And the former Commonwealth Games champion was upbeat about the rest of the competition.
‘It is only day two of a long week ahead and with much more shooting to be done anything can happen,’ he said.
The first full day saw a mixed bag of results for the Jersey contingent with the hot and humid conditions making it hard work for all the squad to post their usual excellent scores.With visiting teams from USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa all bringing their best shooters in readiness for the Palma World Long Range Team Championships next week, the scores posted are an excellent demonstration of how good Island shooting is on the world stage.With consistent shooting throughout the day Bruce Horwood, Ian Jones and Peter Stock have also advanced into the top 100.Indeed, superb shooting from Jones and Wally Langley in the world championships saw them both in the top 50 on the leaderboard with Jones in 15th and Langley in 45th.Chris Cotillard unfortunately scored a miss on his final shot otherwise he would have joined them on the leaderboard.Graeme Harris scored an excellent 75 in the Daily Mail competition to finish in 42nd place.On Thursday the Jersey Rifle Association won the Tom Anstey Trophy for the ninth successive year with a comfortable victory over annual opponents London and Middlesex Rifle Association.The match, fired over a Queens II course of two sighting shots and ten shots to count was always in the JRA’s favour.With a seven-point advantage after shots at 300 yards JRA pulled further in front with some excellent coaching from Mallett at 500 and 600 yards.Superb shooting from double Island Games gold medallist Peter Stock saw him finish top score with 149 and 19 V bulls.Old Victorians won their annual match against Guernsey’s Old Elizabethans for the OE Bowl with veteran skipper Alan Le Sueur topping the scores with a stunning possible 50 out of 50.The day was not a complete success for Jersey though with the Opening Shot at 900 and 1,000 yards proving testing experience.The match ended with Jersey A in 30th place, the B team in 12th and the C team in 13th.On Friday the combined cadet rifle marksmen of Victoria College and Elizabeth College beat England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to the Cadet Challenge Bowl.The cadets won the under-19 event by a handsome seven points to collect the prestigious prize for only the third time.
