On Target

This week I met up with Welsh International Shooter, Coach Morris for my final training session for The Pistol Shooting Challenge. But would I be on target?

The range we're using for practise is slightly shorter than the ones at a standard firing range, some would say this makes it slightly easier (those of you who shoot, for instance) but bare in mind that less than 2 months ago I'd never even seen a gun before.

This is a pic from a previous training session, before the beard came off

The aim of the evening was to get some final preparation time, make any minute adjustments needed to the sights of the pistol, and talk through range etiquette as well as the format for the event.

Range etiquette may sound a little like it's all about being polite and minding your manners, and in a way it is: this set of rules includes things like not pointing your gun anywhere other than towards the target wall, and never leaving a loaded weapon alone at your shooting point - seems obvious but as these unusual looking guns could be lethal then I for one am not willing to take any risks with one.

Coach Morris used the evening to go over the event in fine detail as well as see how I managed in a distracting environment, often talking all the way through my shots; while the range will not be full of people chatting, it will be full of my competition firing their pistols as and when they please during the 1hr 45 minutes we'll have to take 60 shots.

My personal goal for the evening was to shoot what I thought of as a 'clean card' - I'd never once shot all 10 pellets through the black centre of a target card (any hole that touches the black centre, counts as a 7 and above - the 'bullseye being a 10).

I shot 4 cards that evening, Coach Morris adjusted the sights twice. When it came to my final shot I looked down at the target, which was showing 9 'clean' shots and took a deep breath as I raised the gun...

Yahtzee!!!

I'd bagged a clean card in my training sessions at last, and with my final shot!!

As a reward Coach Morris allowed me a few rounds with the rapid fire mag in the pistol; 5 pellets slot into the loading chamber at once, when you've got your sights lined up you shoot all of the pellets in quick succession.

Blasting the hell out of the target felt great - better than any shoot 'em up game I'd ever played.

Here's the result:

As rapid firing goes I'm told this is pretty darn good for a first go - and that's coming from a Welsh International Shooter!

The Pistol Shooting Challenge will take place on Saturday 28th May at The National Indoor Shooting Centre, Wolverhampton.  I'll be ready.

The Shooting Challenge, Part One: Blasting Pigeons

Two minutes drive North from Inverness Airport in Scotland, you'll find yourself in such leafy countryside that you'll wonder whether cities like London actually exist at all. Thanks to winning a competition prize on Dave Berry's former XFM radio show I found myself, along with my missus in this very situation. Yet I did have a challenge in mind...and it involved pigeons.

The morning had started with the usual rush to pack and load the car, but this time I wouldn't be going to work, I'd be going on a mini break with my girlfriend and the bill was being picked up by NDL Group thanks to a text I'd made to a radio station some 6 months previous.

We stopped for the now standard service station breakfast - show me a road trip that doesn't begin with one and I'll show you a naff road trip! Unfortunately we picked the worst hot food venue out there...

The laziest sausage sarnie...in the World!

We made up for this atrocity at the Apostrophe eaterie at Gatwick Airport before boarding our plane to Inverness.

Just an hour and a half later, having driven through some of the most glorious countryside in the UK, we entered the mile-or-so long driveway that leads to Alladale Wilderness Lodge.

Alladale is not just any lodge...

Oh my...

This amazing old hunting lodge is set in the grounds of Alladale Highland Wilderness Reserve; owned by visionaire Paul Lister, the son of the founder of furniture company MFI and himself the founder of The European Nature Trust (TENT).

Lister's aim is to create Europe's first every wilderness reserve - taking a 23,500 acre plot in the highlands of Scotland back to how it would have been some 300 hundred years ago (truly inspirational, you can read about this here).

Insert bears, wolves, moose, grouse, red squirrels, boars and bison here.

A Land Rover ride later we arrived at our private stone cottage, Ghillie's Rest Lodge.

Ghillie's done a lovely job with the place.

