Shooting for gold
On Saturday 30th April the St Andrews Rifle Club competed in the BUCS Outdoor Championships. Despite the competition falling within exams, the club achieved an outstanding result winning 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals and one bronze medal.
Over the past few months the club have been training endurance and psychological stamina in their home range as well as outdoor trainings in Alloa to prepare for different wind and weather conditions at the BUCS outdoor Championships. After travelling down to Appleton Warrington, the conditions were perfect, only further increasing the competitiveness of the event. The club had a busy day, even though shooting is an individual sport, it requires much in the way of teamwork and collaboration to ensure the best performance from members of the team.
The whole team shot incredibly well, but St Andrews student Tabitha Saunders triumphed becoming Ladies champion with team mates Marzena Trela-Brownlie and Julia Hallin coming close behind achieving the top three in the Ladies individual event. The trio then competed in the Ladies’ Triad to win gold over all adding the the score sheet. The club did not stop there, they then competed in the Team of 4 event to win gold, closely followed by winning silver medals in Pairs and Team of 8. The results from this competition has meant that four St Andrews Shooters were also selected to compete for the winning Scotland team in the International match.
Tabitha Saunders, BUCS National Ladies Ourdoors Rifle Champion, said: “I’ve never been good at sports, but the rifle club offered an opportunity for me to develop a hobby and love for shooting. The sport has been integral to my university life, with my passion for rifle shooting only continuing to grow as as I performed better with every competition. Winning BUCS women’s individuals was the best way to finish my undergrad, the true culmination of my efforts to improve myself within the sport with the love I have for rifle shooting, the university club and the members which make it.“
The club have had a fantastic run of results following the Scottish Student Sport Rifle Championships back in March, with many shooters moving through the club after showing a lot of commitment and determination from the beginning of the season.