Imperial Meeting 2024
CURA celebrates many individual successes at the 155th Imperial Meeting and celebrates a decisive win in the Chancellors.
In mid-July, six of our members arrived at Bisley to take part in the 155th Match Rifle Imperial Meeting, with it being the first for three of them. The conditions ranged from calm winds to fluctuating gusts, testing and improving the wind reading skills of all members, especially the newcomers. Following the debut of his new backgun, our captain Luca Schwarz took home the 1200 yards Tyro Challenge Cup and the Henry Mellish Challenge Cup. After the individual shooting and the excitement of Elcho day, it was time for the Humphry on the final day of the Match Rifle Imperial Meeting. Our Humphry IV saw two CURA backgunners, revealing the Captain’s secret (and so far futile) efforts of converting all of CURA to the gentlemanly way of shooting. After a calm start and a strong 1000 and 1100 from both teams, Oxford had a one-point lead at lunchtime and it was sure to be another closely fought match. A special mention to Ben Vary, who in his first Varsity match had to very quickly learn how to aim off after the wind turret on his scope stopped working for the end of 1000 yards, still managing to finish the distance with a 71.7v. Luckily, thanks to Norman Clark the scope was fixed before the next distance. In time for 1200 yards, the winds picked up and started changing direction rapidly, making the coaches’ jobs very difficult and necessitating some long waits. The winds caused several magpies on both teams, but despite our best efforts OURC ultimately managed to secure the win by 6 points with 843.90v to CURA’s 837.68v. Our MR vice-captain Russell Woodger top-scored for Cambridge with 215.23v. Congratulations to OURC for claiming the Humphry after a hard fight, we look forward to welcome it back in the near future. A thank you to our coaches Ashley Abrahams, Nick Brasier, Adam Leech and Rosanne Furniss and to our adjutant Hannah Fischer for helping us on the day and carrying us through some tricky conditions.
After celebrating the end of Match Rifle with our traditional Humphry Dinner, it was time for Target Rifle, and this year we saw a large influx in newcomers! We had 15 members compete in the Target Rifle Imperial, for six of which it was their first. At the start of the week, wind conditions were more forgiving, with very little wind in the mornings, and after picking up a bit around noon, slowly dying back down towards the late afternoon. These conditions were ideal for easing people into self-coaching and wind reading. Later in the week, the wind became harsher, with strong and fluctuating winds from 09:00, suddenly it was more difficult. Individually, CURA saw some great successes with many prize lists featuring club members. Will Bacon and Russell Woodger reached the second stage of St. George’s, with Russell reaching the final where he stylishly sported his new leather shooting bag for the first time (an excellent match with his moustache). Four of our members reached the second stage of HM The King’s Prize, with CUSBC Captain and soon-to-be fullbore-convert Joe Pattison getting through to the final in his first Imperial! Additionally, Joe came 8th in the Admiral Hutton Tyro Trophy, with our outgoing secretary Will Bacon following him in 9th. Many of our members represented their counties during the Inter-Counties competitions, and Will Bacon, Alex Harrison and Ben Vary were also selected to shoot the Universities National for England.
At the end of week, the Chancellors arrived. With many members available to help out behind the firing point, in stark contrast to last year, significant stress was taken off the team during the match allowing us to focus on the shooting itself. Due to the fantastic performance of the team, and the essential help from everyone present, CURA took back the big Chancellors tankard from OURC to return it to its home at Hawks, winning by 37 points 1137.98v to 1100.83v. Joe Pattison top-scored the match with an outstanding 148.11v. A thank you to our adjutant Richard Vary and our helpers including Alice Good (GM) and Jacob Parsons for helping reduce the pressure on the team on the match day.
This year finally saw the return of our club trophies to Bisley, to be properly awarded once again. Check out the Records section on our website to see a list of awardees. Finally, after all rounds were fired, all V-bulls claimed and all message 10’s received, we gathered for our grand Chancellors Dinner on the final night, enjoying a critically acclaimed soup by Will Bacon, bacon-wrapped chicken breasts, and fudgy brownies and copious amounts of cheese to end the dinner, with the vast amounts of wine seeing us through the rest of the night’s celebrations.
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Our new MacCaps with logo caught the photographers attention </div>
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Our captain contemplating where he went wrong, having four CURA frontgunners in the Hopton vs two backgunners </div>
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Luca wins the Henry Mellish Cup during the Match Rifle Meeting </div>
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Our Humphry IV plus reserve </div>
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CURA helping out on Elcho day with plenty of style </div>
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After being teased about his plans for months, our Captain was caught in action sanding the gunroom table </div>
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A faithful representation of scenes happening on the EVIII veranda on Wednesday. </div>
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Russell sporting a nice duo of mustache and leather shooting box in St. George’s Final </div>
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CURA puppy Chilli rooting for light blue during the Chancellors </div>
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Creative ways to ensure a clear view of the target for the scoreboarders </div>
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The victorious Chancellors Team including our supporters </div>
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Taking the Chancellors home where it belongs </div>
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CURA entered three (!!!) teams for the Universities’ Long Range this year </div>
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CUSBC captain/fullbore convert Joe shooting the King’s Prize FInal </div>
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A great number of half blue blazers in the winning England team for the Universities National </div>
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