IT has been a memorable month for young shooters from Frome Rifle Club with Ben Monksummers winning the English Junior Champions trophy in Bisley, the home of British shooting, and then teaming up with Michael Dyer in the GB Junior Rifle Squad for success at an international tournament in Germany.
As Bisley, Ben not only finished as the top scoring under 21, but also made the eight-man senior final and scored the top score in the 10 shot final.
He then joined Michael on the GB Junior Rifle Squad coach, bound for a four nations match in Oldenburg, Germany, with GBR competing against teams from Germany, South Africa and Sweden and between them the Frome sharp shooters won gold, silver and bronze team medals.
Day 1 was a prone rifle match, Ben’s primary discipline, and in spite of illness he finished in a gold medal team place, with Michael collecting a team Bronze.
Day 2 saw a switch to air rifle, Michael’s primary discipline, with Michael taking a team gold. Finishing neck and neck with the South African team, a nail-biting wait ensued and finally both teams were awarded joint first place.
And so to the final day, the 3 position rifle event, and before Ben had commenced shooting, word was received from British Shooting that he was to be a member of the 3 man men’s rifle team for the European Championships in Bologna in July. The news obviously provided a tonic as Ben promptly scored 397 ex 400 in the prone phase of his 3P, a “world level” performance, setting him up to record a personal best performance.
Meanwhile on a neighbouring lane Michael was also recording a PB so that the GBR team of Ben, Michael and a third GBR shooter could collect the team silver medals.
Michael said, “It was a very interesting week with changeable weather conditions making some of the shooting events more challenging than normal. Although my individual score on the men’s rifle 3 position event included a new personal best, after the Olympic Final, I dropped to 4th place so just missed out on a personal Bronze medal. However, overall, I was extremely pleased with all the results.”
The Frome shooters are all back in training again in preparation for the next junior international which is being held at the National Shooting Centre, Bisley in August. There is expected to be further fierce competition with the South African and German teams.
