January Match Report - Founders Cup
Saturday, January 20, 2024 - BASF, Phoenix, AZ
Larry Piercy, Match Director
This is the first monthly match of the new year, and also happens to be the rescheduled Founders Cup match. If you remember, this match was supposed to be held in October 2023 at Mormon Lake, AZ, but due to the forestry service conducting controlled burns of excessive underbrush, and with heavy smoke conditions in the immediate area, the match was cancelled.We did experience heavy cloud cover for almost the entire match today. We had brief periods of sunshine during breaks in the clouds, but otherwise the lighting conditions were somewhat subdued. Temperatures were very comfortable in the low 60’s and humidity was in the mid-40% range. There was next to NO WIND! This is highly unusual for Ben Avery. There were light breezes, here and there, but nothing of any major consequence. No problem, we’ll take it!We had 18 shooters competing today over an expanded course of 14 lanes / 2 targets per lane / 56 shot course, which included one lane where one of the targets was designated off-hand, and the other target designated kneeling. With the non-existent wind, scores were higher than usual, and timers were also used.We ended up with Lauren (WFTF PCP) and Kent (Hunter PCP) tied for high score with 55/56. So, we ended up having a shoot off with Lauren barely edging Kent by a single point and awarded the Founders Cup Champion for 2023. We also had 3 other shooters in Hunter class tied, with the ties being broken by each shooter’s first miss from their beginning lane.
After the match, scores and awards were announced, followed by a club meeting to determine location and date of the state championship matches. Yes, you heard that correctly; matches. The state PCP championship will be in the fall (September) at Mormon Lake and the Piston championship will be in the spring (March) at Ben Avery. More information will follow as soon as details are worked out.
At this point, Club vice president Wayne Mauler presented club president and one of the founding members of Airgunners of Arizona, Larry Piercy, with a shadow box award containing an original club shirt and hat, along with our current club tee shirt in appreciation for all of his contributions to the club over the years since its’ inception. This took Larry completely by surprise, and the look on his face when presented this, was priceless! It is through Larry’s efforts all of these years that the club has come as far as it has. Larry, we thank you wholeheartedly!
Our next monthly match will be Saturday, February 17, 2024 and will be on the SMALL-BORE RANGE at Ben Avery shooting facility, instead of the pistol silhouette range. This is due to the End of the Trail cowboy action shoot, which will take up all of the area on the west side of the shooting complex. This is an annual event drawing shooters from across the country, thus the rationale for relocating us in February.
With most of the rest of the country being hammered by winter weather, we don’t want to gloat too much about our balmy conditions, so we won’t…..LOL Stay warm, stay dry, stay safe. Spring is only a few months off.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Kauffman
Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.