Catamong Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) The "travelling circus" set off yet again to France last Friday, our destination was the tiny village of Orville, near Doullons, in Northern France, about an hour and a half drive from Calais. We stopped off at the little town of St Riquier, just look at the stonework on this church, We arrived at the ground around lunchtime, and got straight onto the practice layouts, Whoops..................wrong photo..!! Here's our very own PW Member Cheryl tackling some practice targets on the Browning layout, I think she's saying.........."What did I do wrong there Cat..........it didn't break..!!? ??" We all had a good time shooting some practice stands, for those not familiar with FITASC, the format is you shoot a total of 200 birds over 8 x 25 bird layouts, you shoot either 4 or 5 different singles, (full use of gun), then a pair on each of the 4 pegs per layout, the pair can be either on report or simmo. You must not mount the gun until the target is visible, it places a real premium on accurately reading every target before you call "Pull". The competition was a truly International event, with teams from all over Eurpoe competing, here's the Italian team parading at the opening ceremony, Here's the GB team, most clay shooters that do the "circuit" will recognise a few faces here, The competition started early on Saturday morning, here's Chryl on the "Credit Mutuel" layout, this was peg 1 with some seriously tricky birds, (I missed 2 here..!! ) We all shot the first day OK, I did a 43 ex 50, as did Cheryl, not World beating standard but steady shooting. the birds were quite tricky, every one was orange, and there were all sorts of combinations, shooting birds above or below your feet, the terrain was simply superb, This guy was shooting really well, he was an Italian, (owns his own shooting ground), just look at his "aggressive" set up position, Needless to say, we all enjoyed the fine food and wine on offer in the area duruing our "team de-brief" after the event, I arranged a meal at a swanky restaurant in Amiens serving gorgeous French mussels with a variety of sauces, (I chose Roquefort....yummee ), we had a hard job persuading Cheryl that Mussels don't grow on trees after she twigged the display outside the restaurant, This Russian guy had a really big following, the dolly bird with the massive lens is wearing a tee shirt with his photo on, (he was old enough to be her Dad.. , (I don't know what he saw in her.. ) The competition finished late on Tuesday, Cheryl had it pretty much sewn up in the Ladies category to romp home, but unfortunately she shot an appalling 20 on the final layout, (lots of whippy birds in the trees, a bit like Worsley ), perhaps it was all that Vin Rouge she downed the previous night Anyway, the upshot was she tied for 1st place with a Spanish girl on 172 for 1st place in the Ladies class, here's a small section of the crowd assembling for the shoot off, She well and truly won the shoot off, shot brilliantly to claim the Ladies Cup. George Digweed won the competition overall, with a stunning 192 ex 200, not bad only dropping an average of one bird per layout. Here he is on the podium, (yet again), I suggested he might like to quit the sport whilst he's ahead, but he said there's no fear of that, he's really shooting well at the moment. Here's the GB team after the event, plenty of smiles all around, All in all, a great event, really well run, no real complaints, apart from the price of a small plastic beaker of beer at 3 Euros.. Next year the event is to be held in St Petersburg, in Russia, should be a good crack, well worth the trip.. Cat. P.S. - I did a 164, pretty poor, but finished in joint 239th place out of a total of 839 competitors. Edited July 16, 2009 by Catamong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Nice report Cat, and well done to everybody Your 164 wasn't bad, but I'll put you down for a few lessons before you go to Russia Apologies if I'm being a thickie, but what do you mean by "full use of gun"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 You get two shots at the single birds. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 You get two shots at the single birds. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 nice report :good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sodit Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good report some nice pics as well, I have actually shot at Orville and it must be about the best ground I have missed at so far. I liked the lay out where on the last stand most of the birds are below you that was different. If I remember right there must be about 10 indvidual layouts and some good high birds. Had a good afternoon there but I think it needs 2 days to try everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikee Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 how did john dyson and biddy do? mikee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Thanks Cat, enjoyable read. Good to see Digweed leading the way.....again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted July 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 how did john dyson and biddy do? mikee John Dyson shot superbly, he did a 184 to win the Veterans class, Bidwell did an OK 176 Apart from the odd bird, all of the targets were well within the 40 yard limit, as always it was speed and angles that caught people out, you simply had to get it right first time. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Well done to all , enjoyed the write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throdgrain Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Enjoyed reading that thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicky T Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Top write up Cat St Petersburg next year hey.... fortunately i have a customer out there who may be due a visit around that date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon R Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Cat - ever thought of wroting for the shooting magazines? B*ll aside, you write a very good report, accompanied by photos which capture the atmosphere. Excellent and well done Cheryl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good report Cat thanks for that. I have to say the average age in the English squad looks pretty high, is that the norm? and are there any youngsters waiting in the wings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Great write up Catamong and good pictures, good job one PW member is on the ball :( Well I looked out for you, thought I caught a glimpse of you on the Friday afternoon before the opening ceremony but after that, nothing. Ashamed to say I didn't stay for the closing ceremony because a group of us had a meal booked in Amiens for 7:30. I thought nearly everything about the shoot was very good, certainly I didn't hear a single complaint about the targets, every one hittable and 2 shots at every single (well perhaps not that R to L rabbit at about 10 yards!). For my squad anyway everything ran like clockwork started all 8 layouts ahead of time. Only minor criticism was the lousy "goody bag". Anyway, started on Layout 8 and hit 22, this is it I thought, Kegworth all over again, and as I've nearly got Big George's physique, his crown would soon be mine as well!! Reality quickly took over and it was down to earth with a bump when I did a miserable 17 on the next layout. Anyway I wanted to average 20 per layout i.e. a 160 finish but after the 2nd day I revised my target to 150 and at the end I at least achieved that shooting 2 x 20 on the Tuesday to finish on a 153. My only claim to fame was hitting one of the targets that the winner (GD) missed, a fast R to L low bird as the first of a double. The Champs squad was 2 in front of ours so we often caught up and had the chance to see him in action, good job it wasn't the other way round because he wouldn't have been able to shoot for laughing at some of the dinner plates I missed, on every layout there would be one target that a beginner could hit and even with two shots I could fashion a disastrous miss Well really that couldn't have happened because George didn't watch other people shoot, he would see the targets when shown then sit quietly as far away as possible until it was his turn to shoot and then, with only 8 exceptions, he would kill the bird. Fantastic, enjoyed virtually every minute of it, doubt if I'll go to Russia but anywhere else in Western Europe, here I come. Mr Potter PS Catamong, I'll PM you later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted July 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good report Cat thanks for that. I have to say the average age in the English squad looks pretty high, is that the norm? and are there any youngsters waiting in the wings? Stuart, It's the GB squad, it includes 2 from Wales but no Jocks, as far as I am aware, here's a close up of the squad, As regards age, I think it's fair to say that FITASC tends to attract the older, more experienced shooter, because it costs a lot more than English Sporting to shoot and you need to be an experienced shot to be any good at it. There's only one person there I can't name, it's the guy seated front left, (apologies Matey :( ). There are a number of very good juniors coming through, I'm sure the Brits will continue to dominate the sport for many years to come, although the Yanks are catching up fast. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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