Once our bags were ditched and we knew where to find the food and work the various gadgets, our host Innes drove us straight off to my next sporting challenge...Clay Target Shooting.

Innes MacNeill is Reserve Manager at Alladale, but he's also competed at the World Championships for Clay Target Shooting - so as coaches go, we'd hit the jackpot.

Coach MacNeill introduced us to the shotgun we'd be using for this task, its twin barrels were mounted one atop the other to allow easier aiming and accuracy.

Due to cost restraints (I'll be honest The Everyman Olympics is costing me a fair wedge; I'm still entirely self-funded) we'd simply be emulating the Olympic Final of the Trap discipline used at the games.

Here's how The Clay Target Shooting Challenge would work:

• 25 Shots each, 1 point per hit.
• 3 separate traps: The Grouse (10 shots), The Pheasant (10 shots), Going Down The Line (5 shots).
• The highest scorer would be the winner.

The Grouse

Standing in a large clearing, clay targets (or 'pigeons') would be fired towards and above us from approx 15 metres away - for this and indeed each of the traps, we'd have 1 shot to break the target and collect the point.

At each trap Coach MacNeill talked us through what was going to happen, then he'd ask us who was going first.

Thinking on my toes I suggested Jess should go first, so that I knew the score I'd have to beat and could get a look at where the clay pigeon would fly from.

Though Jess missed the first shot, she then bagged the next 4! Was my missus secretly an assassin and not a buyer at Next?!

Agent Fountain on the Grouse

Innes berated me for having put my girlfriend in first, saying that being over-competitive would be my downfall in this challenge; by not going first I'd have added pressure to perform and would be ignoring his instructions thinking I knew best...dammit he was right.

In my first five shots I only hit the second pigeon - I would stop moving the gun the millisecond I'd opted to shoot and this was disastrous every time, I think the one hit I did get was a fluke.

Jess hit a further two clays in her last five shots at the Grouse, which gave me a chance to calm down and pay more attention to Innes - not surprisingly this tactic paid off, I bagged 4 of my last 5 clays!

Spot the city boy in the countryside.

The Grouse: Jess 6, The Everyman Olympian 5.

The Pheasant

Moving up the hill to our second trap, Coach MacNeill delighted in pointing out the error of my early strategy, given that he was carrying a gun and clearly knew how to use it, I thought better of being a twat and biting at his jibes.

The Pheasant trap was mounted higher up than our first shooting position, on shouting 'pull' Innes would press a remote control which fired a clay target from the trap, this time rising in the air towards us and over our position at a slight angle, before landing in one piece behind us if we'd missed the shot.

Jess again went first, blasting her first pigeon out of the air like she was born to shoot...but then perhaps pressure to produce got the better of her because she missed the next four.

In her second stint on the Pheasant, Jess would manage just two more hits.

Luckily no aircraft were hurt in the making of this photo.

The Pheasant: Jess 3, The Everyman Olympian 5.

Going Down The Line

While feeling let down that this trap did not have cool bird-based name I got put in first by my girlfriend who claimed she had a slightly sore shoulder (I knew she was blagging it but what can you do eh?).

We'd have 5 shots from this last position, we were stood back down in the clearing, only this time the clays would race away from us, barely clearing the treetops and allowing only a short few-second spell in the light of the sky.

Jess had employed the strategic genius of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, perhaps she was an assassin after all...

I struggled to get to grips with the movement and speed of the clay, only striking my final target.

Shooting clouds

Blasting her first pigeon out of the air like it had flown off with her favourite bracelet, I feared the worst...but I really didn't need to.

Going Down The Line: Jess 1, The Everyman Olympian 1.

Maybe it was beginners luck on this trap, maybe Agent Fountain thought better of showing off her skills just to win bragging rights, I'm not sure which but I wouldn't let these trivial matters get in the way of a win!

Final Score: Jess 10, The Everyman Olympian 11.

Afterwards Coach MacNeill remarked that getting double figures on our first ever attempts was actually really good. Adding that women often tended to do better because they listened more (he was still carrying the gun).

