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Intershoot 2012
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Team's back home as of this morning (sorry, been sleeping
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Overall the total is two new Irish records, five shooters hit the MQS scores (and the sixth missed it by a point and set an Irish record in the process), three competition personal bests, two international debuts, and a team medal. And that team medal, get this - the team medals went, in order to:- Netherlands shooting team
- turned up in their own bus (as in, they owned it, custom painted, the works);
- had several coaches (famous ones like Dick Boschmann, who've written all the textbooks on shooting - open up the first few pages of Ways of the Rifle, the widest-selling ISSF textbook of all time and you'll find their coaches right there), managers, gofers and so on;
- are all fully-funded, full-time shooters and have been for a few years aimed at London 2012, and all started years before we can have a licence in Ireland;
- England shooting team
- fully funded full-time shooters who started years before we can have a licence in Ireland;
- had the largest team contingent there with coaches and managers and staff;
- Us
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there on holidays from work, training in our free time, paying for everything out of our own pockets;
- one overworked sod as staff doing all the paperwork, management and dogsbody duties;
- our coach back here on the other end of a phone line;
- doing all our own cooking, shopping, and all the sundry stuff the others had taken care of for them (and that's rather a lot - do you know how much 7 adults working 12-hour days in subzero temperatures at a rifle match can eat, and still lose weight?);
And despite all that whinging, we were only 20 points behind the English team, and compared to the PBs of our team we could have pulled up 16 points right there; and my kit is ten years old and way past its best before date and my rifle hasn't been serviced in the past ten years (the lads on the circuit will have theirs serviced at a minimum once a year, and more normally at every major international match by the manufacturers (who go to the matches to do so) and that's probably another ten points on its own).
Now don't get me wrong - the lads on the other teams are lovely chaps, all of us are friends and they'd be the first to offer to help if anything went wrong in a match (it's not unheard of for competing nations to loan each other everything and anything on the line, and we usually stay in the same places and eat together) and I'm actually rather proud to get to compete with them and when Huckle shot that 598 we were all thrilled for him because he's worked so hard for it.
It's just that there's a part of me that wonders at the point that in only our free time outside of our full-time jobs, we're close enough to full-time fully-funded olympic teams that the gap could be closed with just money, and not that much money at that. And that part of me is desperately proud of what us little Irish shooters can manage to do.
**** me lads, there's a reason you couldn't have gotten that ****-eating grin off my face with a crowbar the day we won that medal
That was a good trip 0 - Netherlands shooting team
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It wasn't me! wrote: »Great report Sparks. Glad to hear you had such a ball. And you're right. What we could do with the time and money is a frightening thought, but we could certainly be a force to be reckoned with.
+1.
tac, proudly part-Irish0 -
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And some favorable press from TheScore.ie (the sports section of TheJournal.ie):On target: Irish shooters achieve success against all odds.
Ray Kane on his way to 6th place in the men's air-rifle
INTERSHOOT IS AN annual event in The Hague, ideal for Olympic preparation and Ireland’s shooting team came away with a success which belies their paltry resources.
The team claimed two new Irish records and five out of the six managed to better the minimum qualifying score for the Olympics.
One of those records was Ray Kane’s rifle score of 590 out of 600. It earned him a sixth place finish, but the five who led him were all full-time shooters, given full funding and resources to back them during their exploits.
The Irish are all part-timers, struggling to force together the means for needed to compete at an elite international level.
The group must take the time to travel across Europe for tournaments (never mind training and practice) out of their spare time and holiday allowances from their regular day-job.
Looking on longingly at the resources afforded to other national squads is Mark Dennehy. Dennehy arrived back from the Netherlands reporting of how the host nation owned their own dedicated transport for shooters and equipment. Or how the English team crossed the channel with the largest contingent, full time coaches and staff bulking up their entourage beyond Ireland’s wildest dreams.
Dennehy and his team, meanwhile, are left to simply let their pistols and rifles do the talking.
Their coach, Matt Fox, had to remain in Ireland due to travel costs. Indeed, only one non-shooter travelled with the team as staff to cover the mounds of paperwork and logistics duty associated with transporting firearms.
Irish mens air-rifle team celebrate bronze at Intershoot - Ray Kane on left, Paul O’Boyle on right, Mark Dennehy in back row)
Essential activities such as cooking duties are taken up by the competitors themselves, negating much needed rest time. To properly underline the added strain of this activity, Dennehy rhetorically asks:
“Do you know how much seven adults working 12-hour days in subzero temperatures at a rifle match can eat, and still lose weight?”
The answer is a lot, but despite the uphill struggle, Ireland still managed to get within a whisker of their heavily backed rivals. Dennehy amongst those coming away with a bronze medal in the men’s air-rifle competition. The Netherlands were only 20 points better off and, silver-medallists, England just 12.
That gap, Dennehy says, could be closed with just a minor boost in funding. Currently the income is a nominal fee from the Olympic Council of ireland – not enough to cover one, never mind seven competitors – and nothing from the Irish Sports Council. That state of affairs has left Dennehy with the peculiar emotional mix of anger and pride as his cohorts keep trudging on despite it all.
“There’s a part of me that wonders” Says Dennehy,” in only our free time outside of our full-time jobs, we’re close enough to full-time fully-funded Olympic teams. That gap could be closed with just money, and not that much money at that.”
