Kerins and Jory in top 10 of Queen’s 100 at Bisley
FOR Guernsey’s rifle-shooting squad at Bisley, Saturday’s Queen’s Prize final was one of the most gripping in recent years. Four islanders had qualified for the shoot at the 900 and 1000 yards Stickledown Range, notoriously difficult when weather conditions are less than benign.
Adam Jory and Nick Kerins entered the final with high second stage scores, carried forward to the final. Ollie Hudson and Luke Malcic always faced an uphill struggle with their Stage II scores and fell behind on the big day – it was a fine overall effort, nevertheless, on their first and much-coveted appearance in the Queen’s Prize Final.
After 900 yards, with difficult wind conditions, Jory and Kerins (his own first appearance in the final) had outmatched many of their Queen’s 100 fellow contestants.
Jory was on the leader board in second place, just a point behind the eventual winner, the young Cambridge undergraduate, Alice Good.
Kerins, meanwhile, was shooting solidly, clearly reading the difficult wind conditions better than many of his fellow finalists at 1000 yards and inching his way into the top 10.
As Jory put it, ‘The wind was quite strong and it was difficult to see the slight changes of direction and strength. You needed to act quickly.’
Jory fell back at 1000 yards, however, and Kerins advanced as fellow competitors, including several former Queen’s prizewinners, vied for the honours.
Kerins dropped two points with a wide ‘magpie’ shot which put him into sixth place while Jory lost ground to finish 10th.
It was an afternoon when, had things gone just a smidgen more their way, either of the two might have been chaired off the Bisley ranges as the third Guernsey winner of HM the Queen’s Prize.
