WITH the top eight shooters qualifying to shoot in the Channel Islands Championships, the Leale Trophy is always keenly contested, but this year the first eight were separated by just two points with no less than four marksmen on 104 ex 105.

At 300 yards, six shooters managed a possible with Sylvia Sirett leading the way with a 35.05 ex 35.07.

Moving back to 500 yards, only Nick Branch and Richard Perkins managed to keep their chance of a maximum possible score alive, but there were still six shooters only a single point behind and an exciting finish at the 600-yard range was guaranteed.

Branch and Perkins were both caught out by the same subtle change in wind direction near the end of their shoot and both dropped the all-important point to finish on 104.11 and 104.10 respectively.

When the pressure is on, Peter Jory (pictured) usually pulls one out of the bag and, true to form, his 600-yard score of 35.3 gave him a total of 104.13 ex 105.21 to claim the Leale Trophy with Rob Waters finishing strongly with a 35.05 to move up into second place, a single V-bull ahead of third-placed Branch.