Shooting stars head for Suffolk

THE British Open Sporting Championships will be taking place in Suffolk from today until Sunday.

The event is taking place at High Lodge Shooting School, one of the county's premier sporting, leisure and hospitality centres, based near Darsham.

“It is a great honour to have been selected to host such a major international circuit event at our shooting ground, especially as we are only one of four Premier shooting grounds in the whole of the UK selected for the event”, said director John Bidwell, a holder of five clay target shooting world titles and the current English and European Veteran Class champion.

More than 1200 shooters are expected to compete during the annual four-day event, which each competitor having to shoot 100 sporting targets.

As well as the prestige of winning such a significant event, there are also other prizes available, and the awards ceremony will be held on the Sunday afternoon at High Lodge.

The competition, which is open to all those who have qualified to take part, covers a range of different classes from Colts (under-16-year-olds) to Veterans (over-60s). Other classes include Ladies and graded professionals.

Among the professional shooters competing in the event will be Richard Faulds, MBE, a 2000 Olympic Gold medallist; George Digweed, the current European Champion Scratch Class and holder of 15 World titles; and John Dyson, the current World FITASC Sporting Champion, Veteran Class,

Under the supervision of John Bidwell, the team at High Lodge have set up 15 different stands, which are able to challenge and test the skills and experience of all competitors in order to make the competition a truly memorable event for all who take part.

Another competition running alongside the British Open is a 50-bird pool shoot sponsored by International German shotgun manufacturer BLASER, who also sponsor John Bidwell.

This event is open to all shooters, who could win a world-beating BLASER F3 shotgun worth £2,900 as well as daily cash prizes.