The Long-Awaited Championship

After what seemed like an eternity, the European Handgun Championships finally took place this September in Corinth, Greece. Prospective competitors had spent the previous year meeting the criteria to attend with 20 people making up the final team from Great Britain. For a country that still has a handgun ban in place and the opportunities to train severely limiting, this level of attendance was no mean feat.

The Unique Format

The event itself took place over several weeks with a pre-match being offered for sponsors, range officers, and other members of the organizing committee along with the main match itself. The Level 4 match format normally consists of 5 days competing over 24 stages, the schedule allowing for 6 stages per day to be attempted in a half-day format. This year’s event took that a step further and retained the same format but a much smaller ¼ day format with 6 stages being attempted over a 2.5hr period.

Team Great Britain

Our squad was split up into several divisions and subsequent teams which meant we all essentially were competing at different times.

Production Optics:

• James White
• Peter Bland
• Gareth Bland
• Justin Cooper

Production Optics Senior:

• Richard Ingram
• David J Ashcroft
• Gareth Hansen
• Tim Gardener

Open Super Senior:

• Francis Lovel
• Marn van den Bosch
• Paul van den Bosch
• Norman Humphries

Production:

• Richard Clifton
• Aryan Alipour
• Paul Wyborn
• Callum Long Collins

Remaining Members:

• Alexander Mikhailov (Production)
• Sasha Mikhailov (Production)
• Paul Nicol (Production Optics)

Achievements and Podium Finishes

After 5 days of competition, our little island nation came away with several podium finishes in both the individual and team events as Europeans.

• Normal Humphries: 2nd Open Grand Senior
• Production Optics Senior team: 3rd Place

“It’s been a very long time since someone flying the colours of the Union has been on the podium at a Level 4 Handgun event and we are immensely proud of their efforts and of the whole team overall.”

Click here for the full match results

Looking Ahead

Our next challenge is the World Shoot in 2025 to be held in South Africa. Stay tuned for our journey to the World Shoot in 2025!

Note: All images are sourced from the amazing photographers at the Hellas host club, all credit goes to them for the extensive work and effort made to produce these images for the visiting regions of the match.