With special thanks to Coach Innes MacNeill - a top coach, guide and all round fella.

We really enjoyed our stay at Alladale Wilderness Reserve, the work that Paul, Innes, John and the team are doing is truly amazing and we'll definitely look to come back some day to see how it's coming along, and get a glimpse of how Scotland used to be.

If you'd like to check out Alladale yourself, here's their website: http://www.alladale.com/

.

Shooting: The North Wales Open & My 2nd Shooting Session

Coach Morris had invited me up to the North Wales Open to see how an Olympic shooting event would take place, I wasn't going to let a mere 200 miles get in the way...

The event was being held at the illustrious Ellesmere College Shropshire, a private school so grand it'd almost make the pupils of JK Rowling's self-imagined Hogwarts look standard.

Ellesmere College: Impressive building, poorly photographed

Training: Week #54ish

After a 4 mile run around my brother's home village of Hook in leafy Hampshire the evening before, I was feeling chirpy though slightly anxious as I set off in the car with said brother to start my training for The Judo Challenge.

Saturday 26th February

I'd managed to meet Coach Skillcorn the week before and he'd assured me that I wouldn't simply be used like a rag doll into the dojo (the name of the room where you practice Judo is the same the world over).

My little/older/wiser/marathon running/brother had come along to take some photos and possibly drive the car back if I was a broken man at the end.

The hour long session started with exercise drills that would later prove to incorporate actual Judo techniques - I hadn't realised at the time I was sliding along on the mats that I was already starting on my path to Judo mediocrity.

Sweating from the warm up drills I then began to learn basic Ne Waza (kneeling techniques) and Osae Komi Waza (holding down techniques) before moving on to escaping methods, Kensestu Waza (arm locks) and Shime Waza (strangles and chokes)...there Waza lot to remember! (apologies Coach).

Coach Skillcorn shows me how to taste my own Adam's Apple

I'd started training for Sport 13 and found another one I instantly liked!

Sunday 27th

Coach Skillcorn had kindly emailed me some training tips which I could do away from the dojo and in the hotel gym as I was away all week, so that eve I was back on a rowing machine for the first time in a while.

Set to Level 7, I did 10 1 minute splits: 1 minute hard rowing, followed by 1 minute going slow x10.

I maxed out at 340 watts on the first minute and struggled to hit 250 watts regularly on the 10th set - this was before I found the Average Watts setting.

The idea of recording the watts was to gauge stamina - the aim being to maintain similar levels throughout the rowing session, clearly I had work to do.

Afterwards I got on the cross trainer for a bit, then hit the showers.

Monday 28th

In the evening I joined my workmates for 5-a-side footie, had a cracking hour (literally - shins clashed with my closest colleague, bruised bones) and managed to score a goal - I'm no player as my mates will testify so I was over the moon.

Tuesday 1st March

On the treadmill early bells and managed to get a new PB for 3 miles before work, 26:26 - not rapid I know but as a fat lad I was chuffed!

Personal Best's don't always look pretty!

In the evening after work I headed back to the gym and repeated my rowing training for Judo, this time I used the average watts setting and managed 257watts on my first set, 191 watts on my 10th at Level 7.

Wednesday 2nd

My tweet after the morning session in the gym said it all:

'Could only manage 2 miles in 18,24 today...shins, calves, knees, toes - all aching with different pains. Gutted'

In the evening I drove to Wrexham to meet Coach Morris to begin The Shooting Challenge...

The hospitality of Coach Morris & his wife Karen was so welcoming and a real treat after nights alone in my hotel, I felt very humbled in the presence of two such prominent folk in the world of Shooting.

During my first lesson I was shown the precious, hand crafted guns used for this technical event, had my handle shaped to suit my hand (amazingly they are made of wood!), discovered I would be able to use the very gun Coach Morris himself hopes to use in the Commonwealth Games 2014 - how generous and cool is that!! - and all the while I wore the shooting frames to enable me a chance to get used to only using my shooting eye.

