Why rifle shooting?

I never thought I’d get into rifle shooting (believe me, I’m far from the stereotype…). My whole life I’ve done martial arts, and then of course I picked up rowing when I came to Cambridge. After four lovely years of rowing defining my life, I wanted to try something new. The only thing I knew about the Cambridge University Rifle Association (CURA), the fullbore club, was that they shoot at up to 1200 yards. “Over a kilometre? That’s insane! I need to try that!” So yeah I got hooked and it’s a fantastic sport to pick up from scratch. There’s so much more to it than just the shooting itself, there’s a lot to learn about managing e.g. the wind and coaching other people, and I also particularly enjoy the tinker-y side of it (There are a lot of rabbit holes about ballistics calculations to tailor your ammunition, different stock designs and the like).

Who is your sporting idol?

I think one of the coolest athletes in the sport is Nick Tremlett, who has an uncountable number of England and GB caps and has won just about every major competition several times. He’s just very damn good.

Best sporting moment?

Alice Good’s victory in HM The Queen’s Prize 2022. She was only the third woman to win this prize in over 160 years, and the third youngest winner as well. To still be a student at the time with outrageously basic equipment, one who learned to shoot only a few years before at Cambridge, was the cherry on top.

Pre-competition rituals?

Set my sights to the correct settings, stretch, check my sights again, check my ammo and other kit is ready, watch the wind and convince myself that I know what it’s doing, check my sights again because I’m paranoid (and there’s nothing worse than missing your first shot because your sights were set wrong).

“Shooting is also a relatively small community, and as captain you have a lot of exposure to all these lovely people”

What is the best bit about being captain?

Introducing new people to this fantastic sport and seeing them grow! Shooting is also a relatively small community, and as captain you have a lot of exposure to all these lovely people. I also like being able to implement new ideas and help shape the club for the future.

Is it tricky to balance sport and work?

Rifle shooting is quite easy to schedule around other commitments, as in a crazy week I can usually just shoot less and not really fall behind. As a PhD student, I don’t have a lot of time during the week, but I usually don’t have any trouble training each weekend or making one of our weekend competitions.

“Rifle shooting is a fantastic beginner sport”

Is it easy for beginners to join?

Yes (ish)!

Yes, because rifle shooting is a fantastic beginner sport, which you can pick up from scratch and get to a very high standard within your first year. It’s also a rare case of a sport where gender and age (besides experience) don’t really matter, allowing anyone to compete on an equal basis against each other.

Ish, because you need to join at the right time during the year. Specifically, you need to join our sister smallbore club, CUSBC, in Michaelmas, where you’ll get familiar with all the equipment and this type of sport shooting indoors at 25 yards. During Lent, you can then become a member of the fullbore club, CURA, where we shoot outdoors at over a kilometre from spring to autumn, and battle with environmental factors such as wind.

What does a typical training session look like?

We do some “dry” training, where we focus on aspects of team shooting, theory, and setting up the ideal shooting position. Then we put this into practice on the range, either during training or during friendly competitions. Shooting is a sport where above all, consistency matters, so nothing really beats practice for getting a better feel for your position and where your shots are going.

Season predictions?

We’ve gone through a bit of a renewal period in the last two years, but I think we are now at a healthy point again where we have a deep squad with more experienced members. I’m super excited for the new fullbore season and our new members, and I’m very hopeful we’ll win both Varsity trophies for the full sweep again.