Aiming for Gold

Walther LP300XT Steyr LP50 Chris Mason Latest News... Sept 2010 Chris is appointed as the South West Region Head Pistol Coach by British Shooting and the NSRA

Chris has been competing in different pistol shooting disciplines (www.shootingwiki.org) for over 30-years. In 1983 he was a National Junior Air Pistol Champion, winning the NSRA/Eley 1982-3 championships. 2009 Chris is the Police Sport UK (PSUK (www.psukshooting.org/)) National Air Pistol Champion for the third consecutive year in the PSUK Short Range Championships. "I am pleased and proud to announce that I have retained the title of PSUK National Pistol Champion for the third consecutive year. I am only the third competitor to have achieved three consecutive wins since the trophy was first awarded in 1967."

2010 Chris is the PSUK Champion for the fourth consecutive year at the Open Championships, the only competitor to have achieved this.

In 2008, the Dorset Police Air Pistol Team (Chris Mason, Steve Kelly, Graham Stoakes) won the team event at the PSUK Short Range Championships.

PSUK National Air Pistol Champion 2007, 2008 & 2009

[Chris pictured with his two biggest fans; daughter Amy and son Vincent]

Brighton Cup - PSUK Pistol Champion 2007,08,09 Munich Plate - PSUK Open Champion 2007,08, 09, 10

PSUK Team Champions 2008 [L-R: Graham Stoakes, Chris Mason, Dorset Police Chief Constable Martin Baker, Steve Kelly]

Chris Mason PSUK Air Pistol Champion 2009 Dorset Police Air Pistol Team 2nd Place 2009 [L-R: Chris Mason, Graham Stoakes, Met Police Chair Supt Imroth, Steve Kelly]

(L-R) Brighton Cup (PSUK Individual Pistol Champion) & White Trophy (PSUK Pistol Team Champions)

PSUK Sport Pistol Champion 2009, 2010 (Ghent Trophy)

Chris is a member of the British Pistol Club, Annual Member of the NSRA and a club member of the Dorchester Rifle & Pistol Club and Dorset Police Shooting Section.

Dorchester Rifle & Pistol Club Champion 2006, 2007, 2008 (Jubilee Cup)

In December 2005 Chris returned to Air Pistol competitions following an eight-year break from the sport. His motivation at this time was to compete as a member of Team at the 2012 Olympics. It took nearly two years of training and a lot of letter writing before the National Pistol Coach, Tom Redhead, invited Chris for interview. Chris met Tom in September 2007 and in December 2007 Tom invited him to join the 2010 Pistol Academy from which the Team England National Squad (TENS) for Air Pistol competitions at the 2010 will be chosen.

England's 2010 Pistol Academy

[Standing L-R: Mick Gault, Andy Graver, Nick Baxter, Iqbal Ubhi, Tome Redhead (Coach), Chris Mason, Oliver Bloom] [Kneeling L-R: Kristian Callaghan, Eddie Graver, Chris Reedman]

Since then Chris has been training hard and entering many national qualifying competitions and also competes for Dorset in the Inter-County Team League. He is the current Police Sport UK (PSUK ) National Air Pistol Champion and Dorchester Rifle & Pistol Club Champion. NSRA\Eley Final October 2008... 3rd Place

Chris recently competed in the finals of the NSRA/ELEY 2007-8 competition and achieved 3rd place. Members of the 2010 Pistol Academy filled the top 3-places. Over 2700 people entered this competition when it was launched a year ago and over two postal rounds the number of competitors was whittled down to the finalists.

In recognition of his progress to date, Chris has been selected to represent Team England at the Intershoot competition (www.intershoot.nl) in Holland during February 2009. During this 5-day event, he will be competing in 3-matches over 3-days. The Academy is fielding 3-teams (2- senior (A&B) and 1-junior); Chris is placed in the B-Team as this is his first outing on the international stage.

Details of some of Chris' achievements have been reported in Dorset Police's General Orders (issue 40/2008), PSUK Quarterly magazine Summer 2008 edition and the Buckland Newton Village Personalities website (www.bucklandnewton.com/). In November 2008, Chris was nominated for the annual Dorset Police Sporting Excellence Award. Chris is also proud to announce that he has now (2008) completed his Open University Degree, being awarded a BSc (Open) for studies in Communication Systems, Computer Programming and Environmental issues. Intershoot 2009

Intershoot is an annual Air Pistol and Air Rifle competition, held in The Hague, that attracts competitors from across Europe and USA.