My 1st Shooting lesson with Coach Morris

2 and a half hours later I left with the confidence that we could do this, I had homework and a method of mimicking the shooting frames - game on!

Thursday 3rd

A morning visit to the hotel pool to test out whether 20 years away from front crawl (freestyle) had taken their toll didn't go so well - the pool was more suited to leisurely souls and too busy to really get any lessons learned, so I opted for 20 mins in the sauna instead.

Feeling disgruntled with my last 2 gym visits I was determined to improve on my rowing, so I upped the difficulty to Level 10 and the attitude paid off: I managed an average of 235 watts in Set 1 and finished Set 10 with an average of 221 watts.

Friday 4th

I looked down at the clock as I hit the 3 mile mark on the treadmill, I'd felt like poop for the last ten minutes but a smile broke out when I saw I'm equalled my PB of 26:26.

Happy Days

The Everyman Olympics: Re-Galvanised

How 12 Events became EVERY Sport in the Olympics...

As the buzz of The Canoeing Challenge settled I started to envision putting together an event around my next task, so as to get more people involved all together in one glorious day...though this wasn't the only thing taking up my spare time: word of my tasks had started to get me noticed and this attention lead me to re-think the core idea at the very heart of my challenges - this is the story of how The Everyman Olympics became Re-Galvanised.

As you may know, this is how I first layed down the rules to myself:

• One challenge to be set every month for a year, based on a different Olympic sport

Because I work in a job where I travel around 35,000 miles per year by car, and have various trips abroad and would be organising the whole thing myself I thought that this would in itself be plenty to keep me busy.

You might also recall that my reasons for doing this series of tasks were purely targetted at weightloss - more specifically I wanted to lose a stone of the fat stuff.

Oh and there was the slight matter of beating my pal Carl in the race to lose this stone....some of us will already know how that story ended.

Back to the point in hand...

A few days after hooking up with Graham, who I'd met on The Cycling Challenge I received a phone call from Mike Miners, a journalist for the local paper - The Evening Echo.

Mike had heard of my sporting challenges through a mutual friend of his and Grahams and wanted to write a report on me.

I was already in training for my next event at the time and so after a telephone interview we agreed to meet at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre for some photos to be taken of me in action.



The Everyman Olympian (Me)


A few days later I was staring at myself on Page 5, here's a link to Mike's great article:

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8382831.Olympic_Games__I___m_in_training_for_every_event/

Literally the day after this came out I was contacted on Twitter by the very delightful Shana Pearlman, a producer for BBC Essex Radio no less!

Shana invited me onto the Dave Monk Show to be interviewed live on air - naturally I lept at the chance (being an 'Olympian' and all).

(Unfortunately for some stupid reason Blogger won't allow me to upload the recording I have of this interview - if anyone out there has any tips on how to get this on, please let me know)

Before I did this chat on the radio I looked back at the interview for The Evening Echo and realised that Mike Miner's had printed a quote from me which I hadn't really taken in:

“Originally it was a 12 month project, but now I hope to try every sport before the 2012 games in London.”

EVERY SPORT??!!!....I. Must. Be. Bonkers!

Realising that I'd clearly got excited in the moment, I took the bull by the horns, marched into BBC Essex Radio HQ and ran with it.

So there you have it, the London Olympics in 2012 will feature 26 Sports (though some are broken down into more events) - I've now completed 8 of them and have 20 months left to do the rest.

Here's a list of the sports I've yet to tackle:

Archery
Basketball
Beach Volleyball / Volleyball
Boxing
Diving / Swimming / Synchronised Swimming / Water Polo.
Equestrian - Dressage / Eventing / Jumping
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics - Artistic / Rhythmic / Trampoline
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Sailing
Shooting
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Wrestling.

If I'm going to achieve this I Need Your Help - leave your details in the comment box below or email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com to find out how YOU can help me and get involved in The Everyman Olympics.

Thanks in advance,

The Everyman Olympian