The 2012 World FITASC Championship at Northbrook Sports Club

SHOOTREPORT
2012
10
WORLD
FITASC
DANA FARRELL REPORTS FROM NORTHBROOK SPORTS CLUB
CHAMPIONSHIP
S
hooters from 53 Nations
gathered August 13-19 at
Northbrook Sports Club
in Hainesville, Illinois, to
celebrate the 34th Annual
World FITASC Championship.
Last held in the United States back
in 2006, expectations were
understandably high – and
Northbrook did not disappoint, as
over 900 shooters who shot the
Main Event will certainly attest. It
takes an unimaginable amount of
hard work to pull off a
Championship of this magnitude.
Northbrook demonstrated that not
only are they capable of
successfully organizing such a
world class event, but are now
TEAM USA.
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
among the top tier sporting clays
facilities in the country.
Immediately upon pulling onto
the grounds, the time and effort
spent to make the visitor
experience as pleasant as possible
was clearly evident. An army of
workers buzzed in every area of the
club – from the front gate guards, to
the shuttle drivers in the parking
lots, to the trappers and referees.
Competitors from across the
world were busy taking advantage
of the practice Parcours that lined
the driveway leading from the
newly erected iron entrance gate
to the clubhouse parking lot. The
feeling was that nothing had been
left to chance. The grounds looked
SHOOTREPORT
PICTURE CREDIT: DON BRUNT
11
manicured, the buildings neat and
the signage was thorough and well
thought out. This event would
ultimately prove to live up to its
storied legacy as the annual
pinnacle of sporting – shooters
who made the trip were in for a
remarkable and memorable week
of shooting.
Blessed with great weather,
with the exception of a rousing
rainstorm Thursday morning that
delayed the start of the Main Event
by one hour, shooters were spared
the hot, humid weather that is so
typical of the Midwest this time of
year. Temperatures topped out in
the mid 70s with low humidity –
absolutely beautiful shooting
conditions. After Thursday’s gray
weather, skies were a pleasant mix
of sun and clouds, albeit with
constantly changing light
conditions as the clouds moved
against the sky.
Neighboring Campbell Airport,
abutting Northbrook, lent a
runway for parking and rental cart
staging area, with shuttles running
non-stop to all areas of the
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
SHOOTREPORT
12
CONNECTICUT SHOTGUN SHOWROOM.
JIM MOSES
Opening Gala
grounds. An open, grassy area on
the approach to the clubhouse was
home for the Beretta, Krieghoff,
Caesar Guerini and Connecticut
Shotgun mobile showrooms where
customers could handle guns and
accessories and chat with company
representatives. Vendors also
shared the cover of the main
vendor tent, set up in the
clubhouse parking lot, while yet
others with mobile shops set up off
to one side. Business was brisk,
with Frank Robertson of Shooting
Glasses Specialists, a Randolph
Engineering distributor, reporting
a record setting sales week. The
scene was like an amusement park
VENDORS HAD A BUSY WEEK.
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
for shotgunners – with a huge
selection of products available to
hold, demo and bargain for. Major
event sponsors Blaser, Beretta,
Promatic and Exchange Porsche
had their banners flying along the
thoroughfare.
800 registered targets were on
the schedule, starting with
Monday’s 100 bird Cheddite Cup
English Sporting and 50 target
Beretta Prelim FITASC events,
and running through Sunday with
the finish of the FITASC World
Championship. Northbrook staff
and equipment was supported by
six mechanics from Promatic, led
by Jim Moses, and 200 traps.
The official Opening Ceremony
took place at 6PM Wednesday,
presided over by FITASC
President Jean-Francois Palinkas
and FITASC Vice President for
America, Joe Cantey. A grand
covered stage was set up with
bleachers and folding chairs for
the audience. Everyone stood as
American Legion Color Guards
presented Colors before a
procession of the national teams
made their way, one by one, from
the clubhouse, up the center
walkway, to take their allotted spot.
The teams formed a semi-circle,
with Team USA taking their place
CELTIC PIPERS.
front and center amid thunderous
applause. As a nod to Chicago’s
immigrant roots, a Celtic piper
band marched onto the yard and
played. Dignitaries were
introduced to the audience,
including Palinkas, Shoot
Chairman Brett Seibert,
Northbrook President Dr. John
Estep and Hainesville Mayor Linda
Soto. Three bi-planes, one each of
red, white and blue, made fly-by
passes leaving trails of smoke
against the evening sky. Upon
completion of the ceremony, B&P
sponsored a cocktail party at
which shooters picked up their
shooting schedule from the
distribution points on the adjacent
skeet fields. The excitement was
palpable – the event was now
officially underway!
