Today's a holiday in much of Latin America. ACTP, the governing body of the Field Target sport in Colombia, put on a shoot this weekend, using the grounds of our local gun club. In fact, yours truly got shanghaied into organizing the event. Had a trip to Brazil the week before, sat between two girls carrying a cold virus (or more) on the way home which meant that when Tuesday rolled around and it was time to set up the courses, yours truly was sick as sick could be and still be ambulatory. We got the first course about 2/3 done and headed home. Wednesday was bed day, plus the young man who was helping couldn't go either so I had the chance to recharge a little bit. Tuesday we finished the first course, learned from our mistakes and started on the second course. Work was halted due to lack of sunlight to guide us. Friday morning we worked at finishing up the second course and got it all done except for two lanes for which we had no targets.

Saturday we were up bright and early and managed to get things rolling fairly well. My rifle was running hotter than I thought so instead of WFTF Piston category I was placed in Open Piston category. I turned in a 33/50 for the day. Sunday we were at it again and the sun or something really got to me, only managed a 25/50 for the day, my average for last year's competition. This morning dawned nice and cool and we started much earlier. My total ended up 32/50 for the day and 90/150 for the weekend.

There were around 22 sportsmen from around the country, including 7 from this region. Three of us from the local club and four independents. We may end up with the start of a junior Field Target Club as the kids seemed to be pumped over the competition and the results. The ones I coached improved their scores each day. We ended up with 9 medals for the region, placing in five categories.

First place piston division was expected, along with second and third, we just didn't know how second and third would sort out as they were both newbies and using not quite suitable equipment. The one that caught me by surprise was taking third place in the open division. My rifle was only slightly hot at the beginning and ended up in the WFTF range of power by the end of the competition, but that initial chronograph result is what set me up in Open. Open runs faster velocities and higher power which means flatter trajectories and less doping needed for accurate hits. So for me to take third in that category was a real surprise.

Now to work our local team and see if we can get them to overtake me and leave me in the dust. It'd be great to see them taking on the rest of the country - with springers beating out PCP's. One can hope!