Profile: Kirsty Hegarty
Jasper Fellows learns how a change of heart led Kirsty Hegarty to Team GB and the Tokyo Olympics
We all have things in our lives that we are reluctant to try, even though, deep down, we know we should. Whether that’s through a fear of the unknown or our own pig-headedness is something I’ll leave you to wrestle with. But why not take a leaf from Olympic Trap (OT) star Kirsty Hegarty ’s book? She had the courage to open her mind to new experiences and it’s carried her all the way to the Olympics and Japan 2021.
You may be surprised to learn that the younger Kirsty wasn’t straining to take hold of a shotgun. In fact, it would seem that she tried to avoid the sport as much as possible.
“As a child I was dragged from ground to ground as my parents [Clifford and Sandra Barr] shot at events,” she recalls. “Shooting didn’t appeal to me at all. I compare my attitude then to a toddler who is sure they don’t like a strange new vegetable they’ve never tried before.”
Thankfully, shortly before her 17th birthday, Kirsty, with a little help from a friendly Welshman, found the courage to open her mind to new possibilities. “One summer’s day in 2004, my parents were shooting a DTL (Down the Line) event at Mid-Wales Shooting Centre. As they were shooting a ref pointed at me and said, ‘Why don’t you give her a go’. I shot my first ever target then and there.
“Everything grew from that first experience at Mid Wales, and soon I was hooked,” says Kirsty, now 32. “That was the year that [fellow] Northern Irishman Hendy Hume won the World DTL title. Seeing
someone I knew making it that far in the sport inspired me to get more involved in competitive shooting.
“At the time there was a massive following for DTL in Northern Ireland, and the camaraderie and competitive scene that came with it was amazing. So, I shot DTL for about a year by itself before moving to a combination of ABT (Automatic Ball Trap) and DTL for another year.”
With coaching from her father, Kirsty quickly made her way to the top of the scoreboards at DTL and ABT events across the UK and realised that she wanted to push her sport to the next level. “I wanted to represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, so I made the switch to Olympic Trap.”
Goal
Kirsty quickly achieved her Commonwealth goal because she was selected to represent Northern Ireland at Delhi 2010. While she didn’t win a medal at that first Commonwealth event, it ignited her international career.
Nine years of hard work later and Kirsty was the proud owner or a World Championship team gold medal, a Mixed Trap Pairs World Championship bronze and a European Championships Trap silver. She had also reached her goal of winning a medal for Northern Ireland at a Commonwealth Games by claiming OT silver on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia in 2018.
But she didn’t want to stop there. “To be honest the Olympics weren’t really a consideration at the beginning of my shooting career,” she explains. “But as time went on, I thought I might as well go for it. I thought there’s no point in putting in all this time and effort to not at least try for Team GB squad selection.
“At the beginning of 2019 I received some funding from UK Sport, which gave me the ability to ask my employer, Bombardier Engineering, if I could take a sabbatical for a year to focus on my shooting and to try out for Team GB’s Olympic squad. Bombardier was really very supportive and agreed.”
By 8 April 2019, the sabbatical had already paid off. Kirsty scored a silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates and claimed that all important Team GB Olympic quota place.
“It was fantastic,” says Kirsty, “I went back and told my bosses that I would need another year off so that I could shoot the Olympics. They were extremely supportive and allowed me to extend my sabbatical for another year. Then 2020, and the Olympic delay happened.
“To have such a massive, global event like the Olympics postponed seemed unthinkable. It made me question whether I had made the right decision in following this path. But you know what? It is what it is, there’s no way I could have lived the rest of my life always wondering what could have been if I hadn’t taken this chance. So now I’ve simply have to put my head down and prepare for Tokyo.”
Hurdles
COVID-19 restrictions have also affected the ways in which Kirsty – and all Olympic athletes – have been able to prepare themselves. “Thankfully my local clubs,
Thatch Clay Target Club and Logue’s Hill CPC, have been amazing and allowed me to train on their grounds alone,” she says.
“Shooting is a very social sport, so it did feel strange when the whole social side had been removed, but I do what I can to keep my training interesting. I’m not the kind of person who can head out and shoot eight, nine or 10 rounds of OT and think I’ve had a really great session. I’d much rather shoot three or so rounds of really targeted training to avoid falling into a pattern of mundanity.
“I also try to attend a few DTL and ABT comps. I’ve so many happy memories with those disciplines and now they have become a really nice way to keep things fresh while still getting in some competitive training.”
Due to the lockdowns, Kirsty has been unable to attend many of those events. “Fortunately, British Shooting has been really great at its risk assessments,” she says. “So I have been able to attend a number of training camps with Aaron and Matt in England, which has definitely helped – even if we’ve all had to be on our best behaviour.”
Training with Matthew Coward-Holley and Aaron Heading is particularly important ahead of Tokyo 2021, as it will be the first ever Olympics to feature a Trap Mixed Team event. Fortunately, Kirsty has competed at international events with both in the past.
“I’ve won medals with them both too,” she says. “Though the truth is when shooting Team Trap you still have to shoot for yourself. It ’s not like Aaron or Matt could step in for me and take one of my shots. Equally you have to have total faith that your partner will shoot to the best of their ability, as I am sure both Matt and Aaron will.”
Personal touch
Thanks to a ban on all international spectators at this year’s games, solid teammates will be more important than ever. “I was really hoping some friends and family would be able to join me in Tokyo,” laments Kirsty. “Sometimes that personal touch can make all the difference.”
Questions also remain over her own involvement in the Olympic spectacle. “In an ideal world I’d love to go to the opening ceremony,” says Kirsty. “I’ll never forget stepping into the stadium at Delhi 2010 and feeling the rush of the crowd. It was completely unreal. But I bet it can’t even compare to entering the stadium for an Olympic opening ceremony, even if the crowds are a little smaller than usual.”
While the stadium won’t be as packed as it could be, Kirsty’s friends and family — and the rest of the country — will still be cheering her on from the comfort of their homes. Proud of the girl who went from sitting in the corner, wishing she was home as her parents shot, to walking into Tokyo’s Olympic stadium as one of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s best and brightest.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of those who have helped and supported me along the way,” she emphasises. “I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support I’ve received. Particularly from that unknown referee at Mid-Wales who said, ‘ let her have a go.’
“If I could, I’d go back in time and tell myself to give shooting a go before judging it. Maybe if I had I would now be on my way to my second Olympics. I’d also tell myself to not worry about crying at every single shooting ground; OT is hard. The more knockbacks you get, the more times you pick yourself up, the stronger a shooter you will be. Just keep fighting and you’ll make it.”
“Shooting is a very social sport, so it did feel strange when the whole social side had been removed”