Note that clickable links to today's ranges, matches and aggregates are provided following the commentary.

Mon 18 Aug 2008

This will be a short report this evening, since, as you will read below, no matches were completed.

The Norm Beckett (300m and 800m) and John Brick (500y and 600y) Matches are both two range affairs, with one range of each in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning passed off uneventfully, albeit with a steadily rising wind. However, there was increasing concern as the afternoon wore on about the possibility of severe thunderstorms. Several years of experience in watching the weather radar means generally that it is not a question of "if" but of "when" the storm will strike. So I watched it come down the Ottawa River Valley from North Bay through Pembroke and Renfrew, and it was clear that the inevitable was going to happen. Once lightning is in the area then, of course, all shooting must stop and the competitors must get clear of the range. Finally this happened around 4 PM this afternoon. We did get everyone off and, by and large, no one got wet. The storm, when it broke, was pretty impressive, with a howling gale and lashing rain. Although there was some partial cl earing behind the first onslaught, it was clear that this was not the end of the evening's weather. So, quite rightly, it was decided that no further shooting would be possible. This was an entirely correct decision, since there were indeed several more heavy showers. Even as I write this (about 9:30 PM), there are still flashes of lighting in the distance. We lost three relays of the Brick and two of the Beckett, which we will re-schedule for later in the week.

As a result, I have no match results to report to you this evening, neither event being complete. The cofffeee match now stands at Brown 3 - Thompson 2. I must buck up!

The other thing that will be on-going all week is the Selection Trial for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. There will be much more on this later, but the current standings are: James Paton 1016.97; Pat Vamplew 1014.106; Des Vamplew 1012.111; Bruce Bullock 1009.107; Paul Tremblay 1009.98. There is a long way to go yet.

In the morning, we'll see what damage was caused by the storm. A number of canopies seem to have been destroyed, but tents still seem to be standing. The Executive Vice-President, whilst sheltering in my tent, nobly prevented the cofffeee supplies from being overturned. He was also protesting at the height of one of the later thunder-showers that those "soft namby-pambies" should be out shooting! Which all goes to show that no one is totally sound!

All being well, tomorrow we will fire the Letson, the first part of the Governor General's Qualifying, and the notorius aggregate breaker/maker, the 900m Alexander of Tunis. The forecast is for a sunny and cool day, but, after today, who knows?

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