17/08/2026
"Grand Prix Series Winner". Ive waited 30 odd years to hear my name attached to those words and finally, this year, after a long, HOT ๐ฅ gruelling 7 shoot series, set over 4 months, in grounds all across England and Wales, I did ๐ฅณ ๐
I've watched so many great shooters achieve this title over the years that even to me it seems odd that I'm now part of the pantheon. I remember having an argument in (wierdly) a chinese restaurant in Norway in 2011 with my (our) late friend Si Evans, where he said that the GP Series was the ultimate achievement in FT because you had to be better than everyone else for a whole season and so it was impossible to fluke. I hadn't won the series so of course I argued that the World's was the ultimate (cos I'd already won that ๐). But after the stress of this last weekend in particular, I can now see what he meant. This one was for you Si ๐๐ป
Anyway, even though I'm biased I think its been a great season - precisely because its been so open, in all the grades.
It was the first year with a sticks class and that's brought new people to the sport and kept old ones shooting. Similarly Open Class has done the same - and although Im gutted for my mate Dave Croucher - Dave Purcell's heroics on some of these courses, in the temperatures we've had, at the age of 83 has been truly awe-inspiring ๐ช๐ป๐ซถ
Plus, we've had more, new grounds hosting and doing a great job in Wormsley and Frobury ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
In the end, it literally could not have been closer. To come down to 0.01%? Unbelievable. Somewhere in the 350 competitive shots was the one extra target that got me across the line; thank God! ๐โบ๏ธ Commiserations to Jacob Kay you shot so we'll all season mate that believe it or not a part of me is gutted for you. But dont worry you've got many years of FT wins ahead of you, Im sure.
Well done to my SEFTA Field Target Shooting team mates on our 2nd place in the Team Comp ๐ฅ
Thanks to my shooting partners this year Stuart Dodd Mark Bassett Steve Carter Bob Evans , Nathan Reeve, Anne Smith.
for your excellent company.
Thank you to all the course-setters and club members who gave up their time and chance to shoot so as to give everyone else some great memories ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
Thanks to The BFTA guys and gals for all their hardwork behind the scenes. Superb. ๐ซถ
Finally, thanks to this years sponsors and in particular, Nick from Built To Compete at Falcon, for his generous sponsorship this season, everyone really appreciates it mate ๐๐ป๐๐ป
See you all again in 2027!
