TargetTalk

The largest air pistol and air rifle competition in North America was last weekend in Toronto. It is a very professionally run event held in the ballroom of a DoubleTree Hotel, quite a fancy venue. My friend William and our wives make a long weekend of the trip and always have a great time.
If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss, I would be happy to do it.

Do you have some pictures to share? They would be good to use when trying to hold a match in a hotel elsewhere so we could show that it is already being done.

Thanks in advance.
Kelly

It would have been nice if someone had hyped it here before the event.

AK Pistol wrote:Do you have some pictures to share? They would be good to use when trying to hold a match in a hotel elsewhere so we could show that it is already being done.

Thanks in advance.
Kelly

Hi Kelly! Years ago I took pics, but would have a hard time finding them now. There are quite a few pics being taken all during the match and some may end up getting posted by others. Google 'Canadian Airgun Grand Prix' and see what you can find.
The CAGP has about 90 shooters at a time; two rows of 45 to a row. The 'hall' is down the midde of the ballroom and the two lines shoot agains opposite walls. The backstop for each target is about 3 X 4 by my guesstimate and there is a plastic sheet running along the floor below each row of targets to protect the very nice carpet. One shot is made on each bull and the targets are on electric powered runners, one for each shooter.
Although there is the usual overhead lighting, each target has an individual lamp shining on it.
I believe that CAGP has been in this hotel for over a decade so apparenty the hotel is quite happy with it.
Properly approached, I can't imagine a hotel turning down an event of this nature.

Rover wrote:It would have been nice if someone had hyped it here before the event.

Hi Rover. I recall at one time there would be a lot of discussion on TT in the months before the match, but that seems to have diminished. You are right though, it doesn't seem like this match gets the publicity it should, both before and after. Perhaps a more concerted effort on their part might bring out more US shooters. I think there were fewer than a dozen of us there. There are the occasional overseas teams, this year Trinidad and Tobago was there (and one of tthem won men's AP). In past years there have been European and Asian shooters and teams. Also, the US military has sent teams as well.
Match attendance has fallen off the last couple years. Used to be there would be close to 300 shooters, and attendance this time was about 192. That's a shame because it is probably one of the best run matches, complete to all ISSF standards, that there is. The only nicer venue I ever shot at was the Atlanta Olympics AP hall during the Final Selection Match when I was a little younger. Can't beat the electronic scoring devices and the 'bowling alley look' overhead score display.

Not the same competition, but here you can find pictures from Hell Open wich is an internationasl air pistol/rifle competition. It`s held in Hell in Norway in the beginning of January.
It`s held in an hotell :-)
http://www.hellopen.com/

From 2006:
Miscellaneous photos taken throughout the match, Feb. 24-26, 2006.

http://targetshooting.ca/cagp2006pics.htm

Unfortunately I don't know why they don't promote it harder..

Thanks for the links, they will help show that it can be done and in a very fancy room to boot!

Kelly

The Canadian Airgun Grand Prix (formerly the Crosman) use to move around the country. It has been permanently housed at what now is the Hilton Doubletree Hotel for 15 years (this was the 15th).

There are 80 firing points, the range is portable (the same range that we uses at various events in Canada). There is also a Tetrathlon/Pentathlon match as well as a Cadet match for the Army, Navy and Air Cadets

This year there were 165 Competitors plus 12 Tetrathlon/Pentathlon and 42 Cadets.

American participations has fallen off since the travel restriction introduced by the US Government requiring passports (some don't have them and don't want to get them), the fact that if your airgun is over 500 fps you have to phone and get permit to bring it into Canada and the fact that the US dollar just doesn't go as far in Canada as it use to.

Even Canadian attendance was down due to the fact that many of our top shooters have just come off a very busy season with the Common Wealth Games and the CAT games at the end of last season on top of a full slate of World Cups and the Worlds. This year is also an Olympic quota year so many will be traveling to international matches in hopes of securing a quota, and there is only so much time and money ( Canadian Athletes are self funded and a trip to the CAGP could cost over $1000 depending where you travel from).

This year the match was also almost month early due to the Canada Winter Games being held in Halifax. Many of the juniors use this match as preparation for the Winter games . Next Year it will be back in February.

There have been many top shooters attend this match, it all depends where it falls in their training schedule.

Just some FYI the WAG match in Colorado Springs had a larger participation.

hi check out information about Canada Games 2011, schedule, winter game events, venues, sports, participating cities, medal tally and more here..

Canada Games 2011

Sorry to drift off thread, but there is a top level air gun match on this week end, it's "Intershoot" in Den Haag, Holland. Many of the top shooters in the world will be there. For you guys across the pond there are US pistol shooters in the list. Practice day is today, and then the shoot goes on untill Sunday.
They have live web cams and the electronic scoring system can be accessed on line to watch the shots going in live. You can find it on www.intershoot.nl
Good shooting
Robin

A few pictures....

http://www.airgunforum.ca/forums/topic36870-15.html