Shooting Star Will Aims for the
Top
Hartpury recently took a team to the 27th Agricultural College’s National Clay Target Shooting Championship, at Warwickshire College. One of the stand-out performers on the day was 16-year old Will Allan, currently in his first year of an Extended Diploma in Agriculture, who shot 45 clays out 50 to win the individual Junior Gun championship.
Will’s success comes as no surprise. “I took up shooting when I was about 10. I started with my dad, shooting pheasants on the farm, but then I got into clays and loved it. I started competing at 12 when I came third in the Schools Challenge. I won it the next two years and went on from there. I won the Nationals in my age group (under 21) last year. I’ve also shot in the BASC .410 World Championships and I’ve won that for two years running now.”
Will fully intends to continue with his sport. He said “We’ll have to see how it goes. In my age group I’m definitely ‘up there’ and it would be great to think that I could get to the Olympics one day in the future.”
It’s not all sports, however. Will is looking forward to a busy year of work experience on a large mixed farm in the Cotswolds before returning to the college in 2013 for his final year.
Overall the Championship team, which also included Jack Townsend, Jake Dart, Hudson Knowles, Harry Loewe and Tom Pickford, achieved a respectable 5th place out of 22 teams. Another of our students, James Kelsey (Extended Diploma, Game) won the award for the top non-championship shot, achieving 43 out of 50.