Clay target club raises money for Hospice in glorious weather

Around 30 shooters shot 16 lines, with five shooters a line, before a shoot off was needed to separate the first three.

The day started wet and windy but had begun to brighten up. The first line started just after 11am and took place during the worst weather of the day. Targets were all over the place as the gusty wind had swung round from east to south and the targets needed re-set afterwards.

Despite the awful conditions, with driving thundery rain and high winds, Graham Kilgore shot very well to miss only one full target and two second barrel kills, to finish with a score of 24/70.

A ‘straight’ of 25 first barrel kills would be needed to have a chance of being in the prizes and on the second line out, G Hamilton only needed his last target for the straight, but missed his last target for a score of 25/72.

On the third line out, J Linton scored 24/70 to tie with G Kilgore and on the fourth line, J Browne and R Browne were the first to hit all 25 targets on the day. Unfortunately, J Browne needed two second barrels and R Browne had one second barrel to finish on 73 and 74 points, respectively.

This left R Browne leading with 74 points, J Browne second with 73 and Hamilton third with 72.

On the second layout, J Browne bettered his score on the first layout by one point to draw level with R Browne on 74.

On the sixth line on the first layout, JJ O’Hara became the first man on the day to hit the perfect 25 first barrel kills for 25/75.

On the seventh line R Browne could only equal his previous best of 25/74, while M Thompson finished on 73 points, just outside the top three at that time.

On the second layout M Tracey, from Dungiven, kept his cool to shoot only the second perfect score of the day, leaving him tied for first place with and R and J Browne tied in third.

P McMenamin and B McGlinchy hit 25 targets and both needed two second barrels each to score 73 points, leaving them just outside the top 3.

With one last line to shoot, Kilgore, who has only been shooting trap for a few months, went out on the last line of the day to record only the third perfect score of the day of 25/75, leaving a three way shoot off for the prizes (£100, £75 and £50).

In the shoot off Kilgore went first, Tracey second and O’Hara third. All dropped points and birds before O’Hara finished third on 64 points, Kilgore second on 66 and Tracey winning with 68 points.

In addition to the main event, there was also a sporting pool trap running on the day, with five pairs of targets, which attracted over 70 entries.

A number of sevens and eights were hit but only one person shot the 10 targets on one line and that was Graham Kilgore.

The event was the brainchild of Robert Boyd, and was held in memory of his late wife, Joan, and the many sponsors and those who helped in the months prior to as well as during the charity shoot are thanked for their help, and particularly those who did the catering and Dupont & Strathfoyle Clay Target Club, for the use of the grounds, traps and other club facilities.

The Boyd and Nicholl families are also thanked for their work, and to the prizewinners, who kindly donated the majority of their prize money to Foyle Hospice.