FLY-BY.
SHOOTREPORT
14
Northbrook Facts
Northbrook Sports Club sits on
more than 600 acres of Northern
Illinois property, just 20 miles
south of the Wisconsin State line
and one hour north of downtown
Chicago. With a footprint just
shy of one square mile, the
grounds have been enhanced
with a series of large berms,
augmenting naturally occurring
subtle changes in elevation.
Three virgin areas were used for
the World event, with several
others opened up that hadn’t
seen use in many years.
Terrain is a mix of park-like
areas of large, strategically
thinned hardwoods, gently
rolling prairie hills, cornfields,
marshland and river bottoms –
all integrated with well-built
shooting platforms and trap
towers. Home to registered
skeet tournaments and NSCA
events, Northbrook has held
their fair share of major events,
including the UK/US Masters,
Pro-Am Top 40 and numerous
State sporting clays and skeet
championships.
They have ten combination
skeet/trap fields and a two level
enclosed, heated and lighted
5-Stand for winter shooting. The
North American FITASC
Championship is scheduled
there next year, with Regional
and US Open events likely in the
not too distant future.
Side Events Galore
The Cheddite Cup English Sporting
(175 entries), set by Steve Knoll of
Wisconsin, ran Monday and
Tuesday and was won by English
shooter Graham Stirzaker, followed
by runner-up Jari Rajala of Finland,
both on 96. Americans Jon Kruger
(95) and Zach Kienbaum (94) were
close behind, taking M1 and M2.
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
CHEDDITE CUP ENGLISH
SPORTING
CH
RU
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
SUB JR
JR
VET
SUP VET
GRAHAM STIRZAKER
JARI RAJALA
JON KRUGER
LARRY JONES
TIM HUBNER
MANUEL TAMAYO
LARRY SHAKINOVSKY
RODOLFO DE ANDREIS
ANGEL RAMOS
HALEY DUNN
AUSTIN HEFFNER
ABEL SPIRE
GRAHAM STIRZAKER
BOB PERIGO
KOLAR CUP
96
96
95
88
87
82
76
81
76
89
82
94
96
85
The Beretta Prelim FITASC (370
entries) was a 50 bird race shot
new style, with targets set by
David Fiedler, that ran MondayWednesday. It ended in a six-way
tie for first place – all on 49. It was
decisively won by Joe Mezatasta of
Ohio, by way of a dramatic shootoff Saturday evening, with Gebben
Miles as runner-up followed by
Brian DuQuesnay (M1) and
England’s Mark Marshall (M2).
BERETTA FITASC PRELIM
CH
RU
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
JR
VET
SUP VET
JOE MEZATASTA
GEBBEN MILES
BRIAN DuQUESNAY
JEREMY KENT
STUART HART
MATTEO CICOGNANI
NICOLAS VANIER
BERNHARD SCHOENACHER
ANGEL RAMOS
DIANE SORANTINO
MICHAEL EVERSON
BRIAN DuQUESNAY
BOB MAPLES
49
49
49
48
46
45
44
45
41
47
49
49
47
The Kolar Cup English Sporting
(315 entries) ran Tuesday and
Wednesday, featuring targets set
by Tim Miles. All American Will
Fennell handily walked away with
the win with his 96, followed by
Gebben Miles on 93. Paul Lovick
of England placed M1 with his 92,
followed by Bill McGuire (M2)
also on 92.
CH
RU
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
SUB JR
JR
VET
SUP VET
SR SUP VET
WILL FENNELL
GEBBEN MILES
PAUL LOVICK
ROGER JARNALD
TIM HUBNER
KENNETH BENNETT
ALEXEI SOKOLOV
VICTOR SILVA
ANGEL RAMOS
RENAE BIRGAN
VICTOR SILVA JR.
