Johnians help Cambridge Clay Shooting squad to Varsity victory

The Cambridge Clay Shooting team has claimed victory in the 2016 Varsity match against Oxford.  Each winning team featured a Johnian.

Cambridge has taken home a haul of trophies after beating Oxford on their home turf in the Clay Shooting Varsity match.

The competition was carried out in the English Sporting Style with a shooting course laid out in stands or stations with clay targets presented to the shooter in ways that simulate the flight pattern of game birds and mammals.

The competition, which took place at the Oxfordshire Shooting School, was tense for the Men’s Blues, with Oxford on a winning streak at the half way point after hitting a pair of particularly difficult bolting “rabbit” targets. Cambridge, however, fought back in the second half, scoring highly on a stand replicating driven pheasants and partridges.

As the competition entered its final phase the scores were neck and neck, but Cambridge’s consistently high scoring led to a win by a margin of 21 targets.

The Women’s Blues saw an equally intense match against Oxford, with an onslaught of brilliant shooting winning the game by a single target. 

Johnian Rob Youngs, who is in his second year studying Land Economy, helped his team to victory in the Men’s Blues and also won a Half Blue for his efforts; MPhil student in Early Modern History, Philip Kelvin, aided the Men’s Second Team in their win and Fenella Chesterfield, a third-year Theology and Religious studies undergraduate, helped secure the trophy for the Women’s Blues.

The Cambridge Squad also took home the trophy for Highest Gun after Edward Wilson of Downing College achieved the highest overall score in the competition by hitting 86 out of 100 targets.

Philip Kelvin said: “It was an added achievement to beat Oxford on the ground they have practiced at each day for the last week and weekly for months. It was a fantastic victory and a good day all round!”