Branch lifts the grand aggregate

By Aaron Scoones

Mr Consistent: Nick Branch did not win any of the seven regular trophies but his consistency won him the prized Grand Aggregate. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0615321)

NICK BRANCH secured the best win of his career on the shooting ranges by winning the Grand Aggregate at the GRC’s annual summer prize meeting over three days at Fort Le Marchant.
A large field of 48 contested the programme and in the A category the trophies were shared out with eight lifting silverware, including the talented youngster Branch.
The first competition of the event was the Ex-Servicemen’s, two sighters and seven shots to count at each of the three ranges which saw Nick Mace (GRC) tie with Colin Mallett (Jersey) on 104.14 ex 105.21.
In the tie shoot Mace fired very deliberately to ensure his five shots found the bull and while Mallett started well, he lost his way with his last two shots and saw the trophy go to Mace.
Day two started with the Coca-Cola, a shoot of two sighters and 10 to count at 300 yards and this time it was Lucy Mace, wife of Nick, who joined Mallett at the head of the field with scores of 50.09 ex 50.10. There were no fewer than 10 ‘possibles’ at this range where competitors enjoyed fine sunny conditions with a fairly predictable wind.
Normally a formidable opponent in a tie-shoot, Mallett must wonder what he had done wrong as yet again he saw his last three shots find the inner and another trophy slip into the hands of the Mace family.
Tie-shoots were fast becoming the order of the meeting because the Star, two sighters and 10 to count at 500 yards, produced a three-way tie between Cliff Mallett (Jersey), Nigel Cole-Hawkins (UK) and Eric Stuart-Bamford (UK), all three scoring 50.08.
Mallett, father of the luckless Colin, has gained enormous experience over a long and successful shooting career and, remaining composed, he coolly slotted in his five shots to take the trophy from his two rivals.
The Bisset Trophy, with two sighters and 10 to count at each range, is regarded as the blue riband of local shooting and the wind started veering from side to side and fluctuating to ensure that whoever took the trophy fully deserved it.
As is often the case with tricky wind conditions it is the local marksmen who have some advantage in that they know the quirks of the range and on this occasion it was Richard Perkins who showed that he had the measure of the wind as he coolly took a lead of 149.15 ex 150.30, just shading out Cole-Hawkins by a single V bull.
That only three shooters scored more than 147 showed quite clearly the difficulties of judging the conditions accurately and Perkins must have taken a great deal of pride in beating such an illustrious field of marksmen.
Conditions worsened the next morning and showers moved quickly through the range causing the wind to fluctuate violently.
Jerseyman David Le Quesne was the only one to master the difficulties and his score of 100.11 over the 300 and 600-yard ranges took the O’Toole Trophy by no fewer than two clear points from runners-up Rob Waters and another Jerseyman, Graham Harris.
The final afternoon saw the shooters firing two sighters and 15 shots to count for a maximum possible score of 75.15 at the 500-yard range for the Castella.
Colin Mallett came away from the first of the three details with a fine 75.10 and he had to wait some 45 minutes until Nick Branch posted a 75.11 to take the lead.
Branch watched nervously for the next 45 minutes as one by one the possible contenders dropped away and with two shots to go Jersey’s Richard Benest was the only rival left with a chance.
Benest is normally a fast shooter but he was taking a very deliberate aim and his final two shots found the V bull to take the trophy with a magnificent 75.13.
Up on the hill at 600 yards the final event was the Le Maitre and with as many as 10 in with a chance of taking the Grand Aggregate, the atmosphere was tense.
Both Perkins and John Morris, of the visiting Universities team, finished with scores of 75.11 and yet another tie-shoot was needed to bring the event to a close. This time it was the visitor who took the honours and took the first trophy for the team that will surely produce some Great Britain shooters in the future.
But when all the results were all entered into the computer it was Branch who was on top, securing his first major win against some very significant opposition.
His score of 597.64 ex 605.121 was exceptional in light of the extremely testing wind conditions that saw many shooters shaking their heads in disbelief as their shots found the inner, and, on many occasions, the magpie.
Benest was second on 576.79 and Waters third on 596.67.
In the B categories, Brett Benest showed great promise as he took the Noyon, the Sirett Shield, the Perkins Tray and the “B” Grand Aggregate.
He was only foiled in making a clean sweep by Jonnie Branch, younger brother of Nick, who took the T. S. Henry Memorial.