Top gunners delivered at JRA’s Christmas Hamper
Five of Jamaica’s top shooters lived up to their ranking winning their divisions at the Jamaica Rifle Association (JRA) Christmas Hamper Match on Saturday at the Woodleigh Shooting Range in Clarendon.
In the scuffle, Ryan Bramwell topped the Open Division, Chris Hart bagged the Carry Optic Division, Petrano Belafonte secured the Limited Optics Division, Greg Henry held on to the Limited Division, while Michael Bradshaw was the surprise winner of the Production Division.
Bramwell, who ended with 887.45 points ahead of Andrew Yap’s 795.02 and Alrice Palmer’s 726.34 in the Open Division, was overjoyed.
“I am very happy with my performance on the weekend. I really wanted to end the year with a strong performance and I shot a very fast and accurate match on Saturday,” he said.
The Production Division was very competitive with under two points separating Michael Bradshaw and second-place Anthony “TJ” Johnson. Bradshaw, who switched division from Carry Optics to Production, put in a disciplined performance to post 554.43 points over the experienced Johnson with 552.68 points, while Sanjay Welsh was further back on 533.97 points in third place.
“My performance on Saturday was a result of both mental and physical training weeks before the Christmas Hamper. Production is the division which I first started shooting and I decided to shoot the same to tighten up a few fundamental aspects of my shooting,” said Bradshaw.
Hart’s 714.40 points was good enough to bag the Carry Optics Division ahead of the fast-charging Darin Richards who ended with 697.86 points. Christopher Nunez was comfortable in third place on 664.87 points. Experienced female shooter Yeonie Campbell placed fourth with 566.90 points after experimenting by shooting in the Carry Optics Division instead of her usual Production Division
Belafonte secured the Limited Optics Division with 713.03 points which put him comfortably ahead of Adrian Randle on 692.74 points and Ekepedeme Otuokon on 652.53 points.
The Limited Division saw some keen competition but Greg Henry came out the winner with 668.42 points. Ronald Brown 642.19 gave him second place, while Paul Dixon was close behind in third place on 541.74 points.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force ladies of Constable Shayon Francis (644.32 points) and Detective Sergeant Sasha Mullings (518.35 points) dominated the law enforcement category after placing first and second, respectively.
The newly elected president of the JRA, Rohan Wilson, summed up the day by first congratulating all the winners. “The Jamaica Rifle Association’s Christmas Hamper is one of our staple events each December. It’s one of our calendar events that we look forward to. It’s a fun shoot but it’s also very significant in that it is helping our competitors prepare for the the International Practical Shooting Confederation World Shoot in South Africa in 2025,” he said.