On 30th Nov 2008, Southampton, Cambridge, Oxford and Reading met at Soton for the first proper leg of the Southern Unis GP 2008-09. With all unis bringing a good mixture of experienced and novice shooters, there was lots of competition in all classes.

Team scores (ex1200 - teams of 6, HPS 200 each) were as follows:

          Team                           Score
1st     Southampton ‘A’          1144
2nd     Oxford ‘A’                   1131
3rd     Cambridge ‘A’              1124
4th     Oxford ‘B’                    1073
5th     Reading ‘A’                  1052
6th     Southampton ‘B’          1047 (a very noteworthy score considering 4/6 team members were novices)

(A full list of scores can be found here)

Dark Horse of the Open Individual and Ladies Individual was Jen Barber (Soton), with a very tidy 196 ex200.

The Novice event was subject to a little fiddling of results. Technically, first and second went to Rich Ward and Katie Sullivan, both of Southampton. However, since they both have extensive shooting experience from school, their technical classification as "Novice" (defined as first year of shooting in a university team) was not really an accurate description of their abilities, which significantly outclassed the rest of the field. As such, the Novice title was given to Harvey Johnston (also of Soton), who put in a very respectable 176, just ahead of Miss J. Green and Mr C. Reid (both of Oxford), who scored 175 a piece.

Much fun was had by all, both at the match and at Pizza Hut afterwards. Special thanks must go to Samantha Bull and Jen Barber of Southampton for organising the day, as well as their committee of helpers who RO'd, target marked, ran stats and helped with refreshments.

The match yet again proved that meeting, socialising with and shooting shoulder-to-shoulder against other universities is FUN and also a fantastic experience for novice shooters. The next match is currently pencilled in as being hosted by Oxford at the end of Jan/early Feb 2009.