MFTA Winter League 2009-10

Sunday 4th October 2009 - Far Coley
The MFTA Winter League began at Far Coley in Staffordshire. Despite a clear sky and plenty of sunshine there was a cold edge that signalled winter was on its way. A light breeze drifted across the Far Coley woodland, just enough to tickle pellets away from the kill zone or perhaps not enough to guide that straight-one onto the paddle.

After a very successful summer for midlands' shooters there now followed the challenge of ten rounds of the Winter League. Whilst the WL is a great introduction to the sport of Field Target shooting it is also a fervent competition. Top gun from last year was Neil Daniels and there were many excellent shooters after his crown. Maybe the overall title was only for a coveted few but the lure of a place in the MFTA Inter-regional team (top 15) and the Frayed Knot team (top 30) was there for all to dream.Steve Page, back from South Africa and amongst the favourites for the WL title.

Far Coley's shooting ground consists of various terrain set in working farmland. Today the course started with six targets around a fishing pool, it then meandered up to a new shooting line offering woodland targets. Then on to the empty pool, where declined shots could be found, and finally a tricky pair in exposed field. An excellent test!

Two shooters, Stuart Hancox and Steve Page, came off the course early sharing an impressive score of 28; this would be later matched by Neil Daniels. Michael Brown and Marc Fisher bagged a pair of 27's to give Castle three shooters in the top 5. The scoring then got tight with fifteen shooters sharing 16th spot having knocked over 24.

It was good to see old friends and some new faces on the line.

Welcome to Kev Jones and all the other first timers.

One of the bonuses of FT is that there's always something to see. Today the farmland was alive with birds but I was surprised when this little fellow flew across the pond whilst I was waiting at lane 1. Sunday 18th October 2009 - Castle
Round 2 of the MFTA Winter League took place at Castle FTC near Nottingham. It was a beautiful autumn morning, the sky was clear and there was only a little wind. The car park at Castle was bathed in sunshine but a trip into the woodland saw the temperature plummet. The weather forecast had promised 8mph wind and this coupled with Steve Page's poly-directional course was sure to be a test. The dense woodland of Castle can provide some shelter from the wind but there are open avenues that are exposed which meant that each target needed careful thought.

The misses on the targets today were offering little clues as to the wind direction. What was evident though was that some shooters were missing low, probably because of the cold. Targets were showing the tell tale crescent below the kill-zone. Some face plates had taken quite a battering, particularly the 40 yard stander!

Despite talk of lots of misses some top guns were constructing a good round. Once again Mr Daniels sent the message that he was MFTA Champion and wasn't ready to relinquish it. Well done Neil for an excellent 29.Neil was joined on 29 by Anthony Johnson from Castle. He was thrilled with his score and 100 points puts him top of B grade. Just behind is Millride's Mitchel Tomes who posted an outstanding 26; well done Mitch. There was a string of 28's sharing third place.

Being close to the NEFTA region means that a Castle competition will attract our friends from the north but today a surprise Welsh interloper, fresh from 3rd place at the Worlds; well done Berty!
Sunday 1st November 2009 - Harriers
I wasn't there but I gather it was very windy. Congratulations to Marc Fisher whose score of 23 was 2 clear of the field.
Sunday 15th November 2009 - Millride
Millride it seems is always blighted by poor weather. Last Winter League the wind was gale force and the GP in May saw conditions more akin to the Southern Ocean. So when the forecast for this weekend was for more of the same I'm sure many shooters considered doing a bit of DIY on Sunday. However, the sky remained blue all morning and the sun slowly warmed us all up. I think that some shooters were disappointed that the urban myth had been broken, I heard one claim "we're not supposed to get sunshine at Millride".
Today's shoot consisted of 22 targets within the small wood and 8 exposed targets in the field. It started with a welcoming 55 yarder which was quickly followed by a high stander that caused problems for a few. The wind direction was mainly parallel to the shooting line which meant only a little needed to be given for wind but deciding which side was tricky. It was a long course yet early scores were high. First on the line was Karl and Debbie Clarke from Millride; Karl set the pace with an excellent 28 and Debbie a strong 20 to help her pursuit for the C grade table. This is Debbie; I think!
It had been suggested that Debbie's outfit had a bit of a polar bear look, no such subtely from Mr Page!Karl's 28 was soon bettered by Des Edwards of Harriers who posted a 29 and his score lasted the day; well done Des!
Millride is the home ground of Mitchel Tomes who today added another 21 to his string of good scores. He is 2nd in B grade and a shoe-in for the Frayed Knot team. Keep it ip Mitch!

Sunday 29th November 2009 - Purley Chase