#8 Tour summary

The 2015 NRA tour to the Channel Islands is now complete and the whole team enjoyed it very much. The squad gelled well as a unit both in terms of getting our shooting drills honed and operating smoothly as a team, as well as socially in terms of getting to know one another and getting along very well indeed. Captain and coaches comprising the management team did a great job of keeping things well organised and ‘herded cats’ quite competently to ensure that the whole tour ticked along smoothly and without too many incidents.

Having two armourers on the management team proved to be ideal too, when a couple of trigger mechanisms failed - one in Guernsey and one in Jersey. Rifles were swiftly dismantled, spares fitted, adjusted and reassembled in no time at all, which resulted in no detrimental effects to individual or team performance. A rifle was re-barrelled too, just before the tour, and it was wielded pretty competently to top score on a number of occasions. Well done to David and Nigel for their efforts on this front.

The NRA team won one match and lost one (including the reserve matches) but the squad were pleased overall with our performance, particularly given that this was the first such tour for a few people and it proved an ideal opportunity to gain touring team experience and shoot as a unit.

Finally we’d like to thank our generous hosts in Guernsey and Jersey for making the experience a memorable one. We were looked after so well on both islands, and the people we met will no doubt remain good friends for a long time. It is a testament to the sport and the people involved that such tours do result in great camaraderie as well as being truly competitive events.

Thanks to all involved, and we're sure that the 2016 NRA team currently being assembled will look forward to visiting the Channel Islands next year.

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