Guillou’s hard work pays off

The final of the 2018 edition was held at Cobo Air Rifle Club on Friday, with both classes, A and B, shooting together on the same evening which meant all of the firing points were occupied by competitors new to the competition or wishing to put in good scores to see how they fared against the competition.

Class A included the experienced Paul Guillou, Andrea Guillou and Jamie Le Page, all representing Cobo Air Rifle Club, along with Chris Jackson, from St Pierre who, although a local air rifle shooter of many years, was new to Class A.

Jackson’s score in the qualifying round put him just five points adrift of Le Page who had been a previous winner of the competition.

Andrea Guillou had posted an excellent score of 578 in qualification to go top of the rankings and put pressure on husband Paul, who was only one point shy on 577.

Le Page, who was suffering from a poor start to the season as he was unable to put in much practice on club nights, was third on 558.

Jackson was putting the pressure on him with improved scores since upgrading his rifle and shooting attire recently.

However, the final round was a different story.

Jackson dropped his form as did Andrea Guillou, by some 27 and 19 points respectively, Jackson finishing on 529 and Guillou on 559.

Le Page improved by two points to reach 560 and Paul Guillou remained very consistent achieving a final score of 575.

A-class competitors are required to fire a further 10 shots called the Olympic final.

This was held under the pre-2013 rules where each shot is fired in a time limit of 75 seconds and the total is added to the score from the 60-shot match.

Each shot in the Olympic final is valued in decimals, with the most accurate shot on the bull producing a score of 10.9.

With a lead of 16 points, Paul Guillou had no pressure to speak of, but still could not afford to make any serious mistakes.

Andrea Guillou and Le Page, though, were in the same position that they had been the previous year where the points difference meant that the score in the Olympic final could make the difference between second and third positions.

Paul Guillou shot very consistently, hitting the bull eight times out of 10, achieving a score of 101.7 and so finishing on 676.7.

‘This was a really good performance from Paul, a previous gold and silver medallist at the Island Games, and his total score of 676.7 is probably an island record in this competition,’ said John Mechem, competition secretary for the Guernsey Air Rifle Association and gauger on the night.

Tension was evident between Le Page and Andrea Guillou, with the former getting off to a better start, extending his advantage by a whole point.

However, Guillou showed what she was really capable of, firing two nines and three 10s for her last five shots, pulling back the deficit and eventually beating Le Page, as she did the previous year, by just one point.

Although disappointed with a match score well below her average, she was clearly relived to once again take second place in what is considered to be the most senior match on the Guernsey Air Rifle Association’s calendar.

‘I’m really happy to be able to win this again,’ said Paul Guillou, in possession of the trophy once more.

‘Based on the qualification round, I expected Andrea to be a real contender – we are normally only one or two points away from each other in practice and other smaller matches – we have a friendly rivalry.

‘I’ve been working on building up a good base for my technique, which means I have a solid foundation and less effect of nerves in competitions.

‘Fortunately I am still improving and I’m keen to put in more work in order to raise my scores another 10 points or more.

‘I hope I can keep this form going for the Channel Islands Championships at the beginning of next month.

‘I’m pleased to see all of the juniors doing well this year,’ he added.

In B class, North United’s Adam Norman and Nigel Leale were pitted against one newcomer, Cobo’s junior talent Euan Robert, and St Pierre’s veteran of many years, Alan Batiste.

At the end of the 60-shot match, Robert was able to take advantage of Batiste’s drop of 18 points from the form he exhibited in the qualifying round to take third spot behind Norman and class winner Leale.

The pressure of the finals match obviously took its toll on all shooters, who each posted scores around 10 points or more lower than the qualification round.