The 50m National Championships took place over this weekend in the Comber Rifle club, and saw very tight competition indeed. Photos are already up on the website here.The 3P championships on the Saturday saw the usual low turnout, alas. Of course, 3P is the most demanding of the shooting sports, with a full match taking over four hours, and requiring a great deal of training and equipment. Nevertheless, it would be nice to see more competitors!
| Prone | Standing | Kneeling | Total | ||||||||||||||
| Declan Kelly | 99 | 99 | 97 | 97 | 392 | 86 | 86 | 88 | 90 | 350 | 92 | 89 | 91 | 85 | 357 | 1099 | |
| Richard Stapleton | 98 | 96 | 97 | 96 | 387 | 87 | 84 | 87 | 87 | 345 | 86 | 91 | 88 | 92 | 357 | 1089 | |
| Ray Kane | 90 | 94 | 90 | 92 | 366 | 82 | 82 | 0 | 448 | DNF |
Congratulations go to Declan Kelly, of DRC, for taking the Gold medal in the 3P championships with 1099 and to Richard Stapleton of WTSC for taking the Silver with 1089.
Later that day, an additional registered prone 50m match was shot, with a moderate turnout of seven shooters. Congratulations to Davy Gaw, Robert Barclay and Don Baker who took first, second and third places there with 581, 579 and 576.
| 1 | D. Gaw | 97 | 98 | 96 | 95 | 97 | 98 | 581 |
| 2 | R Barclay | 95 | 99 | 99 | 95 | 97 | 94 | 579 |
| 3 | D. Baker | 97 | 97 | 93 | 96 | 97 | 96 | 576 |
| 4 | J O Donohoe | 95 | 93 | 100 | 96 | 96 | 95 | 575 |
| 5 | L Aiken | 95 | 93 | 95 | 94 | 99 | 96 | 572 |
| 6 | R. Clarke | 95 | 97 | 93 | 94 | 94 | 96 | 569 |
| 7 | L Fagan | 94 | 94 | 96 | 95 | 93 | 96 | 568 |
The championships in prone 50m on Sunday saw a larger turnout, with eighteen shooters from both the Republic and the North. Competition was fierce, with finalist scores ranging from Sandy Wilson's 587 down to a three-way tie with Joe O'Donohue, Robert Barclay and Alan Lewis on 582.
| No. | Name | String 1 | String 2 | String 3 | String 4 | String 5 | String 6 | Total |
| 1 | Sandy Wilson | 98 | 98 | 97 | 98 | 100 | 96 | 587 |
| 2 | Louise Aiken | 95 | 98 | 98 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 585 |
| 3 | Davy Gaw | 98 | 97 | 97 | 99 | 94 | 99 | 584 |
| 4 | Ewan Bell | 95 | 97 | 99 | 99 | 97 | 96 | 583 |
| 5 | Richard Stapleton jr. | 96 | 96 | 97 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 583 |
| 6 | Joe O Donohoe | 96 | 98 | 95 | 97 | 99 | 97 | 582 |
| 7 | Alan Lewis | 100 | 97 | 95 | 98 | 95 | 97 | 582 |
| 8 | Robert Barclay | 98 | 97 | 97 | 96 | 98 | 96 | 582 |
| 9 | Ray Kane | 98 | 95 | 97 | 98 | 93 | 97 | 578 |
| 10 | Rhona Barry | 96 | 98 | 95 | 94 | 98 | 96 | 577 |
| 11 | Leslie Fagan | 92 | 97 | 97 | 97 | 95 | 96 | 574 |
| 12 | PJ Harding | 93 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 94 | 93 | 574 |
| 13 | Rowan Conway | 96 | 98 | 94 | 99 | 91 | 95 | 573 |
| 14 | Don Baker | 96 | 98 | 96 | 93 | 93 | 96 | 572 |
| 15 | Michele Heaney | 94 | 97 | 96 | 97 | 94 | 94 | 572 |
| 16 | Robert Clarke | 96 | 97 | 95 | 96 | 94 | 94 | 572 |
| 17 | Declan Kelly | 95 | 97 | 96 | 93 | 94 | 96 | 571 |
| 18 | John Walsh | 90 | 95 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 90 | 557 |
The finals were no less competitive, and saw an upset with Sandy Wilson knocked from the lead position to third place. Davy Gaw climbed from third to second place, but Louise Aiken proved to be the hungrier shooter, taking the gold medal by 2.5 points, having come in three points behind the leader. The gap between second and third, at 0.3 of a point, shows how tight the match really was.
Fourth and fifth places, 0.5 points behind Sandy, were a tie between Alan Lewis and Joe O'Donohue, however Alan conceded to Joe in light of the lateness of the hour, rather than proceed with the shoot-off. Richard Stapleton was 0.3 points behind Alan and Joe, Ewan Bell came in 1.7 points lower in seventh place and Robert Barclay, following a disappointing finals for him, took eighth place 2.7 points below Ewan.
| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | SubTotal | Total |
| Louise Aiken | 10.1 | 10.3 | 10.5 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 9.5 | 10.8 | 10.5 | 10.1 | 10.9 | 102.7 | 687.7 |
| Davy Gaw | 9.9 | 10.3 | 10.5 | 10.1 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 9.9 | 9.8 | 10.7 | 10.4 | 101.2 | 685.2 |
| Sandy Wilson | 10 | 9.7 | 10 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 9.8 | 9.4 | 10.7 | 9.4 | 8.8 | 97.9 | 684.9 |
| Joe O Donohoe | 9.9 | 10.2 | 10.6 | 9.1 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 10.8 | 10 | 102.4 | 684.4 |
| Alan Lewis | 10.9 | 10.6 | 10.1 | 10 | 9.9 | 10.4 | 10.8 | 10.6 | 10 | 9.1 | 102.4 | 684.4 |
| Richard Stapleton jr. | 9.9 | 10.2 | 9.2 | 10.8 | 9.8 | 10.7 | 9.7 | 10.5 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 101.1 | 684.1 |
| Ewan Bell | 9.7 | 10 | 10.5 | 10 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 10.5 | 9.6 | 99.2 | 682.2 |
| Robert Barclay | 9.7 | 10 | 9.5 | 10.7 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 8.6 | 9.7 | 10.2 | 8.8 | 97.5 | 679.5 |
As you can see, a very tightly fought match indeed. The NTSA wishes to extend it's congratulations to the winners, and especially to Ireland's 2004 50m champion, Lousie Aiken.
