SMI Debbie Callaghan, County Media Officer, Greater Manchester ACF
A brilliant weekend spent over the weekend of 18th – 20th of March with cadets from the different companies in Greater Manchester ACF.
Capt Paul Anderton, County Shooting Officer and Event Organiser, and his professional shooting team, put on a brilliant weekend for cadets at Holcombe Moor Training Centre.
Capt Anderton and SSI Michelle Maunder attended a British Shooting Target Sprint Organisers Course in 2021. This now gives them both the knowledge and experience to run GB Target Sprint Events.
Capt Anderton spoke about the event “Due to Covid this is the first opportunity we have had to run a Target Sprint Event. Target Sprint can best be described as akin to the Olympic Winter Bi-Athlon without snow and skis but running instead”.
Over the weekend cadets took part in the first GB Shooting Target Sprint Event to be run by Greater Manchester ACF. This is a brilliant opportunity for cadets to take part in. The coaching from the staff was outstanding as all the staff are very experienced shooting coaches.
The weekend was broken up into cadets doing Weapon Handling Tests on the BSA Scorpion Air Rifle, followed by in depth Marksmanship Training, and grouping practises culminating in the competition on the Sunday. Capt Anderton said “The Competition was fiercely fought with only 22 seconds dividing 1st and 3rd place”.
Our Commandant, Col Catherine Harrison, was in attendance and after showing the cadets she was a very good shooter the cadets challenged her to run the 200m they had run in between their shoots. She accepted their challenge and off they all went for a run; she was still smiling when they all returned to the start.
After having lunch on the Sunday and the scores were calculated by Capt Anderton, Col Harrison presented the winners with Trophies. Col Harrison also thanked the staff for giving up their weekend to put on such a great event for the cadets.
Well done to the following cadets:
First place - Cadet LCpl Andrew Chadwick, No 2 (Kohima) Company
Second place - Cadet LCpl Tyler Colderley, No 5 (Anzio) Company
Third Place - Cadet Evie Morgan, No 2 (Kohima) Company
Col Harrison said: “I’m delighted to see this inaugural event happening at Holcombe Moor. It is yet another opportunity for our cadets to gain new skills and experiences. The positivity and enthusiasm shown by all our cadets and instructors never ceases to amaze me. I look forward to seeing much more of Target Sprint in the future".
More Target Sprint Events are to be planned. The events will be posted on the Cadet Portal. If you are not yet registered on there this is the time to do it, as you don’t want to miss out on a place to attend the next Target Sprint weekend.
For more pictures please visit our County Facebook page here
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For more on British Target Sprint please click here