MICHAEL EVERSON
ROBERT CATALFANO
RICHARD GEMINSKI
GEORGE EDDY
96
93
92
88
90
83
79
77
72
85
78
91
91
82
59
Two 5-Stand competitions were
offered, both sponsored by
Browning – the 50 bird Prelim
5-Stand (208 entries) ran Tuesday
through Thursday and the 100
Bird Main 5-Stand (176 entries)
was on Friday and Saturday. Both
events featured targets set by Ed
Prechel. Californian turned Texan,
Zach Kienbaum, duked it out in a
PRELIM 5-STAND
CH
RU
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
SUB JR
JR
VET
SUP VET
ZACHARY KIENBAUM
DAMIEN BIRGAN
JON KRUGER
ROSS CLANCY
MICHELE CICOGNANI
JEFF BONE
LOGAN KILLAM
MOISES BARBOSA
ANNA WEBBER
STEFANIE STEINKRAUS
MATTHEW YARESH
DREW BENSON
GRAHAM STIRZAKER
STEVEN FISCHER
48
48
46
46
43
41
36
37
17
45
44
45
46
41
5-STAND SHOOT-OFF COMPETITORS.
Saturday night shoot-off with the
2009 World FITASC Champion,
Damien Birgan (Australia) for the
Prelim 5-Stand title, both on 48.
Kienbaum emerged the winner.
Jon Kruger and Graham Stirzaker
placed M1 and M2, both on 46.
Gebben Miles took the
Browning Main 5-Stand with a 98,
but seven shooters turned in 96s
and had to shot-off for the runnerup spot. Out of the six who showed
up, Pat Lieske was most
impressive as he smoked three
difficult pairs to secure runner-up.
Jon Kruger finished M1 with
Derrick Mein M2.
Knowing that international
shooters don’t usually get the
opportunity to shoot side events
during a major championship,
Shoot Chairman, Brett Seibert,
was gratified to see that, “a ton of
the international shooters shot the
added events – everyone said they
wouldn’t.”
BROWNING 5-STAND
MAIN
CH
RU
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
LADY
SUB JR
JR
VET
SUP VET
GEBBEN MILES
PAT LIESKE
JON KRUGER
NIGEL HART
STUART HART
LARRY BROWN
LOGAN KILLAM
JOSH LANOYE
DESIRAE EDMUNDS
MATTHEW YARESH
HUNTER MILLIGAN
BEN JENSEN
BOB DAVIS
98
96
96
92
85
83
81
65
88
87
96
90
90
SHOOTREPORT
Red,White and
Blue Sporting
The most significant of the side
events was the 200 bird Exchange
English Sporting (363 entries) that
ran Thursday, Friday and Saturday
over courses of 66, 68 and 66 birds.
Red, White and Blue courses each
had a different target setter. Steve
Knoll (Red), Tim Miles (White)
and Steve Schultz (Blue) ensured
each course had its own
‘personality’. Red was a 66 bird
fairly shooter-friendly course with
an interesting mix of presentations
that wound through a wooded
area, with targets that were fully
visible and out in the open. No
short windows.
The White course was
unanimously considered the
toughest of the three – and maybe
most infamously featured a true
pair on station 10 that generated
quite a buzz among the shooters.
Both targets were thrown
quartering away, left to right – a
long, ripping fast chandelle of
medium height, along with a high,
standard target that was easily 55
yards away, and curling, by the
time the chandelle was taken. This
course was a ‘reality check’ for
many, with no ‘warm and fuzzies’.
The Blue course was set along
the edge of a large, open area – a
former cornfield, maybe a half-mile
square, that several years ago was
BILL McGUIRE
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
The most
significant of the
side events was the
200 bird Exchange
English Sporting
dramatically enhanced by adding
tons and tons of fill dirt to create a
series of hills. Edged on two sides
by stands of hardwoods, it has
grown back to its prairie-like state
and is shot towards the center
from all four sides. The targets
here were of moderate difficulty –
and very enjoyable.
Bill McGuire ran away with the
Exchange English Sporting HOA
title with his score of 193, the next
highest scores being two 181s shot
by Zach Kienbaum (RU) and Jon
Kruger (M1). McGuire said later
he thought the targets were nicely
mixed and felt that the White
course was definitely the hardest
of the three. When the point was
raised that he was a dozen targets
ahead of the field, in his easy,
Southern style, he humbly replied,
“I got lucky on the White course.”
It was an understated, gracious
response from one of the
consummate gentlemen of our
sport.
