Cambridgeshire English Sporting Championship 2008

The Cambridshire 2008 English Sporting Competition, sponsored by Camtech Photographic, was shot in tandem with the Les King Memorial Trophy and attracted a good entry on the two days of May 31st/June 1st. The weather varied from near perfect on the Saturday (just a hint of tricky sun on the orange clays occasionally) to perfect shooting conditions on the Sunday. Mike Frankham at Barrow Heath put on a testing 12-stand shoot which had no particularly fast or distant targets but which challenged even the very best shooters. At the head of the pack was Barry Simpson, who after 11 stands was on 88ex90. Stand 12 was a pair of standards launched simultaneously down the hill as a following pair; shooter after shooter - including Barry - firmly believed the sign on the course was wrong and that the second bird was a midi. In fact it was a standard, and this cost people dearly. Barry in particular dropped 6 birds on the stand to finish on 92. Although this was enough for the County Championship, he then faced a shootoff with his son Paul (who has moved to Suffolk) for the Les King Memorial Trophy. Paul won the toss and elected to shoot first, putting the pressure on Barry by shooting a perfect 8. Barry dropped his third clay, but finished on 7 on the shootoff. It did at least ensure a more even spread of the trophies around the Simpson households!

In the Veterans, Philip Simpson took the title with 88, including a straight 10 on the infamous stand 12. In Juniors, Phil Gray on 89 won the Junior Trophy and AA class and was two ahead of Michael Simpson, who took A Class on 87. Jane Bell retained her Ladies title with 67. No Colts from Cambridgeshire entered. In B Class Daniel Pettitt won with 78, whilst Graham Carter took C on 73.

The overall turnout over the two days was a massive 246 shooters. Thanks to the ground for hosting the shoot and all those who helped, whether reffing, helping collate scores, or just generally mucking in.

Congratulations to all winners. Steve Grant, the ESP team manager, will be contacting people shortly for to check whether they can shoot in the intercounties championship

Left to right: Barry Simpson (County Champion), Jane Bell (Ladies' Champion), Philip Simpson (Vets' and A class), and Paul Simpson (winner of the Les King Memorial Trophy)

Class champions are for the highest score in each class regardless of senior/lady/vet/junior/colt, but excluding the County Champion.

The full Cambridgeshire shooters' results are as follows:

Barry Simpson (L) and a surprisingly nervous looking Paul Simpson before the Les King Shootoff