Yanks Dominate Creedmoor Matches in Ireland
The Creedmoor Cup F-Class events in Ireland have come to a close. The Irish hosts ran a great match and the American shooters proved their prowess — winning both team and individual titles. Here’s how the events were scheduled so you can keep things in order: after several practice days, the two-day NRA-Ireland F-Class Individual Championships was held Wednesday and Thursday last week. Then, on Friday, competitors divided into F-Open and F-T/R squads to shoot the USA vs. Europe matches. On Saturday and Sunday, the main event, the two-day Creedmoor Cup Match was held. All of these matches were conducted on the brand new 1200-yard range in Tullamore. The Irish are to be commended for constructing such a great range in a relatively short time.
American Shooters Dominate Team and Individual Events
We don’t have all the scores yet, but we do have key results. We’re proud to announce that the USA won the main Creedmoor Cup event! Prior to that, on Friday, the Yanks prevailed in the Europe vs. USA Challenge match (sort of like the Ryder Cup). Forum Member Erik Cortina reports: “I’m not 100% on the numbers but I know we beat them by about 110 points shooting in the rain! We have a very strong team and excellent wind coaches!”
In the individual competitions held during the week, American shooters also topped the podium. In F-T/R individual competition, Darrell Buell won the championship with a solid performance. Larry Bartholome shot superbly in windy conditions to win the F-Open match. (Larry was using a Precision Rifle & Tool Low Boy stock, Nightforce scope and a SEB Neo Rest.) Larry’s compatriots also shot well — there were nine Americans among the top 11 F-Open shooters. That is definitely a dominant performance by our talented F-Open squad.
Here are some reports from Ireland that came in from Forum members Erik Cortina and TonyR over the last few days:
Sunday, 6/26: “The second day of the Creedmoor Match was completed today and the USA has won the Gold Medal. I haven’t seen the score but I’m sure it will show up at some point. Shooting conditions were again tough with high speed fishtail tail winds that switched rapidly but our wind coaches, Bob Mead, Nancy Tompkins, Michelle Gallagher, Dale Carpenter, Jim Murphy, and Ricky Hunt were up to the challenge. The Irish Team were great hosts and we all had a wonderful time. They put together a new range with this event in mind in just a few months and it is something to be proud of.” — TonyR
Saturday, 6/25: “Shot the first day of the Creedmoor Cup today. Winds were tough! We had a fishtailing wind from 5-7 o’clock and we were being pushed into the 3 ring with ease, the F-T/R guys were going into the 1’s! We didn’t have a good day, we dropped 434 out of 4,000, but they had a worst day than we did, they dropped 648 points! So to say winds were tough is an understatement! We are having tons of fun regardless.” — Erik
Friday, 6/24: “We just finished shooting the Europe vs. USA Challenge. I’m not 100% on the numbers but I know we beat them by about 110 points shooting in the rain! We have a very strong team and excellent wind coaches!” — Erik
Thursday, 6/23: “Larry shot great today [to win the F-Open Championship]! In F-Open, there were 9 of us in the top 11. This is an awesome range! We have been shooting in 25 +- winds for two days and it’s fun when you can stay ahead of the wind, but if you get behind it, it’s not fun at all…” — Erik
Want to see more photos from Ireland, and read more reports from the competitors? You’ll find more info about the Creedmoor events, match results, plus linked photo galleries on the USA
F-T/R Team’s new Facebook Page. Log on to: http://www.facebook.com/us.rifle.team.
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Tags: .308 Win, Buell, Creedmoor, F-Class, F-Open, F-TR, F/TR, Ireland, Tullamore
What a great experience! The Irish hosted a world class event and they built a world class range to go along with it! I want to express my gratitude to the Irish for the amazing hospitality, they are great people and now I am proud to say they are great friends as well! Kudos to the Irish!!!
I second that! It was easily the best match I’ve ever been to. The Irish team did a wonderful job of putting everything together. It was a great week, and I can’t wait to come back and shoot with you all again!!!
Way to go! Congratulations on the fine shooting and representing the USA proudly
Congratulations to team USA! Great job
YEEEH-HAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to all, sounds like a great match. We welcome you back to the good ole USA.
Nat Lambeth
That’s awesome!! Several ‘regulars’ from the Midwest Palma matches up at Winnequah Gun Club were missed last week (they coulda shot in the rain at Lodi too!) but they all shot great across the pond. Good show!!
Shooting again with the Irish Team was on thier home range was even more fun than the previous times. The Irish Team/NRA saved my match, what a credit to the Irish Team. The range is world class, the team is world class, the hospitality was beyond belief. Hats off to the Irish Team and Irish Shooting.