At the end of May, Declan Kelly & JK Walsh both members of DRC travelled to Gibraltar to compete in the annual open shooting competition.

They were accompanied by Coach Barry Dagger and Declan's wife Janis and their daughter Jennifer, DRC team mascot! This venue was chosen when the proposed trip to Camp Perry was abandoned due to a lack of commitment from some members of the NTSA.

The Team, including Coach Barry Dagger.

With this in mind, it was decided to look for an alternative event and venue, this time for Dublin Rifle Club. National coach, Barry Dagger suggested Gibraltar and offered his services to DRC as team coach. Needless to say his offer was taken without any hesitation and a plan was put into action.

Off to Gibraltar via London Gatwick arriving on Thursday afternoon. It was a fantastic site to land by plane into Gibraltar, what a view, even if Jenny had the window seat. We were greeted at the airport by members of the Gibraltar Rifle Association whom took our firearms to the armoury at the range, while we made our short trip to the hotel.

Barry arrived later that evening and upon his arrival we travelled to the range for the technical meeting and drawing of firing point allocations.

There was to be 3 matches for the prone event and 3 for the air rifle. The club house was a delight and very plush I must say. The evening was conducted in a relaxed atmosphere with exchanges of friendship and well wishing. I had a quick look at the ranges and was well impressed by the facilities I had seen and it put us in good spirit for training the next morning. Official training at both 10m and 50m was on a tight schedule, as all competitors only shot 1 event with the exception of JK and myself. Having a good coach with you is always an advantage; extra training was required and provided. The ranges were perfect. 6 firing points at 10m and 16 at 50m. You might think small! But I tell you they were excellent. After training and discussion on how to attack the matches the next day, or rather a telling off by Barry, (but what did surprise me was the timing of the matches between Prone and Air rifle) we went back to the hotel to catch up with the support group and relax at the pool side, well chasing my daughter around the pool. This I insisted to Barry was actually my physical training for the day. He did not care to comment! On the first day, we started prone at 9.00am, preparation was at 8.50am! Match finished at 10.15 with Air rifle starting at 10.45, preparation at 10.35am I was tired after the prone match but was whacked out of it after the Air rifle. I was clearly not fit enough to shoot like this, but I learned much from this trip. This was how it was for the 3 days with start times changing slightly with a 30 minute change over time remaining. I must complement JK on his shooting. JK shot both prone and Air rifle and he was pleased with his results. With no smoking ban in force in Gibraltar, JK also sampled the delights of local wines and the finest cigars the Rock had to offer.

John Walsh in the Prone Match.

On the second evening of our trip we were treated to a wonderful private excursion to the top of the rock to view the mighty 20inch gun which guarded the straits of Gibraltar during the Second World War and right through the cold war. The weather was perfect and the views I can only say as spectacular. We were treated to lots of military information that I can only say was of course fictional!! The rock is an amazing place of historical, scenic and military marvels that can surely not be found any where else in the world. The range itself is located at the tip of the peninsula and over looks the straights of Gibraltar, the meeting point of the Mediterranean and Atlantic waters.

Over 70,000 ships and vessels pass through the straits each year and it is a wonderful sight to see a fraction of this traffic for the few days we were in Gibraltar.

The range has to be the last range in Europe before you reach Africa, and it is a credit to the people of Gibraltar to have achieved what they have with only a population of 30,000 inhabitants.

Over 50 competitors from Gibraltar, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain and Dublin Rifle Club competited at this years open... Although I felt under prepared for this trip I had some respectable results by Irish standards.

My better results were for Air rifle 578, and 587 prone.

Placing was as follows. 1^st day prone placing 3rd. Air rifle 2^nd

2^nd day Prone placing 4th Air rifle 2^nd

3^rd day Prone placing 1st Air rifle 2^nd

Prone aggregate combined total for the 3 days. 2^nd overall

Air rifle aggregate combined total for the 3 days. 2^nd overall.

Declan Kelly in the Prone Match.

On the final evening the Gibraltar Rifle Association hosted a closing dinner and prise giving evening in the Mediterranean Rowing Club. The name says it all, it was a fantastic evening and enjoyed by all. JK made a well performed speech and made a presentation to the Gibraltar Rifle Association, which they gratefully accepted and they offered the use of their facilities at any time in the future for training or whatever. I was very proud to have the people that matter most to me in both my personal and my sporting life with me on this evening that I received many rewards for my shooting the previous couple of days. It was by far the best trip I was ever on and I am very grateful to the support of all concerned. I would like to thank my coach Barry Dagger, JK Walsh DRC chairperson, Janis my wife for their continued support, and of course Jennifer my daughter whom is DRC's youngest Junior aged 5 and who is an Air Rifle specialist, but she does prefer prone when the weather is good.

On our final day sight seeing was on our agenda with another trip to the rock. This time by cable car. This was the highlight of the visit for Jenny, as I was mugged by a Barbary ape. It must have been a wonderful sight to see a monkey jump onto my back and rip open my shoulder bag. (I wonder do the apes know how to use "chip and pin" with a visa card?) Any way, the apes live wild on the rock and number 400 – 450 in population.

Tourists are their prime source of survival, especially shooters from Ireland!

Some of the apes even bear the resemblance of shooters here in Ireland, grumpy and eager to knock you down, only joking of course!

The Gibraltar shooters are a lovely group of people, and during our visit I have learnt much in the world of politics and how sport is affected. Against all odds they have achieved much and respect to them is certainly warranted.

The Range

We had a good trip and the shooting was wonderful and for me to come away with no less than seven awards made it more special. We made new friends and a place in the sun where we can go and shoot again.

Declan Kelly

Dublin Rifle Club.