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Intershoot 2012
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Peter Friend's doing well in the Mens Air Pistol at the moment (95 96 93 92), three points behind Mick Gault at the 40-shot mark. Given that Mick Gault has won more commonwealth medals than any athlete in any sport ever, that's no mean feat!
(Pete's the guy standing on his own in the middle of the photo in the white t-shirt)0 -
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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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