EXCHANGE SPORTING MAIN
CH
RU
3RD
M1
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
SUB JR
JR
VET
SUP VET
SR SUP VET
BILL MCGUIRE
ZACHARY KIENBAUM
JON KRUGER
DAVID KELLEY
DUSTIN SOULEK
JOHN HOWLAND
ANSSI VIRTANEN
LOGAN KILLAM
BERNHARD SCHOENACHER
JOYCE HOUTTEMAN
JANET McDOUGALL
WILL HINTON
DREW LIESKE
CURTIS LESSEL
BOB DAVIS
RONALD SHAFER
193
181
181
180
165
157
146
156
144
90
168
176
174
174
163
163
World
Championship
All eyes were glued to the
television early Thursday morning,
as weather forecasters predicted
storms sweeping through the area.
With skies darkening, shooters
gathered near the clubhouse in
preparation of the first flights of
the FITASC World Championship.
Eight squads were scheduled to
start at 8:30AM, one on the first
peg of each Parcour. The schedule
allowed twelve minutes between
pegs, with new shooters rotating in
as the pegs cleared. There were a
total of 160 squads, most with six
shooters each – if delayed, this
had the potential to get ugly in a
hurry.
The rain rolled in a little before
8AM, along with strong winds.
This wasn’t your garden variety,
gentle, steady rain, but a violent
downpour that had everyone
running for cover and wondering
what the scheduling ramifications
would be. As shooters huddled
under the vendor tent, it was
announced over the loudspeaker
that all flights would be delayed,
effectively moving all events,
including the English Sporting,
back an hour. The rain eased after
45 minutes and was only misting
slightly by the time the first flights
hit the pegs around 9:30AM. Skies
were gray, but would slowly
lighten throughout the day,
eventually becoming partly sunny
by day’s end.
BERETTA PARCOUR.
Thursday
Parcours were shot new style over
four pegs – three pegs of six
targets, with one of seven for a
total of twenty five birds each
Parcour. There were eight
Parcours with each shooter
taking on two per day over four
days. This allowed shooters to
PICTURE CREDIT: DON BRUNT
16
SHOOTREPORT
17
PICTURE CREDIT: DON BRUNT
PROMATIC PEG 1.
PART OF THE WINCHESTER PARCOUR.
PICTURE CREDIT: DON BRUNT
PICTURE CREDIT: DON BRUNT
REMINGTON PEG 1.
CAESAR GUERINI PEG 4.
CAESAR GUERINI TOWER.
PRELIM EVENTS WERE WELL SUPPORTED.
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA
SHOOTREPORT
18
compete in the other side events
each day. There was a fair share of
scheduling conflicts, but Lois and
Casey, who were responsible for
squadding the added events, were
very accommodating and worked
hard to make adjustments.
Targets for this 200 bird
FITASC World Championship
were set by David Fiedler, Tim
Miles, Steve Schultz and Brett
Seibert. The varied terrain
provided the perfect backdrop for
eight entertaining Parcours – each
with its own challenges.
The breakdown of target types
included 151 standard targets, 29
Midis, 13 Battues and 7 Rabbits. As
regards degree of target difficulty,
FITASC rates targets as ‘A’ (the
easiest of targets that can be hit by
the average shooter 80% of the
time), ‘B’ (targets that can be hit
60-80% of the time) and ‘C’ targets
(the hardest – hit 40-60% of the time).
For this Championship, there were
24s. Average scores (across all
competitors) on each Parcour are
shown in the table below.
SHOOT AVERAGE SCORES
74 x A, 86 x B and 40 x C targets.
While target types and their A,
B, C target difficulty levels are
intended to ensure consistent levels
of difficulty across each Parcour,
additional factors such as the
terrain, target speed and the
weather all impact on the average
scores coming off each Parcour. Of
all the Parcours, Winchester proved
to be the most shooter-friendly with
31 straights posted – Caesar Guerini
gave up only two straights while the
highest scores on Beretta were five
WINCHESTER
20.2
BLASER
20.2
PROMATIC
20.1
CONNECTICUT
19.9
KRIEGHOFF
18.8
REMINGTON
17.5
CAESAR GUERINI
16.8
BERETTA
16.4
The upside to the varying levels of
difficulty on each Parcour was that
there was no runaway winner and
the Champion would not be
decided until the last day of
competition – now that’s exciting!
Edgar Bosch Tufet of Spain and
Hungarian Andras Szerdahelyi
both posted perfect scores of 50 on
Day 1, with Zach Kienbaum,
Gebben Miles and Jari Rajala of
Finland all turning in 49s.
