JACK SHOOTS FOR SUCCESS AT BRITISH SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER 

Jack Madden, Year 8 student at Richmond School, recently travelled to Sheffield to compete in the British Shooting Schools Pistol Championship Qualifier. 

The competition involved shooting four rounds of five shots with a time limit of four minutes per round. This was followed by a series of knockout rounds to determine the overall winner. 

Competitors shoot a .177 calibre air pistol from a distance of 10 metres. Junior competitors can choose to shoot one or two handed – Jack was the only competitor out of 18 in his category to shoot one handed. It was also Jack’s first time entering a purely shooting competition. Usually he takes part in Pony Club triathlons where he swims, shoots and runs, or tetrathlons where he swims, shoots, runs then completes a cross-country course over jumps on his pony, Max. 

Jack shot brilliantly, coming 6th overall, qualifying for the National Finals in February, held in Staffordshire.   

Rebecca, Jack’s mum, said: “Jack has only been shooting one handed at 10 metres for the past two weeks as he usually shoots two handed at 7metres, so to finish 6th out of 18 competitors is a great achievement and we are very proud of his efforts and dedication over the past few weeks.”  

Well done to Jack! We look forward to hearing about the National Finals in February.  

We don’t have any photos of Jack in action with his air pistol – people taking photos tend to distract the shooters so are discouraged. The photos here are of Jack after the event described above, plus two from this summer’s Pony Club Tetrathlon Championships where Jack finished 4th overall out of 19 competitors. He ran 1000m, shot at 7m, achieving joint second place, swam for two minutes, finishing 1st, then rode his pony round a cross-country course.