Hopkinson, Richards and McKinnon victorious at Independence IPSC Shoot
The Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) in conjunction with IPSC Guyana held its 2018 Independence IPSC Shoot, at the jus- refurbished Timehri Rifle Ranges on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway over the weekend.
Twenty-two shooters from the GNRA and the Guyana Sport Shooting Federation (GSSF) participated.
The competition started with 3 IPSC Classifiers. The first Classifier Stage was won by RD, IPSC, Harold Hopkinson, the second – Chad Melville, the third – Ryan McKinnon, the fourth – Andrew Phang and the fifth – Rajiv Latchana
Then the competition evolved in earnest when shooters engaged the Fourth stage called “The Joker”, this 20-round course was all smiles for resident Dentist, Dr Pravesh Harry who took the first position; Hopkinson, Azzad Hassan, John Phang and the Small Bore Captain Dale Hing finished in that order.
Participants of the recently concluded Independence IPSC Shoot pose with their hardware
The Fifth Stage, “Oops”, designed by the Regional Director (Hopkinson), who got the idea from his Tobago counterparts, was all steel, with no margin for error. This consisted of six steel plates and six steel poppers, 35 and 30 feet away. This unassuming 12-round course defeated the top contenders. When the disappointment and many, many missed shots were tallied, veteran sharpshooter Hopkinson showed his fellow shooters how to do it, by taking the first position; second was Andrew Phang, third Surijballi Persaud; fourth, Hing and fifth, Melville.
Some competitors took as many as 40 rounds to complete the 12-round course. One said it bordered on the impossible. It was demanding. The scenario was: knock down the big poppers freestyle, make a mandatory magazine change before engaging the remaining IPSC sanctioned small plates one handed.
The Sixth and final Stage, “Over or Under” was physically demanding. The copper tunnel was the downfall of many shooters. Shooters knocked off the barrier, which they had to go under safely (none went over). Any shooter who dislodged the barrier lost 10 points! The lean and keen GSSF President Ryan McKinnon took care of business, by taking the first position; Assad Hassan, Dr Harry, Gordon Richards and Latchana came next in that order.
Regional Director Hopkinson was unchallenged in the Open Division, with his Akai Custom gun that ran very loud and flawlessly.
Combined results were first Ryan McKinnon, 486.4586 match points; Harold Hopkinson – 480 match points; Gordon Richards – 423.3279 match points; Dr Pravesh Harry – 356.3753 match points and Matthew Phang – 329.9295 match points.
The three-man team consisting of McKinnon, Dr Harry and Andrew Phang of the GSSF took the Team Shoot. Second was the GNRA team of Hopkinson, Hing, and Richards.
In keeping with the ideas of President David Granger, who is also the patron of the Guyana NRA, Hopkinson said, “We followed our Head of State’s “green state” initiative of Guyana and reduced the use of paper; we utilised the Practiscore electronic system, used exclusively last Sunday.”
This scoring system increased the efficiency of scoring; the margin for error was almost nil. The network, designed and controlled by Statistics Director Michael Tang, networked Five Lenova Tablets for the scoring; the shooters had to hit the approve button to authorise and authenticate their scores. The stage computers were then synced to a mainframe Samsung tablet that had a transmitter that could be accessed by all present with a password.
Regional Director Hopkinson extended special thanks to the stage construction team of Michael Tang, Mrs Tang, Clint McKenzie, Chad Melville and Ron Gouveia for braving the elements and preparing 36 targets, 14 poppers, 10 plates in the five bays constructed by the GDF Engineering Corp. Not forgetting Mrs Roxana Hopkinson, who provided the tasty red beans cook-up and fried chicken that caused the ethnic fatigue of some. All the steel targets used were fabricated by Calvin Singh and his team. Special thanks to our Association President, Brigadier Patrick West, MSS; the acting Commissioner of Police, Assistant Commissioner Paul Williams and ranks of the Tactical Services Unit. Last but not least, the members who demonstrated the highest degree of firearm safety. No one was disqualified.
This inaugural Independence Shoot was sponsored by BM Soat Auto Sales and Secure Innovations and Concepts Inc – land, sea, and air security specialists.