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SHOOTREPORT
Giuseppe Calo of Italy and Ben
Husthwaite of Britain, both of
whom would figure in a big way
later, stood on 48, as did Will
Fennell and about a dozen others.
It was too early in the game for
speculation, particularly when
word spread fast that Caesar
Guerini (Parcour 4) and Beretta
(Parcour 5), both set by Steve
Schultz, were shaping up to be the
two hardest layouts.
Friday
Day 2 brought sunny skies and
comfortable temperatures in the
mid-70s. First flights were launched
at 8:30AM and the shoot was now in
full swing. Gebben Miles shot
Promatic (Parcour 2) and
Winchester (Parcour 3) on Friday,
again only dropping one bird. This
put him in the lead with 98, but Jari
Rajala, Giuseppe Calo and Edgar
Bosch were only one bird back.
19
Mark Marshall, Wendell Cherry and
Derrick Mein were all on 96 while
Will Fennell and Ben Husthwaite
were back one more at 95.
Shooters tended to congregate
under the beer tent after shooting,
which served a good variety of
beer and wines. Along with the
adjacent food pavilion, the beer
garden served as a central
gathering place all week – and
many a lament was recited before
the week came to a close. With two
days and 100 targets to go, things
were beginning to get interesting.
Saturday
Gebben Miles shot Parcours 4
(Guerini) and 5 (Beretta), the
hardest layouts, posting a 22 and
23 for a score of 143 – two birds
back of leader Jari Rajala, who had
yet to shoot Parcours 4 and 5.
Giuseppe Calo was on 144, having
shot a good score (22) on Guerini
FACTORY AUTHORIZED BLASER SALES AND SERVICE CENTER.
– but he had the Beretta to shoot,
along with Remington on Sunday.
Ben Husthwaite and Mark
Marshall were tied with Miles on
143. Marshall was on the same
schedule as Rajala – he had the two
hardest Parcours yet to go.
Husthwaite had shot an
outstanding 23 on Guerini, but still
had to tackle Beretta on Sunday.
Saturday evening featured side
event shoot-offs, held on the
covered stage that had served as
the center of the opening
ceremony. There was celebration
in the air as shooters crowded the
huge stage, along with target
setters, scorers and
photographers. The side events
shoot-offs saw minimal
SHOOTREPORT
international participation other than
Graham Stirzaker and Damien Birgan.
A cocktail party sponsored by the Illinois
Sporting Clays Association followed the
shoot-offs and wrapped up the third day of
the Main Event. Anticipation was high going
into the last day.
Sunday
Jari Rajala turned in a 19 on Caesar Guerini
and a 21 on Beretta, giving him a 185 for the
event and effectively knocking him out of
the running for HOA. It was a great score,
but the toughest two Parcours of the event
proved to be his undoing.
Ben Husthwaite (England) and Giuseppe
Calo (Italy) both shot Beretta and
Remington on the final day, with Husthwaite
turning in 24, 23 and Calo going 22, 24. This
meant that the one bird advantage over the
Brit that Calo brought into the final day had
evaporated, leaving them both tied on 190. A
shoot-off ultimately settled the score, with
Husthwaite taking the Silver medal,
knocking Calo into third place for the
Bronze.
Gebben Miles, who began the day tied
with Husthwaite on 143, dropped only one
bird on each of his last Parcours (Remington
and Connecticut Shotgun) giving the 2009
NSCA National Sporting Clays Champion a
one bird edge over his two closest
opponents to take the 2012 World FITASC
Championship. With a stellar 191, the 27
year old Arizonian became only the second
American in the 34 year history of the event
to win the World FITASC Gold medal
(Minnesota’s Gregg Wolf won the title back
in 2004 in Signes, France).
Miles, on cloud nine Sunday evening,
took time for a post event interview. “It feels
phenomenal – this is one of the biggest
achievements of my shooting career.” He said
the Caesar Guerini and Beretta Parcours
were, “Just crazy hard. I shot decent on
them (22, 23) but I really didn’t think that
was going to be enough. I shot great the first
two days – the Blazer, Promatic and
Winchester layouts were a little more
straightforward than Steve’s (Schultz)
layouts. He clearly turned up the heat on two
of his three layouts and I was fortunate to
just shoot well enough on the others.”
