British Open Sporting 2018

So British Open Sporting at Oakedge 2018  29 August - 2 September entries open 1st February.

Couldn't get more central than that! Though i am sure somebody will be unhappy about the location  :lol:

Never shot there but it looks like a lovely ground.

You’ve told us the date and that the ground is central....

would you like to share the name ?

I think it may be Oakedge Shooting Ground ST17 0XS formerly known as Shugborough Shooting School, Stafford, Staffordshire.

I think it will be holding The British Open Sporting Championship and the British Sportrap there on 29th August through until the 2nd September 2018.

I think Steve Lovatt may be involved , I think it may be a good event .

I've been doing a lot of thinking today.

I am delighted to announce that I will be taking over the ground for the whole week to set up and run this event 

I will also be running the British Sportrap at the same time .aling with a couple of good pool shoots and doing some excellent catering on site .

also just to let people know that I will be running a regular 100 reg sporting at oakedge from February onwards probably on the second or fourth Sunday of the month 

It's a beautiful ground and I'm really pleased for the staff there who've put a lot of effort in lately. 

Really looking forward to it. 

I have no doubts that this will be a well run shoot, with the usual excellent targets set by Steve Lovatt. One probably not to miss. Just a shame about the farcical qualification system adopted by the CPSA.

tiptop said:

I have no doubts that this will be a well run shoot, with the usual excellent targets set by Steve Lovatt. One probably not to miss. Just a shame about the farcical qualification system adopted by the CPSA.

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Martin, anything in paticular or just the concept your beef.

Having read and heard how well the 2017 BO was to shoot by all of the many varied class entrants at WMSG MrLovatt has quite a challenge in front of him.

Rich Moreing said:

Martin, anything in paticular or just the concept your beef.

Having read and heard how well the 2017 BO was to shoot by all of the many varied class entrants at WMSG MrLovatt has quite a challenge in front of him.

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Just the concept mate. Don't understand the point of running 4 days of qualifiers for Class and Category, and then throwing it back to a free for all on finals day.  How the f**k someone can qualify through category with a sh*te score and then come back and take a podium medal in class baffles me. They were not good enough to qualify in class on that day. This year every single class from AA down to C class had someone take a podium medal, yet they only got to finals day through the backdoor in category. Don't get me wrong here, I have no quibble about people having multiple entries through the class/category thing, but if you are running qualifiers, on finals day surely you should only shoot in the class/category you qualified for.

I personally would rather shoot in a first past the post competition like the EO, but then there is something about the weather that comes up then, ffs.

Oh, and before everybody starts shouting vote with your feet, I have. I have not shot the British open since 2014. 2015 was the year it all changed.

tiptop said:

Just the concept mate. Don't understand the point of running 4 days of qualifiers for Class and Category, and then throwing it back to a free for all on finals day.  How the f**k someone can qualify through category with a sh*te score and then come back and take a podium medal in class baffles me. They were not good enough to qualify in class on that day. This year every single class from AA down to C class had someone take a podium medal, yet they only got to finals day through the backdoor in category. Don't get me wrong here, I have no quibble about people having multiple entries through the class/category thing, but if you are running qualifiers, on finals day surely you should only shoot in the class/category you qualified for.

I personally would rather shoot in a first past the post competition like the EO, but then there is something about the weather that comes up then, ffs.

Oh, and before everybody starts shouting vote with your feet, I have. I have not shot the British open since 2014. 2015 was the year it all changed.

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Your argument is silly, you have to qualify for the Olympic shooting sports finals, the World Cup finals are done on a qualification system and so are many other sports!?!?!?!?!?!

David Pettigrew said:

Your argument is silly, you have to qualify for the Olympic shooting sports finals, the World Cup finals are done on a qualification system and so are many other sports!?!?!?!?!?!

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I don't think you get the point. On qualification days the top 6 guns do through to class finals, and the category qualifiers are made up of 3 top guns from the remaining shooters(all classes) from each category, when they do it this year track the daily scores, some of these category shooters never even made the top 10 in their class on that day . So you think it is right for somebody to finish outside of the qualification scores for class on the day, and then return and win in that class, something that they were not good enough to qualify for on their qualification day. I'm not saying that qualification is a bad thing, just shoot in the finals for what you have qualified for.

I would certainly be a bit p*ssed off with it if I had shot well on qualification day for class, shot well in the finals to be on the podium, only to be denied my medal by a category shooter that had finish OUTSIDE OF QUALIFICATION FOR CLASS on the same day as me. If you still think that is right then carry on. 

The whole problem is this: These events are not run to establish the champion(s) in the most worthy and effective way possible. They are actually just vast shoots attempting to get 1000 shooters or whatever through, which is what the ground owners need and want to make it worthwhile. Also, lots of shooters just love the feel of a big event (for some reason), so it’s a shooting festival, a bit of an occasion etc.

So, clearly once it becomes a multi-day event (to cope with volume of shooters) the issue of weather and even light differences from day to day is a risk of non-level playing field. There are several ways of dealing with this, none of them perfect and Martin particularly objects to the present one in use. (I don’t totally disagree with him). 

