CyaN1de Cleans House!!!

[prairieguy]

Dan,

21 shooters at a national championship is a piss poor turnout no matter how you spin it.

We had 18 F-class at the MPRA last weekend. We outnumbered the TR guys for the first time ever.

Kodiak99317 also had around 30 turn out for the Driller's in Sk in June.

There are plenty of guys out west shooting F-class. Clearly there's a huge disconnect between those people and the DCRA.

I see a constant stream of navel gazing and excuse making from the DCRA. Last year the low number of shooters was blamed on the World TR championship at Bisley. This year's excuse is the FCWC. What's next year's excuse going to be?

Until the DCRA removes it's head from a dark moist place and realizes that there's other bits of Canada west of Sudbury, not just swamp and dragons, who should be taken into consideration the turnout's never going to grow.

Take the championships on the road. I've heard all the blather about Connaught being the only place big enough but come on, with 20 shooters you could host it anywhere.

 

[Obtunded]

prairieguy, we must talk!

Ian

 

[rnbra-shooter]

prairieguy, I'm not trying to spin anything. I agree with you that 21 F-Class shooters at our national championship is terribly low. F-Class has a strong participation in many provinces, yet few show up to shoot the nationals. Something isn't right - but what is it, and how can it be fixed?

I am not trying to make excuses, I am trying to figure out what's going on. I don't mind people complaining that things are broken; such is the right of every shooter. But I will admit that I'm much more interested in finding out what to *do* to fix things.

There aren't 20 shooters in the national championships, there are 240 shooters, of whom 21 are F-Class. 36 targets are needed to handle 240 shooters, and Connaught is the only range in the country that I know of that can handle that. To this point, TR and F-Class have always shot together at the same national match. Should we consider separating the two? It wouldn't be an easy decision, but that's not to say it might not be the right decision. Should the Canadian F-Class National Championship become, say, a "travelling" match? That's certainly worth discussing. Who would run it, how would it work?

If somebody were to put on a major F-Class regional match in MB or SK, and it worked well (say there were fifty happy Western F-Class shooters there), and that person were to make a "bid" to host the Canadian National F-Class Championship, I for one would take that proposition very, very seriously.

 

[Obtunded]

As controversial as the idea may be, I would love to see F-Class matches tried as independent of TR matches. The idea of a travelling road show (ala FCWC) for a national match holds a great deal of interest for me. I respect and understand the desire for improved fellowship between TR and F, but alas, we are still seeing much evidence that equal status is still a long way off. Petty differences and prejudices still sully some aspects of combined matches, although I must give full credit to Bob Pitcairn for putting forward the effort he has to quell this.

We had lower numbers at the BC Provincials this year due to a combination of shooters boycotting the new ICFRA target, Bisley, proximety to the national match and an unusually high number of regulars that could not attend due to personal committments.

I had also tried to persuade the match director to include a tactical class, but this was deemed too problematic. I sense that an independent F-Class circuit could allow much more flexibility for these sorts of experiments to happen.

I think this concept holds significant promise.

 

[carbonrod]

Dan,

21 shooters at a national championship is a piss poor turnout no matter how you spin it.

We had 18 F-class at the MPRA last weekend. We outnumbered the TR guys for the first time ever.

Kodiak99317 also had around 30 turn out for the Driller's in Sk in June.

There are plenty of guys out west shooting F-class. Clearly there's a huge disconnect between those people and the DCRA.

I see a constant stream of navel gazing and excuse making from the DCRA. Last year the low number of shooters was blamed on the World TR championship at Bisley. This year's excuse is the FCWC. What's next year's excuse going to be?

Until the DCRA removes it's head from a dark moist place and realizes that there's other bits of Canada west of Sudbury, not just swamp and dragons, who should be taken into consideration the turnout's never going to grow.

Take the championships on the road. I've heard all the blather about Connaught being the only place big enough but come on, with 20 shooters you could host it anywhere.

Sing it brother!

The whole old boys club gong show has to end rapidly if F-class is going to continue in any fashion. As Obtunded hints at, that probably means tossing the TR crew. I like the idea of TR, and would even like to shoot it, but with the rate that many of the TR guys I know have chased off new shooters, there is no growth, only stagnation.

 

[viper7]

I also shoot IPSC and the nationals usually bounce back and forth between East and West every year. Turnout is generally around 200 shooters, and the cost around $200 for two days of shooting.

Last year the nationals were in the West, this year in Halifax, next year back in Vancouver. Before that it was Fredericton and Barrie, Ont. The "bounce" theory works well for that sport, but a club must be willing to step up and host the match, no small affair. This lessens the financial burden to every second year having to fly to the other coast.

I've been marooned here in Comox for 4 months for some military training, so I've been out of the game, (even though I did bring my rifle) but I'm in for the world's in 2013 and I will try not to miss another nationals. If you guys hold the Fclass Nationals in Winnipeg next summer, make it the third weekend in July and I can just go on out to Vancouver for the IPSC nationals on the last WE in July! WOOHOO!

Matt, I'll try to make the Atlantics, but I have to move the family to Gander when I get back next week - might be hard to convince Mrs Viper to let me to play after 4 months away...

Watch for the 1st Annual Newfie F Class Championships - only 600 yards, but you have to shoot lying in 4 inches of salt water! That should draw a crowd!

 

[CyaN1de]

Finally got around to downloading the results pictures from my camera.

I believe this is the correct Grand Agg result for F-Class

Lt. Governors Agg

Short Range Agg

Long Range Agg

Int'l Team Match

Galletly Team Match