Stage 4: Thornton’s Thugs. Art work by Hannah G

June 18th: There was a serious storm in Oxford last night, so this was a humid, hot day to compete. The day started by repairing stages that were damaged by the rain and high winds. The parking area had puddles. It was quite a change from the last two days.

Thursday competitors shoot the entire match in a single day. I arrived at 7am and helped Paula with rush hour registration. Shooting started at 8am so everyone needed their packets. Here’s how it works: The shooter receives

• 17 labels with their name, #, classification and division. 16 are for score sheets and one is for the chronograph.
• 16 score sheets (labels to be attached at the top, stage numbers to be written in)
• a badge and a clip for the badge (self assembly)
• a match booklet with sponsors and stage descriptions
• a T-shirt, this year in “brushed denim”
• a goodie bag that may, or may not, contain a prize certificate

Shooters may or may not receive a prize that they want or can use. If not, they are free to sell, gift or trade with other shooters. The sponsors are listed on the Cup website.

There are two side matches: one sponsored by S&W and one sponsored by Glock. In each case the winner will receive a free gun. Another free gun will be given away to a random participant.

Other random details:

• There are 346 registered shooter although there will be some no-shows. So far two shooters have been DQ’d.
• The stats team entered scores for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This is our longest day.
• Lunch was fried bologna on hamburger buns and hot dogs.
• I was onsite from 7am till 6pm.

At times I was the only one in the office and covered registration for Paula when she went after more ice. At other times it was loud with voices asking questions, looking for supplies and cracking jokes. The Italian team will be shooting tomorrow but stopped by around 5pm to pick up shooter packets to avoid the wait tomorrow. At that point multiple languages added to the chaos. Through all of this, the stats team is pretty much heads down, focused on getting the scores entered and the score sheets sorted and filed.

I spent most of the day inside, with air-condition. The Range Safety Officers I shot with Tuesday and Wednesday were out in the heat and humidity, running shooters. Remember to thank them for their time and attention to everyone’s safety.

For a deeper dive on how scores are entered and accuracy is kept to a high standard, see the article I wrote when I worked the Cup in 2013.