Rifle Club pupils earn international selection at Bisley
7 August 2026
The Rifle Club has recently returned from a very hot and windy two weeks at Bisley, where they competed in the NRA Youth Imperial Meeting and the 157th NRA TR Imperial Meeting.
There were some notable individual performances during the Youth Imperial Meeting. Still, the standout performances over the four days came from Edward B and Poppy D, who together placed 5th in the Youth Pairs and were winners of the U16 Pairs. As a team, Gresham’s were performing well during the week, but it wasn’t until the last day, and the Ashburton Shield, that the team all shot superbly well and showed what they are truly capable of. All eight members of the VIII shot brilliantly, particularly Bertie B, Evie M, Alastair S and Jonathan z B, who all scored 99 or 100 (out of 105) in the match. The team’s fourth-place finish was a notable achievement. The result highlighted a strong performance against well-established opposition.
The Youth Imperial Meeting was followed by the TR Imperial Meeting, which started with the Under-19 International Match. As a result of shooting well throughout the Youth Imperial Meeting, Evie M was selected as a member of the eight strong English U19 Team to compete in the match. This is a match against all of the other Home Nations and is notoriously difficult to be selected for. Evie had a great shoot during the match and finished with 100.9 (out of 105.21). Unfortunately, the England team was defeated by just 2 points, finishing in second place to Scotland.
Conditions had not been particularly easy throughout the Youth Imperial, but they became noticeably more difficult for the following week. It was a particularly tricky year, and competitors of all abilities struggled with both the heat and the wind.
Evie’s fantastic achievement at the start of the week was followed by several other exceptional performances during the TR Imperial Meeting, with Alastair S, Evie and Jonathan z B, all breaking 700 in the Grand Aggregate. Both Alastair and Jonathan also qualified for the second stage of the Kings Prize, and Jonathan qualified for the second stage of the St. Georges Vase. In individual competitions, Jonathan finished 3rd in the Chairman’s Prize Final and 3rd in the Stickledown competition. Bertie B came 2nd in the Howard Wilkinson, one of the final competitions of the week.
Alastair’s fortnight of great shooting was topped off with his selection to one of the British Schools teams for the British Schools v Under-19s v Under-21s v Under-25s match. The GB Under-19 team finished one V-Bull ahead of Alastair’s British Schools team. Alastair’s highest score for the British Schools team was 145.15. The GB Under-25 team finished in 3rd place, just one point behind the Under-19s.
The greatest achievement of the two weeks was Jonathan z B being selected to represent the full German National Team. Firstly, he shot for them in the ‘Overseas’ match and did very well for the team – so much so that he was selected, later in the week, to represent Germany in the ‘Mackinnon’ match. The Mackinnon Match is the primary long-range international match (900 & 1000 yds.) held during the Imperial Meeting. The best 12 shots from all of the represented nations compete against each other on the final Saturday. Jonathan not only earned his full National Cap, but he also top scored for the entire German team and was the 13th top shot in the entire match (132 world-class firers in total). Congratulations to Jonathan on his fantastic achievements.
Overall, it was a hugely enjoyable and successful two weeks. A big well done to all members of the team.
