Siblings gunning for supremacy
The hunter is becoming the hunted as Seonaid McIntosh begins to provide stiff competition to sister Jen. Stewart Fisher reports
EVERYBODY loves a good sibling rivalry story. Be it Andy and Jamie Murray in tennis, Jonny and Alistair Brownlee in the triathlon, Ed and David Miliband in politics or Noel and Liam Gallagher in rock music, few things capture the imagination more than brothers or sisters slugging it out for supremacy. What separates Seonaid and Jennifer McIntosh from the pack, though, is the fact their competition relates to their proficiency with a firearm.
As the youngest member of the most famous family in Scottish shooting, Seonaid has long had her big sister Jennifer’s achievements in her crosshairs. The daughters of four-time Commonwealth Games medallist Shirley and Donald, who competed for Scotland in 2002, Jen competed at the Rio Olympics last summer and already has five Commonwealth medals – two gold, one silver and two bronze. No wonder Seonaid, with “just” a silver in the 2015 European Championships, has been gunning for her.
But younger siblings have a habit of overhauling their elders in time and the hunter may just have become the hunted after 21-year-old Seonaid prevailed against her sister, and all comers, at the British Championships. Typically, she marked the occasion with some good natured sledging.
“It feels pretty good,” Seonaid said. “That’s been my goal since I started shooting, wanting to beat Jen. Now it’s like ‘ah well, what’s the next thing?’ I shot at the British Championships and beat her there. I was the first qualifier into the final and then I shot a really good final. She was second and shot well but I got the most. So on my Instagram, I put the hashtag ‘#beatmysister’. She [Jen] wasn’t particularly happy, which was quite funny. She doesn’t like being beaten by anybody, let alone her little sister.
“I think it has fired her up a bit. I think it helps push us both. It’s like a step ladder. I get better, she gets better and we climb over each other. We have a range records board at Meadowbank and I shot a training match where I set a record. The next week, she beat it. Then the next day I beat hers. That’s good. It means we’re both getting better all the time.”
YOU might not guess it, but this is actually the mature stage of the McIntosh sisters’ relationship. Seonaid recognises a synergy with the support which the Murrays provide for each other as well as the Brownlees, whose closeness was summed up last year when Alistair picked the cramping Jonny up and helped him over the line at the end of a race.
“It was a lot worse when we were kids,” said Seonaid. “I always wanted to beat Jen at everything. But I beat her at nothing. She always won. If I ever got close to beating her, she might have thrown a fit. But I never got that close. I did music at school. She did art. She got better grades than me though.
“The Murrays are quite cool. They’re quite famous but it’s a bit different because they’re quite separate: one in the singles, one in the doubles, whereas me and Jen are in the exact same discipline.
“The Brownlees are inspirational, especially the race where one was injured and the other one helped carry him. Jen and I are like that. We wouldn’t deliberately make the other one worse off. We’re there to support each other. The rivalry is still there. We want to beat each other, but we’re a team.”
So what, just a year out from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, has made the difference? Well, firstly she has been able to practise more, a by-product of a positive change to her university degree at Edinburgh’s Heriott-Watt University to mechanical engineering from electronic engineering.
“It just seems to be better for my brain so it’s been a bit more chilled,” she said. “I’ve been able to do my training alongside university without getting so stressed out.”
What makes Seonaid’s achievements all the more impressive is the fact she suffers from arthritis.
“I get it in my knees mainly,” she said. “They swell up a lot and I can’t bend or straighten my knee. It’s a bit annoying when it happens and it is happening more and more. But we’ve changed the medication and it seems to be helping. I’m back on two feet which is nice and I’ve been training well for the last month.”
As much fun as it was to enjoy the limelight at the Barry Buddon shooting centre as a tennager at Glasgow 2014, Seonaid is more serious this time around.
“I didn’t shoot very well because I was excited and nervous,” she said. “I got really excited to see all the people I hadn’t seen for ages. They were all going ‘Seonaid, Seonaid’; 2018 won’t be a home Games which might help ... because they won’t be there.”
It has fired her up. I think it helps push us both. It’s like a step ladder. I get better, she gets better and we climb over each other