28.3 and Rikki Hammersley’s 28.2 – were enough to allow Bedworth to reduce Hinckley’s lead by 0.2 with a score on the night of 233.9.

Effectively out of the running on the first night, Nuneaton did much better on this occasion, improving by more than 14 shots. Jon Storer did best with 29.3, just ahead of the 29.2 of Jeanette Mulkeirins; Ray Carlton and Mike Sansome both scored 28.2; whilst Melanie Jenkins and Phil Steele added 27.3 and 27.0, respectively. All these combined to take them to 220.3 on the night – still well behind the other two teams but a respectable score, nonetheless.

Nuneaton carried their improved form into their home leg, held on Monday night at the Coton Conservative Club. Jon Storer’s 30 got them off to an excellent start; Darren Hicks added a 29; there were 28s from Jeanette Mulkeirins, Ray Carlton, and Andy Morris; and 27s from Mike Sansome, John Emery, and Phil Steele. These gave them a creditable 224 on the night, but still left them firmly in third place in the competition with a total for the three legs of 650.3.

Bedworth also opened with a 30, courtesy of James Bend, Jackie Bend followed with 28, before Andrew Cryer added another 30. After these, Linda Metcalfe and Bill Bend scored 29s, and there were 27s from Tom Williams and Elaine Metcalfe. All of this gave them 225 on the night and 683.9 overall but this wasn’t good enough to supplant Hinckley who, despite have their lowest scoring night of the competition, still managed to win on the night, and the competition as a whole.

Team captain, Glen Dainter, gave them a strong start with his 29, which was immediately improved upon by Phil Hood’s 30. Paul Huddlestone and Glen Foxon followed with 28 and 29 respectively, and Alison Smith added another 28 before John Bray scored another 30. Mark Smith’s 28 and Nigel Hill’s 29 were then enough to take Hinckley’s total to 227, giving them the title with 691.7 overall.