THE first match in the annual Jamaica Rifle Association (JRA) Grand Prix series, which took place last weekend, saw competitors from across five divisions competing for national honours at the end of the year.

Apart from the Open, Production, Standard and Production Optics divisions, for the first time ever JRA joined a large number of International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) regions in experimenting with the Standard Optics division.

The ever-present Ryan Bramwell jumped in at the deep end and came out on top, ahead of Paul Shoucair and Dufton Shepherd in third.

The Open division was the most keenly contested one, with a competitive Alrice Palmer out pointing the fast-improving Alan McNab. McNab finished just ahead of Corporal Shayon Francis, who put on an impressive performance by showing her prowess using the popular Sig Sauer p320 max.

The still-popular Production division was dominated by a consistent Sanjay Welsh, with veteran Anthony Johnson finishing second and Matthew Smith Barrett, in third, missing out on second by only 16 points. The fastest-growing division worldwide — Production Optics, which sees competitors competiting with a red dot optical sight, facilitating greater speed and accuracy — was effectively taken by Chris Hart. He was easily one of the most disciplined competitors on the day, having ended with a clean scoresheet, reflecting all shots on targets. Petrano Belafonte took second place after holding off the challenge of a smooth, mag-changing Michael Wilkinson.

Darin Richards, who has been doing exceptionally well on the world scene with a huge podium finish in Argentina, finished on top in the Standard Division ahead of Thomas Jones and Dunstan Pryce.

Most of the division winners travelled to Florida early this week for the Level 3 Florida Extreme Handgun Championships, taking their skills and talent to the international stage. A total of 40 JRA competitors were expected to feature in the competition.