Mountains and Malls

Posted on 06 Mar 2014 by WH

The third and final day of R&R before the Sloughhouse shoots saw the various groups separate once again to pursue various endeavours. The majority of vans headed in convoy to explore the Sacramento area for some shopping and lunch, while some of the more hardcore skiers left early to enjoy the slopes of Kirkwood. Iain Hindshaw and James skied while Claire and Matt boarded, the latter relieved both to find that his knee held up well twelve months after surgery and also that neither Claire's run-on with a small tree nor Iain's wish to do a daredevil drop-in resulted in a hospital visit.

The evening saw the inaugural Scotland Rifle Team beer pong contest before an early bedtime as a crucial team trial shoot awaited on Thursday morning, ahead of the big match against the USA on Friday (Canada had lost a couple of shots at the last minute but will have a team of eight next week).

Luckily the weather hadn't followed us from Coalinga to Sloughhouse. The range is part of a larger shooting complex and the topography was more familiar (as was the colour of the grass!). A hill on the left hand side of the range gave way to a dip before the butts, creating an interesting funnel for the fickle wind. Back at 1000 yards there are well over dozen sporadically-placed flags further down the range to choose from to challenge shooter and coach alike.

The team's performance varied overall and creases in firing point drills were steadily ironed out in preparation to meet our hosts the following morning. There followed a team barbecue and a selection meeting, with the last few places agonised over.