World FITASC Sporting...........................

[Catamong]

I shot the World FITASC Sporting Championships at Orville, Pas De Calais, France last week.

 

The ground is about an hour and a half drive from Calais, so very accessible to us Brits, when entries opened back in February the event was full in next to no time with 1200 competitors, and I understand there was a waiting list of about 200 guns.

 

For the benefit of those that have not shot FITASC Sporting before, this was a 200 bird event, consisting of 8 No 25 bird layouts, shot over the 4 days. When you enter online you can elect to shoot either A.M. or P.M. on your first day, it then alternates, so you shoot A.M. and P.M. on alternate days, it's supposed to make it fairer for everybody, but it does mean you have a fair bit of time to kill, not a problem to most, if you're a "culture vulture" there's plenty to see, just look at this lovely Chateau just down the road in the village of Bertangles, built around 1730, what stunning architecture...?

 

 

On each 25 bird layout you get 4 shooting pegs with 4 or 5 different traps, generally throwing 4 singles, (full use of gun), and 1 pair, (either simmo or report). The gun has to be out of the shoulder and the butt held below a line marked on the shooters jacket about 9" down from the shoulder when calling for the bird, the gun must not be mounted until the bird is visible, this rule is rigorously enforced by most referees, persistent offenders will have birds docked from their scores.

 

The layouts are typically named after a sponsor, the ones for this shoot being Beretta, Browning, Caesar Guerini, CCI, Promatic, Tunet, Poinsot and Krieghoff.

 

The opening ceremony took place at the ground on the Wednesday evening, there were plenty of trade stands selling all sorts of stuff, a bar selling expensive food and drinks, but the atmosphere was generally good, as this was a true World Championships, with competitors from literally all over the World. Here's a team from Venezuela:

 

 

Here's a local band trooping around near the clubhouse:

 

 

Hey....recognise this guy who's acting a bit shy.................? It's Don Brunt, who writes reports and takes lots of pics for Pull and Clay Shooting magazines, c'mon Don, say Cheese...!!:

 

 

You could get some personalized souvenirs of the event:

 

 

And don't let anybody tell you that shooting gear, cartridges etc are cheaper "Sur Le Continent", well they ain't, France is now getting quite expensive:

 

 

The French referees made the most of some complimentary Champagne on offer from Gael Poinsot, a Champagne producer who sponsored one of the layouts, man........ , they were drinking it like beer..!! :blink:

 

 

My little party of shooters stayed in a cheapie hotel on the outskirts of Amiens, a lovely City with the largest Cathedral in France, we enjoyed some fine dining sampling the local cuisine, (and booze), whilst we were there.

 

We arrived back at the ground late morning Thursday to shoot in the afternoon, the weather was overcast, showery and very windy, with a cool and gusty Northwesterly making things particularly tricky on some of the more exposed layouts, here's the squad in front of us shooting the "Promatic" layout, one of the layouts furthest from the clubhouse, (vans were laid on to transport the shooters).

 

 

Here's a pic of the Russian guy on my squad shooting the final peg on "Promatic", a tricky incomer that was ducking and diving in the breeze, followed by a longish left to right crosser that most people missed in the pairs, (including me.. ), I hit it first barrel in the singles, but failed to give it enough lead in the doubles and missed it behind.

 

 

My squad comprised one Brit, (me), a Russian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, an Austrian and a Lady from Zimbabwe, a true International squad, we all got on really well, and had a great laugh. Here's the French guy signing the score sheet after the layout to confirm his score:

 

 

The next layout we shot was Krieghoff, three of the 4 stands werre set in a line in an open field facing a hedge, I was a bit disappointed to see that this layout was virtually identical to the one we shot there at the European FITASC Champs there 2 years ago, in fact this proved to be as recurring theme throughout the event, with the majority of stands being very "samey", a bit of a minus point.

 

 

After a good session at a local Bar / Restaurant on the Thursday night, we arrived at the ground at about 9 a.m. on the Friday to shoot 2 more layouts that morning. What a superb day it was weather-wise, the clouds and cold winds had gone, a gentle breeze with warm sunshine was the order of the day, we shot the Beretta layout in the woods that day, here's a pic of peg 1, with a right to left mega fast rabbit zooming, (and bouncing) along a mat on a bank about 5 yards in front of the shooter, this side of the "H" board:

 

 

Fortunately mine bounced on me so I shot it in the air, always the best place to shoot the rabbit if you can.

 

Here's a picture of the next peg, recognise the ref.. You Midland boys may know her..??

 

 

This is a shooters eye view from that peg, you had two fast quartering away orange targets zipping up a ravine under your feet, a left to right crosser and a right to left looper, all good targets and easily missable..!!

 

 

We finished at Lunchtime, then went off for a round of Golf at a local course, with a nice meal and a few more bevvies later that evening.

 

Saturday dawned breezy and overcast, the weather got progressively worse as the day went on, with the odd break in the clouds to bring a bit of sunshine. Unfortunately there were some severe storms later in the afternoon, it absolutely chucked it down and blew a hooley, everything started to slow up due to the appalling conditions, we managed to dodge the worst of it, but some shooters didn't get finished until around 8 p.m., and many were literally soaked to the skin, it was dreadful.

 

These weather conditions were forecast to worsen on the Sunday, the wet ground was already causing chaos, with people slipping over on the shiny clay slopes, the car park on a hill became like a skating rink, there were several cars shunted by out of control motors, the ground owners enlisted a couple of tractors to help pull people out, but it only made the mud even worse:

 

 

This delightful young lady and her team were soon rushed off their feet treating a number of injured shooters, the paths up some of the very steep hills were so treacherous, quite a few people slipped, I think it could have been avoided and more care could have been taken to provide safe access.