Miles’ ascent to World Champion comes
as no surprise to those watching the steady
climb of this 27 year old’s shooting career. It
was evident last year that we were
witnessing something special after his
amazing performance in the FITASC Super
Final of the Triple Classic was acclaimed by
George Digweed to be “maybe the best
piece of shooting I’ve ever seen.”
Truly one of the ‘good guys’ of our game,
Miles was quick to credit the help of others
and to thank God for his good fortune. The
PICTURE CREDIT: GREEN GIRL PHOTOS
L TO R: BEN HUSTHWAITE (RU), GEBBEN
MILES (WORLD FITASC CHAMPION) AND
GIUSEPPE CALO (ITALY) WHO WAS THIRD.
SHOOTREPORT
timing couldn’t have been better
from a business standpoint, for the
recent release of his shooting
instruction DVD “Quiet Dust” will
likely see a healthy uptick in sales
after this amazing World
Championship win. It couldn’t
have happened to a more
deserving person. ■
WORLD FITASC OPEN
CH
RU
3RD
4TH
5TH
AA1
A1
B1
C1
D1
E1
LADY
JR
VET
SUP VET
GEBBEN MILES
BEN HUSTHWAITE
GIUSEPPE CALO
WILL FENNELL
ZACHARY KIENBAUM
RON RHOOK
TIM HUBNER
DAVID HALLETT
LOGAN KILLAM
JOHN TORRESAN
ANGEL RAMOS
MARTINA MARUZZO
DAVID RADULOVICH
GRAHAM STIRZAKER
JOHN HACKETHORN
191
190
190
189
189
179
183
170
164
167
133
176
185
183
170
TEAM USA
JON KRUGER
DAVID RADULOVICH
WENDELL CHERRY
GEBBEN MILES
TEAM ITALY
TEAM SPAIN
747
185
185
186
191
727
720
TEAM AUSTRALIA
V JOHNSTONE
KELLY NORRIS
RENAE BIRGAN
TEAM ITALY
TEAM GREAT BRITAIN
495
154
167
174
492
488
TEAM USA
HUNTER MILLIGAN
ROSS NESKORA
ABEL SPIRE
TEAM SPAIN
TEAM AUSTRALIA
536
176
179
181
530
517
TEAMS
SENIOR CH
RU
3RD
LADY CH
RU
3RD
JUNIOR CH
RU
3RD
VETERAN CH TEAM USA
BRIAN DuQUESNAY
JOHN WOOLLEY
GARY WALSTROM
RU
TEAM GREAT BRITAIN
3RD
TEAM AUSTRALIA
533
175
179
179
524
509
SUP VET CH
506
166
170
170
478
472
RU
3RD
TEAM USA
MICHAEL TAYLOR
GEORGE BOGNER
CURTIS ANDERSON
TEAM FRANCE
TEAM ITALY
21
Notable Quotes
Brett Seibert: “American shooting talent has
dramatically improved. Five or eight years ago there
were always 10 guys who could win a major
championship on any given day – it’s more like 30 or
40 now, they’ve gotten so much better. If you set
targets to keep those guys’ scores down, you just kill
everybody else.”
Steve Schultz: “The Beretta layout had an English
estate type terrain and I tried to throw targets like
you’d see in Great Britain. Guerini had more of a
Texas flavor and I got to use lifts. For the Remington
layout I had woods – it challenged me to make sure
each layout had its own character. It was fun because
the terrain was outstanding.”
Gebben Miles: “I’d like to keep on progressing…
even though I’ve now won the National Sporting and
World FITASC Championships, I know I can still
improve in certain areas and I’m going to keep at it
because there’s no substitute for hard work.”
Ben Husthwaite: “These were probably the hardest
targets we’ve had at a FITASC World Championship
in maybe 8 years. They were hard technically – not
pure distance and speed.”
George Digweed: “The standard of refereeing (over
40 FITASC judges, including six from the UK, led by
Scott Williams and Hugh Smith) has been absolutely
first class. The targets were perfect for a World
Championship. It was a great event – well run, and I’d
certainly come back if it was ever here again.”
Damien Birgan: “I thought the targets couldn’t be
better – a perfect variety of presentations for every
level of shooter.”
Curtis Anderson: “They had a great balance of
targets. There were Parcours where if you just kept
your head down and focused, you’d do alright. Then
there were some that would stretch your imagination.
You’ve got to have something for everybody at a
World event – and they did.”
CLAYSHOOTINGUSA