Sutherland father and son shoot to success in open clay pigeon championships
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A SUTHERLAND father and son have taken home some impressive silverware after competing in two open clay pigeon shooting competitions in England and Scotland this month.
Marcus Munro, who runs the Highland Shooting Centre (HSC) at Burnside Croft, Altass, near Lairg, and his son Hamish first took part in the English Open DTL shooting tournament at Bywell Shooting Ground, Morpeth, Northumberland.
They went on from there to the Scottish Open DTL Championships at the National Shooting Centre in Falkirk last weekend.
At Bywell the pair were thrilled to win the prestigious parent and child competition.
“The trophy is awarded to the parent and child with the highest combined score,” said Marcus. “Some very big names from British shooting are on the trophy so we are very happy to have managed to take it home.”
The results from Bywell mean Hamish is back ranked as the highest junior DTL shooter in Scotland.
Marcus went on to achieve even greater success at Falkirk, winning High Gun to become Scottish DTL Open Champion 2023 after an exciting shoot-off with another north marksman Marcas Robertson of Tain.
He said: "There was a while I doubted I could ever win it having had an 11 year gap from shooting DTL in competition mid-career, but hard work, gun adjustments and regular practice took me back to some form just at the right time. It was a really sweet victory and keeps the trophy in Scotland."
Hamish just missed out on winning the junior trophy by not even a target but a second barrel point.
The junior he shot against is another exciting, up and coming north shooting star – young Cameron Mackay from Caithness. Aged only 15, he won the Colts and Juniors High Gun and was also C Class High Gun for both days and overall.
Father and son were also both selected at the Falkirk competition to shoot for Scotland, Marcus as a new cap in the senior team and Hamish for his third cap.
Hamish was given the additional honour of being the junior team captain for Scotland.
“We will both compete in the European Open, the British Open and the Home Nations International competitions, which will all be held in Southern Ireland next month,” said Marcus.
“I guess it shows the pedigree of good shooters we have in the North and that HSC can produce competitive shooters at the highest national level and we are open for business and keen to find and bring on the next Highland based champions.”
Hamish is also currently on a shooting scholarship with team GB Olympian Matt Coward Holly.
Marcus said: “He is training to shoot Olympic Trap which is the formula one of trap clay shooting. This is a very tough discipline but exciting at the same time because it is an Olympic sport.
“Hamish currently travels to England every six weeks to train and participate in rounds of the UK selection shoots.
"The biggest issue is that if he wants to practise shoot this discipline, he currently has to drive all the way to Dundee.
“Based on this we are looking at plans to develop HSC to construct and install an Olympic Trap range another DTL and Olympic Skeet.
“The idea is to make HSC into a shooting centre of excellence that will provide top quality facilities that will produce competitive shooters in the north and attract other shooters to the area.
“This is a huge step for our small family ran business but we are confident if we can pull it together it will be well worth the effort."
