Three-time winner Craig Simpson and four-time winner Aliana McMaster took top honours at the Driftwood Gun Club Shoot at the 17-station Murphy Hill Course in St Ann recently.

Both shooters bagged 95 out of 100 targets to dominate the packed field, which included a total of 157 of the best gunners on the island, such as nine-time national shotgun champion and president of the Jamaica Skeet Club Ian Banks; six-time national shotgun champion and defending champion Shaun Barnes; four-time and reigning national shotgun champion Christian Sasso; Chad Ziadie, the 2022 national shotgun champion; as well as five-time national female shotgun champion Wendy McMaster.

Aliana already created history by being the first female to make it to A Class in late 2023. Her score of 95 is the highest by any female locally. When her score was posted most people thought it very possible that she won, which would make her the first female to win any sporting clay event in Jamaica, but Simpson roared back with his high-scoring 95 to set up a tense duel between them.

McMaster won the toss and invited Simpson to shoot first. He picked off six of the eight targets while she bagged four.

“Winning is always an amazing feeling, it’s what keeps us going,” Simpson said. “I tell everybody that I don’t think I leave my house if I was not coming here to win. I am hungry for the win. Always hungry for the win. I am always excited about the competitive field, and as the years go by with the juniors emerging, the field only becomes more competitive, and its an internal challenge to stay relevant. I have been able to do that over the years and I plan to continue to be there for as long as I can, but they are coming.

“Today we had a fair amount of wind and that made the target varying. The line was not consistent and you had to pay attention, and it was a game of focus today. I really locked in today and seeing the target well and I was able to hold it together through to the end.”

McMaster, on the other hand, is happy with her performance.

“It’s honestly an amazing feeling,” she said. “After you have a reputation or expectation from the people coming to the shoot it can get to you and really mess up your head. I feel it can play a big part in how that day goes, but I just had to approach it like any other shoot and just do my best, and frankly, winning four times in a row is honestly such a great feeling and I am absolutely grateful for it.”

Club President Christina East is happy to have Proven Wealth on board for the fourth consecutive year as major sponsor. The club is celebrating 20 years of existence. East credited the over 30 stage sponsors, led by major sponsor Proven Wealth, along with National Rums, Monymusk, Fidelity Motors, and Greast Construction as one of the successes of the event.

The top three in the various classes were A Class: Christian Sasso (92) by way of shoot-off with William Zager (92) and Alex Cunningham (91); B Class: Gordon Bucknor (86), Robin Rickhi (84), and Zachary Harris (81); C Class: Brandon Laing (90), Adam Harris (85), and Wendy McMaster (85); D Class: Lori-Ann Harris (85) and Noah Vaughn (84); E Class: Seymour Essor (69), David Campbell (67), and Anthony Ayoub (67); Ladies: Aliana McMaster (95), Lori-Ann Harris (85), and Wendy McMaster (85); Hunters or Beginners: Philip Burgess (77), Cameron Lee (69), and Che Rowe (68); Juniors Aliana McMaster (95), David Wong (87), and Lori-Ann Harris (85); and Sub Juniors: Craig Powell Jr (55) and Levi Clarke (48).