 

 

The terrain in that part of the Country is rolling chalk hills with clay overlay, the site was a German underground storage depot for munitions in WW2, the Allies obviously got wind of it and it was bombed heavily, it has been waste ground ever since, the many craters are all still there. It makes for an ideal shooting ground, but when that clay gets slippy, man, it's dangerous. :o

 

Sunday dawned overcast, I was shooting at the earliest squad time of 7.30 a.m., not good when you've been out celebrating again the night before.

 

The first layout was not wind affected, but by the time we got to shoot our final layout at about 11.00 a.m., it was blowing really hard with some nasty heavy showers, here's our very own Diggy arriving at the Tower stand on the Browning layout, he went on to shoot a 24:

 

 

It's fair to say that the weather probably affected everybody's scores, (apart from the Winner), Christophe Auvret, from France, (where else..??) He shot an absolutely stunning 198 ex 200, a simply mega score, considering the weather and the general toughness of the course. There was not a single peg that was an "easy" straight, you had to work damn hard to hit them.

 

I predicted before this event that there would not be many GB shooters in the top 10, and sadly, I was proved right, with the French and Americans now showing us Brits how to shoot clays, we've lost our dominance of this sport, not sure if we'll ever get it back, what do others think..??

 

The prize giving ceremony was well attended, a lot of people couldn't get away as their motors were bogged down in the clay so they chose to stay, here's the winning GB Vets team of Stirzaker, Dyson and Brightwell, they all shot well:

 

 

Here's a shot of some of the top 10 shooters, only one Brit amongst this bunch, (Faulds left earlier), my old shooting buddy, Martin Papworth, who shot exceptionally well to return a very good 188:

 

 

Here's the first, second and third, Auvret (France), Bardou (France), Matarese (USA), they all shot well:

 

 

And here's the Champion himself, a nice guy, runs his own shooting ground, it's certainly not the last time he'll be seen on that podium:

 

 

How did I get on..?? Well, I started OK but finished badly, I did 22,22,24,23,22,20,21,16, (yes, a 16.. ), no excuses, I just couldn't hit them, my luck ran out.

 

I don't shoot much FITASC, these 4 day events can be mentally tiring, you really must not ease up on the gas like I did.

 

I had hoped to finish in the top 250 overall, I finished in joint 249th place, couldn't cut it any finer than that..!!

 

Hope you enjoy this report.

 

Cat.

[Gnome of the Woods]

Fantastic write up, and pics.

I wish you all the best for your next trip.

 

Paul

[nimms]

Thanks cat another excellent write up and well shot.

Edited July 19, 2011 by nimms

[mickmep]

great report and well done

[Gordon R]

Excellent - nothing less. Well done.

 

I disagree about UK shooters - they will be back.

[fat_jay]

Great write up and pics Cat, would really like to give FITASC a try one day.

[Mr Potter]

Thanks Cat, one of your best, if not the best of your shoot reports to-date

 

You were going like a train at the half way stage, keeping up with the big boys Hard luck about that last day but shooting in that weather is a nightmare

 

I'll try (but I'm not promising)and do a similar report from the Dutch Grand Prix in August and I'll be happy if it's half as good as one of your's.

 

Mr Potter

[Mungler]

Lovely darts squire, proper content and great pictures again

[ste12b]

Nice write up, well done

[smcgreg1]

Great write up and some good pictures.

[Nicky T]

Nice report Cat and well shot

[Hamster]

Thanks Cat .

[Mungler]

Cat, I am amazed at how well subscribed the event was.

 

What was the body / organisation behind it and how does it all hang together - is there a World organisation that then calls down to individual Country based organisations? Also, is this event off the back of word of mouth, internet or press based advertising and marketing.

 

Either way, for a 4 day event that would have required significant travel, accomodation and entry costs it sure has packed them in.

 

Also, given the number of entrants and the finite number of winners and prizes, I guess that the main draw is not a prize.

 

Interesting.

 

Did you catch sight of a CPSA tent?

 

Obviously I would have gone but the Perazzi barrel sticker I ordered for my Mossberg Pump didn't arrive in time.

Edited July 20, 2011 by Mungler

[Chard]

Got to the best write-up I've read

 

Well shot Cat.

 

That wasn't Chard burn-out you suffered from at the end I hope?

[Mungler]

That wasn't Chard burn-out you suffered from at the end I hope?

 

No most shooters shake that off when they leave B class

[loomer]

Great report.

 

Cheers Cat.

[100milesaway]

As usual a superb write up and excellent piccies, it puts it into perspective for the many people on here that are not used to a serious competition.I'm sure that when you see the complete range of scores you know that it wasn't a walk in the park. Well shot and thanks for the coverage. from Auntie.

[Hacker]

Great report Cat!

[leaseone]

I hate to say it but WELL DONE ROB

[canthitathing]

Great write up as usual Cat

[beretta]

Better than the mags as per norm cat :good: nice one and well shot old lad

[Zapp]

What a superb writeup - this really is the type of thing that sets PW apart

 

Well done Cat and thanks for posting .

[Bigweed]

Excellent write-up

[dr. lecter]

very greatful for the superb report , "top draw" . really enjoyed it . one day i will test my trap gun on em , i need to improve quite a bit first . well done .

[magman]

Thanks for that Cat enjoyed the read