Ken Willingale, winner of The Edge Trophy at the
HM The Queen's Golden Jubilee Meeting 2002,
at NRA Bisley, with a score of 188.14v. Ken has been shooting at Bisley
for over 40 years, although he has won a number of team competitions, this
was his first win in an individual event.
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Ken Has The “EDGE”
During The Nation Rifle Association
Championships held at Bisley in July, competitors from the home
nations plus many overseas shooters, were beaten by Sea King Designs
hot shot Ken Willingale, who had “the edge” in this competition. In
the “Match Rifle” events shot with a 7.62mm rifle fitted with a
telescopic sight, at distances from 1000 yards to 1200 yards on a
target with only a 24 inch bull, Ken won “The Edge” trophy.
The Edge trophy, presented by a WL Winans in
1892 for first prize in the Albert competition at Bisley. It was won
by TKL Edge that year and presented by TKL Edge in 1927 in perpetuity
for The Edge competition. It has been won in past years by the likes
of Lord Cottesloe; Lord Swansea and Mr John A de Havilland, the same
family that produced the famous fighter aircraft.
The Edge is a
competition of 20 shots at 1100 yards and 20 shots at 1200 yards, that
gives a maximum score of 100 points per range. At 1100 yards Ken
scored 97 only missing the bull three times. At 1200 yards only one
point was dropped in the first seven shots. Then the wind started to
change dramatically, it faded rapidly with shots 8 to 14 narrowly
missing the bull. With a lot of frustration setting in, shot 15 was
fired and gave a dead central bull, shot 16 followed into the bull in
exactly the same place. Ken felt the wind had stabilised and to
maximise on the steady conditions fired the remaining four shots in
just over a minute. Shot 17 and 18 found the bull but shot 19 was two
inches below the bull line, but dead centre for wind. Shot 20 was
fired to hit the bull dead centre, much to the relief of Ken. The
score for 1200 yards was 91, the 1100 and 1200 yard score are added
together to give a total of 188 out of 200.
An anxious wait
was endured whilst the people in the remaining two details completed
their shoots, with Ken keeping a close eye on the prevailing wind
conditions. With all the scores correlated, they gave a clear win by
one point to Ken, with no need for a tie shoot.
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