“And that part of me is desperately proud of what us little Irish shooters can manage to do.”
Paying out of their own pocket to represent Ireland on an international stage inevitably leads to talk of this summer’s Olympic games.
There are plenty of hurdles to overcome before that becomes a prescient matter. Next week they travel to Finland for the European Championships and, in April, they will get to test their skills on the Olympic range at the World Cup in London, before hopefully returning for the big show in August.
As things currently stand, that is just a foolhardy dream. An aspiration that is making them haemorrhage money every time they do Ireland proud.
Yet they have no intention of doing anything else.
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And from the NTSA website:
More results and photos on the NTSA page...New records and team bronze for Ireland at Intershoot 2012
Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:27 Kealan Symes
In a field that included many of the top shooters in the world, the Irish team of Ray Kane, Paul O'Boyle and Mark Dennehy (Men's Air Rifle), Aisling Miller (Women's Air Rifle), Peter Friend (Men's Air Pistol), Caroline O'Brien (Women's Air Pistol) and Kealan Symes (Manager) returned from Intershoot 2012 with a haul of two new Irish records, three final appeaances, five Olympic MQS and a team bronze medal for the men's air rifle team. Intershoot den Haag is a popular event as it comprises three days of competition providing plenty of international match practice for competitors either starting off on the international circuit or preparing for the European Airgun Championships, which this year will be in Finland, just over a week later.
The first to set the standard for the remainder of the trip was Caroline O'Brien in women's air pistol. On the first day with an 08:00 start and after a fifteen minute walk in a wind chill factor of -17° Celsius, Caroline scored a personal best and new Irish record of 364 to finish tenth overall and only eight points from making the final. Although the field was relatively small, it included 2010 European Bronze medallist Manon Hamblenne of Belgium and multiple world cup medallist and three times world championship runner-up Irada Ashumova from Azerbaijan.
Next up was Peter Friend in men's air pistol. Peter had a mixed result with some very strong strings interspersed with a couple of weaker ones. This proved to be a feature of his week and it was later identified as being caused by lack of contact with part of his grip. Peter finished 18th overall with a score of 557. Among the 54 competitors were Michael Gault OBE (GBR) and Vigilio Fait (ITA) as well as four competitors from Northern Ireland: Robert Doak, Hugh Stewart, Alan Kerr and David Smyth.
After lunch, the women's air rifle event started. Aisling Miller started well with 192/200 but tailed off slightly to finish in eleventh place with 376 which nevertheless exceeded the MQS by 1 point. The last match of the day was men's air rifle. Ray Kane, Paul O'Boyle and Mark Dennehy were all in action in this event and Ray Kane again made history when he broke his own Irish record set at RIAC Luxembourg last year by 1 point and hit the 590/600 mark for the first; time earning himself what would prove to be his first of three seventh place finishes of the week and a place in the final. Paul started well with strings of 99 and 97, but a dip in his middle strings dropped him into eleventh place with a MQS beating 576. Ray held his seventh place in the final and finished two places ahead of 2008 Munich World Cup winner and 2006 World Championship runner-up; Alin George Moldoveanu from Romania.
Day 2 (Friday) continued the successful run of day 1 with Caroline equalling her previous day's record and Ray Kane again making the final in seventh place with 589. The highlight however was third place in the men's air rifle team event which took some of us by surprise; most notably Ray Kane who went to the podium in his socks!. The team score of 1734 was only 20 points behind England on 1754 and 32 behind the very strong Netherlands team on 1766. The next nearest team; Scotland were 49 points behind. The Northern Ireland team also took bronze in the men's air pistol team event, making it a very succesful day for Irish teams. Individually, Aisling Miller had here best result with 380 and another MQS, Mark Dennehy made the MQS with a strong 571 and Paul O'Boyle again exceeded the MQS and in doing so acheived a perfect 100 in his second string. Peter improved on his previous day's performance with a 561 and 17th overall. Temperatures, which had been below freezing since the team's arrival rose briefly when snow began to fall, causing much excitement in the Indian contingent, many of whom had never seen snow before.
Fatigue was a factor on Day 3 (Saturday), as the long days and freezing temperatures took their toll. Nevertheless, Caroline O'Brien continued her strong run with a very creditable 360 and Peter had a 556, but was happy to have identified the problem with his grip. Aisling Miller again exceeded the MQS with a strong 379 after spending some three hours on the range with Ray the previous evening correcting a problem with her stance. Ray Kane had a storming start to his match with strings of 99, 98, 100, 100 but tailed off at the end to finish with 588 and another 7th place in the final. Paul O'Boyle had his strongest result of the week with a 578 and Mark Dennehy scored 564. The final was exciting as for the second day running, Peter Hellenbrand of the Netherlands took gold from second place on his last shot, making it his third gold medal in the event. James Huckle of England who had been beaten into second place by Hellenbrand on Friday, reversed his fortunes by taking bronze from fourth.
Overall, the trip was a great success and the team dynamic extremely strong with everyone making a big effort to support their teammates when their own match was finished. Special thanks to Caroline and Mark for rustling up food for the tired and hungry troops and for the general good humour displayed by all. Ray, Paul, Peter and Aisling will be departing for Finland and the European Airgun Championships early next week, under the guidance of team manager Joe Kinane and we wish them all the best in what will be the last opportunity to acheive a quota place for London 2012.0 -
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