Well I think the British Open should ideally be for 100 shooters, held on one day. Either from CPSA rankings to qualify, or via several qualifying events open only to AA and AAA shooters. (Just to be clear, this would exclude me). Every other sport does this. I can’t just pitch up at the F1 British Grand Prix and say I fancy a go, quite rightly. There are hundreds of great registered shoots on all year round for the enthusiastic shooting fraternity. The average shooters have no business being at a Championship shoot if they are not up to the standard of the event. Sorry, but to find the true Champion the event needs to be run with that concept to the fore. But this will never happen until the entry fee is £500 each, as shoots need volume to be profitable. 

The thing I just don't get is you/me can enter a competition finish 7th in class and not qualify. Yet a person can finish in 8th in that class can get into finals day through category and come back and win, that to me is just wrong. I don't understand why they don't just have the top 15-20 shooters from each class, each day go through, and the category winners are the best gun on finals day that are eligible for each category.  You then have all the top qualifiers shooting for the class/category honours.  Simples.

I enjoyed it, just completely deflates me now that getting in the final is seen as some kind of fluke.  I kind of get what Tiptop is saying but when I look back I beat an awful lot of AA and A and a smidge of AAA and a lot of my own class and the one below that so I am going to not feel embarrassed on being in the final due to my sex.  

Good luck with your idea Will, not for one moment can I see that working.  Yes you have lots of brilliant shooters all of whom could be the winner on the day.  Let's see how many want to part with £500 or even can part with £500.  This sport simply is not in the same league as F1 absolutely nowhere near.  As for crowd participation - you probably get the 100 shooters, a few girlfriends/wives and in the case of Cheryl, Mike who may even participate himself and Amy - Phil who would probably be shooting and the refs and the kitchen ladies.  Most times let's face it the true champion (s) are found regardless of whether you and I have a go.  The few elite shooters can quite easily interchange as a champion depending on the day.

Sian, I'm not trying to put anyone down through sex or age, as in a few years time I will be eligible for the double entry, and you quite rightly qualified to shoot in your category.

My final say on this farcical competition is this...How can ladies overall high be won by X, but the very same person X only finishes 2nd in ladies juniors??  Obviously there is 2 very different criteria throughout the same competition.

CPSA licenses to print money! They are catering for large numbers,and you and I are just numbers! This is why the shooting stands are blinkered with side fencing panels so the traps can be put there and filled as you shoot!  Gave up wasting money on the crap years ago!

tiptop said:

Sian, I'm not trying to put anyone down through sex or age, as in a few years time I will be eligible for the double entry, and you quite rightly qualified to shoot in your category.

My final say on this farcical competition is this...How can ladies overall high be won by X, but the very same person X only finishes 2nd in ladies juniors??  Obviously there is 2 very different criteria for the same competition.

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I know your not really and as said I kind of see where you are coming from.  It appears though that some categories were not in the final or taken therefore from scores in the final and are taken from scores on the actual competition.

Sian said:

I know your not really and as said I kind of see where you are coming from.  It appears though that some categories were not in the final or taken therefore from scores in the final and are taken from scores on the actual competition.

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....And that makes it even more farcical, when people are shooting for so called British titles. No wonder British shooting struggles to get any kind of recognition as a serious sport, and attract decent sponsorship.

Sian said:

I enjoyed it, just completely deflates me now that getting in the final is seen as some kind of fluke.  I kind of get what Tiptop is saying but when I look back I beat an awful lot of AA and A and a smidge of AAA and a lot of my own class and the one below that so I am going to not feel embarrassed on being in the final due to my sex.  

Good luck with your idea Will, not for one moment can I see that working.  Yes you have lots of brilliant shooters all of whom could be the winner on the day.  Let's see how many want to part with £500 or even can part with £500.  This sport simply is not in the same league as F1 absolutely nowhere near.  As for crowd participation - you probably get the 100 shooters, a few girlfriends/wives and in the case of Cheryl, Mike who may even participate himself and Amy - Phil who would probably be shooting and the refs and the kitchen ladies.  Most times let's face it the true champion (s) are found regardless of whether you and I have a go.  The few elite shooters can quite easily interchange as a champion depending on the day.

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Totally agree it wont happen Sian; I even stated why. I'm just saying our present events are more a big circus than a true "Champion finder".

Will Hewland said:

Totally agree it wont happen Sian; I even stated why. I'm just saying our present events are more a big circus than a true "Champion finder".

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It's just not a big enough sport to have that type of thing.  I don't follow Formula 1, I am occasionally present in the room when Tony has a race on but I still know whose who and what is going on in terms of whose in the lead for the ultimate accolade.  Doesn't work with shooting unfortunately does it,  even if you were to be able to have that sort of competition.

A bit of bad luck last season I think with some of the major shoots making a farce out of it all but on the whole usually they are a good day out, good targets, good friends and some people win at the end of the day(s).