Shooting

The shooting team has had an exciting couple of terms, with many new senior and lower school shooters. The shooting team is in good health, with some of our younger shooters achieving incredibly high scores, while still having fun and enjoying their time spent in the range.

Over the summer break, the team went to Bisley Shooting Ground to compete in the Ashburton competition. We came away with a great sense of success, having come third in the Ashburton 4s, second in the School’s Pairs and winning the District Challenge trophy, The Bermuda Cup, after beating Oakham, Oundle and Stamford. Our congratulations to the team; Alastair White (SH), Reeve Lim (SH), Declan Yuen (WD), Ruby Richardson (NH), Jiaxin Shen (C), Jeremy Tsai (Fgh) and Alister Wong (WB).

After the Ashburton competition, we enjoyed a barbecue at which three prizes were presented to the team members: Jiaxin Shen (C) was presented with the Ferrand Cup, as the shooter who contributed most to the team; Alister Wong (WB) was presented with the Watson Rose Bowl for the most improved shot; Alastair White (SH) was presented with the President’s Tankard for captaining the team.

Following the Ashburton Meeting, Alastair White (SH), Mr Gladding and Mr Fitzsimmons stayed on for a week to shoot at the Imperial Meeting. In the scorching heat of July, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees, this proved to be a challenging experience, but also very valuable as it really tested our durability and skills. During the meeting, we shot multiple competitions ranging from distances of 300, 500, 600, 900 and 1000 metres against some of the world’s best target shooters. Notable achievements included Alastair White coming 99th in the Conan Doyle Competition at 900 meters, and Mr Fitzsimmons achieving 4th place in the Admiral Hutton at 900m.

Autumn Term 2022

On 6 November, we shot our first away fixture since February 2020 against the Cambridge University rifle team. Although we lost by a narrow margin of 22 points, it was an incredible effort by the whole team as the Cambridge team were much more experienced than us and had the home advantage. Some highlights from the fixture included Alister Wong (WB) scoring his highest score yet on a ’10 bull target’, scoring 97, and Alastair White (SH) equalling the score of the Cambridge University Shooting Captain with an overall score of 193 out of a possible 200.

All members of the senior and junior teams who shoot in a jacket and sling were entered into postal competitions. A postal competition is where the competitors shoot a ’10 bull card’ and send it off to be scored professionally. After spending some time transitioning from full bore back to small bore in the school range, everyone is on target to reach their goals and gain a high average in these competitions.

Every year we submit a team to take part in trials for the County Team. Building on our success of last year, we were delighted to to submit two teams this year. The eight selected were Ethan Cousins (SH), Reeve Lim (SH), Jeremy Tsai (Fgh), Alastair White (SH), Eliazar Marchenk (M), Jiaxin Shen (C), Alister Wong (SH) and Declan Yuen (WD). The competition has almost finished, with the final cards due to be shot in the next few weeks.

At the end of last term, we received a delivery of custom made TenPointNine shooting jackets made in Uppingham’s colours. We were able to acquire these following an incredibly generous donation from the UVRC (Uppingham Veteran Rifle Club). We have enjoyed wearing these jackets as we shoot side-by-side in home and away fixtures.

Before Christmas, Alister Wong (WB) and Ethan Cousins (SH) received commendations for their commitment and effort in shooting, and colours were awarded to Alastair White (SH).

Spring Term 2023

This term, we have competed in one home fixture and two away fixtures as part of the Midlands Schools Cup. Our home fixture against Rugby was hosted at the range on 21 January – the team of eight and the team of four both performed well, with the team of eight winning by a significant margin. Unfortunately, our away fixture against Oundle didn’t go as well as we would have liked, seeing us lose on penalty points. However, when we visited Oakham on 14 January, we won by a large margin. As a result of our success in this competition, we will be facing Oundle in the final which will be held at a neutral ground next term.

In preparation for our full-bore season, on 5 March we travelled down to Bisley for the day to practice at 300 metres on electronic targets. Alongside a similar event on 19 March, where we shot at marked and 900 metre targets, these trips are valuable full-bore practice sessions.

In the past two terms, there are two lower school shooters that have gone above and beyond; the first is Alister Wong (WB), who has been consistently scoring very highly, even in our head-to-head matches. The second standout performance is from Valentino Corbett-Englaro (SH), who is in Fourth Form and joined the School this year. Valentino, having never shot before, is finishing his second term at Uppingham already in a jacket and sling, scoring very highly on both ’10 bull’ and ‘5 bull’ targets, as well as joining us for our Bisley trip, a truly remarkable achievement. The future of Uppingham Shooting team is looking good .

Next term, we host the annual UVRC vs Uppingham School team competition, which is followed by a dinner in the Kendall Room. We will also be shooting in the final of the Midlands Schools Cup. The full-bore season will get underway, and currently we have pupils signed up to compete in the Ibis Open, Cobweb Buster and Birmingham Bisley competitions, which will involve shooting from distances of 300 meters to 1200 meters. In preparation for the Ashburton Competition in July, we hope a small team will also attend the Beckingham Range Day.

Finally, the whole team would like to thank Mr Gladding, Mr Fitzsimmons and Mr Scott for all of the time they put into shooting.