A total of 155 shooters and numerous sponsors trekked to the seaside in Clarendon for the second Jackson Bay Hunting & Fishing Club Sporting Clay tournament to be held in a quarter of a century. It turned out to be a challenging day filled with high wind, heat and humidity which tested the skills of the shooters.

Aliana McMaster returned to successfully defend her ladies title, while consistent performer Craig Simpson engaged Shaun Barnes and Chad Ziadie in a three-way shoot-off to cop the highest overall winner’s trophy.

Simpson was very happy for the win after battling the challenging conditions on the day.

“[It is] always an amazing feeling to win. Challenging conditions. The scores were very respectable. I thought 91 was the score to shoot but Shaun and Chad are two very credible competitors and I am pleased to come out on top,” he said. Simpson claimed the top prize after picking off seven of the eight targets in the shoot-off.

Barnes picked off five targets to become the runner-up. He also shot 91 at the end of the regulation shoot. The shooters were treated to a picturesque shoot-off as the shooting stations were positioned in such a way that the targets were released with the shooters looking towards the sea.

Ziadie bagged four targets to become the A Class winner ahead of Nicholas Chen (89) and Jamaica Skeet Club President Ian Banks (87).

McMaster shot 86 to win the ladies section but got stiff competition from Wendy McMaster (83) while Lori-Ann Harris (79) was third.

“Today was definitely challenging in terms of the environment but I thought that the course was really well set especially for the type of shoot that this is, so I really enjoyed the course,” said McMaster.

She was also happy with her second-consecutive win.

“It feels really good to come back and be able to defend what I already have won before and to prove myself that even though all of this happened in a year, I am still growing, I am still doing better, my scores are still improving and I honestly think that a lot of people in the gun club like to see that somebody that’s so young, especially a female, doing so well in the sport.”

The other classes winners were: B Class — Brandon Laing 83; C Class — Brian Kong 83; D Class — Max Williams 81; E Class — Ted Palmer 75; Hunters or Beginners — Liam McConnnell 79; Juniors — Aliana McMaster 86; and Sub Juniors — Craig Powel Jr 65.

Club President Sean Clacken was pleased with the support for the tournament.

“[It was] very, very successful. I believe the number [of shooters] was 155. Last year we ended with about a 137, so that’s a big increase and probably one of the largest shoots for the year; so we are very, very excited.”

According to Clacken, the club listened to the shooters and modified the course to make it a shorter walking course but with more challenging targets. The result was very good scores from the shooters across the board.

Part proceeds in the sum of $350,000 went to the Clarendon-based Portland Cottage Primary School to purchase a photocopy machine.