Day 1 Bronze Medal Winners - England Team B - Chris Mason, Jim Hewsome, Peter Friend. England Team A won the Gold Medal (Iqbal Ubhi, Mick Gault, Andy Graver) and the Belgium Team won the Silver Medal.

Day 2, England Team B achieved 5th place, being beaten by the Swedish Teams A and B. England Team A won the Silver Medal.

Day 3, England Team B were joint 3rd with the Belgium Team but lost by 1-point under the count-back system to decide the medal place. England Team A won the Gold Medal.

Individually, out of a total of 49 Air Pistol competitors, Chris was placed 24th, 22nd and 31st respectively on each of the 3-days.

Chris Mason Competitor No: 143 [Competitor 134, to Chris' left, is Ragnar Skanaker - 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist ]

In May 2009, British Shooting announced that the funding for developing World Class athletes is no longer available. The full implications of this are still emerging; an immediate impact is that we, in the Pistol Academy, have been told we will have to pay for our training, which puts an increasing financial burden on us in addition to equipment, ammunition, competition entry, travel, accommodation and food costs. Chris competed in the British Pistol Club Open Championships on 21st June 2009. This is a nominated competition for the GB squads and consequently attracted the best shooters from across the Country. Chris won the 25m Rapid Fire event with a Personal Best score of 561 ex 600. He is now the 2009 British 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Champion; being presented with the John Cooke Cup and Turin Plate by Kate Hoey MP. His achievement is recorded on the Champions’ display board in the BPC Club House.

British 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Champion 2009

John Cooke Cup [25m Rapid Fire Champion] Turin Plate [Highest Associate member Score in 25m Rapid Fire Competition] Chris successfully defended his PSUK Air Pistol Champion title at the PSUK (Long- Range) Open Championships at Bisley. This is the third consecutive year that he has won the PSUK Champion title, the first competitor to achieve the hat trick at these championships. Chris has now achieved three consecutive wins at both the PSUK Short Range and Long Range Championships, the first competitor to achieve three consecutive double titles.

Chris also won the Sport Pistol event to become the PSUK Sport Pistol Champion (2009 and 2010), winning the Ghent Trophy.

In addition to winning the individual title, Chris represented the PSUK as a member of their Sport Pistol Team in a match against the Army; the PSUK Team won by a substantial margin of 1660 points to 1613.

Welsh Open Championships 2009 On the weekend of 3rd to 4th October Chris competed in the Welsh Open Championships, winning a Finalists Medal and Team Gold Medal. This was an exciting and personally rewarding competition for Chris who feels justly proud of his achievements there. In the individual event, he achieved a personal best score of 560 ex 600 on the first day which left him in 8th place going into the final. The top 8 competitors are entered into an Olympic Final, which consists of 10 timed shots. However the competitors in 9th and 10th place also scored the same as Chris and requested a Shoot-Off to decide who should be in the Final. Chris had already won the place by the rules of the competition but the organisers were persuaded to initiate the shoot off as per the rules of International Competition. The Shoot-off was 5-timed shots, which produced a closely changing picture of who was going into the final as each shot was scored. In the end Chris won by 0.1 points over his Team mate who remained in 9th place.

Injury forces Retirement from Team England

Chris has battled with a painful shoulder that has affected his performance. In 2009, an MRI Scan revealed that the shoulder was ok but he has degenerative injury, Cervical Spondylosis, which causes the trapping of nerves, resulting in pain in the right shoulder and arm. This has brought doubt about his current and future fitness. Chris, in discussion with the Coach, has decided to retire from Team England. He will continue to compete in the Police Nationals and at other competitions especially to defend his national titles; but will not be competing to the same intensity as he was previously doing. In redefining his goals, he is pursuing Pistol Coaching qualifications. Chris has thoroughly enjoyed his time training and competing as a member of the Team England National Squad. He has made good friends and is very proud of his achievements.

This is not the end of the story…

South West Regional Head Pistol Coach

September 2010, British Shooting and NSRA appointed Chris as the South West Regional Head Pistol Coach. The Squad is based at The Tunnel Target Sports Centre, Charmouth, Dorset www.thetunnel.co.uk . The aim of the Regional Squad is to develop our future National Champions and feed talented shooters into the Team England National Squad and Team GB Squad. The Squad held its first training weekend on 21st May 2011. Places are open for adult, junior and competitors with disabilities. Interested competitors receive a formal invitation of membership and full details of the requirements of membership in writing. Contact Chris at [email protected] for details, see also the Squad website at www.swrps.org.uk