Dear Friends,
Last weekend I had the pleasure to compete at the 2nd international STI Euro Open, held in Philipsburg Germany at the magnificent shooting range there, the same venue as the Europeans 2001.
It had been almost 2 years since my last visit to Philipsburg, for the 2001 European championships, but being back there, it was hard to believe it was more than a few month since my last visit. Everywhere I went brought back memories from that match.
However the shooting range itself has changed beyond believe. A huge a mount of effort, and indeed money has been invested there since that time, and the range complex is probably now the biggest and best and Europe. Well, at least as good as any other. Literarily dozens of separate shooting bays allow for construction of independent stages, all with plenty of space, and allowing shooting sideways as well as forward.Certainly this range could host ANY size of IPSC match. This was the 2nd STI Open, but my first. Last year I was forced to miss this event as I was competing in SA in preparation for the world shoot, but nothing was going to keep me away this year - and I was not disappointed. Some 200 shooters came together to shoot this 14 stage, 300 round match. And they all had a great time. The weather, which was very threatening the day before, cleared up for the match, and remained clear - right up until the last stage was done. Then - the rain began again. But by then all the shooters were happily undercover in the main tent, drinking bear and waiting for the prize ceremony, which certainly was worth the wait. The stages were designed to offer all shooters a good time. No really tough shots, lots of open targets, and lots of shooting on the move. You could shoot each stage as easily or as difficultly as you chose to, depending on your own shooting level. The round count on the stages was high, with very few 9rd stages, plenty of 28-32 round stages, just the way I like it. I shot a good solid match, not making any major errors. For the most part I shot my points, working hard to score my Double Alphs whenever possible. All the German top shooters were there, although no French shooters attended, probably due to a local match they had that weekend in France. Their loss. The end results were: 1 100.00 1396.6167 238 Saul Kirsch S
2 89.09 1244.2632 80 Christian Wilda J
3 88.26 1232.5935 221 Timo Kosiol J JUN
4 85.04 1187.7188 166 Frank Witters J
5 81.89 1143.6288 237 Oliver Lindenmayer J JUN
6 81.10 1132.6012 104 Timm Eggert J JUN
7 80.29 1121.3366 12 Maximilian jun. Wiegand J JUN
8 78.08 1090.4636 14 Andreas Schulte j
9 77.42 1081.2893 18 Timo Reibl J
10 75.62 1056.1457 122 Mirko Motsch J The Prize ceremony was something special indeed. After many years of shooting IPSC matches, and winning a few - this was my first time ever being totally sprayed with Champaign?. Each winner (top 3) was given a big bottle of bubbly when he/she came up, and they ALL proceeded to spare each other and the front rows of onlookers as well. I was totally soaked! Fortunately, this great range offers a shower, so I was able to shower and change before the 4 hour drive back to Holland. The match was generously sponsored by STI, who donated an STI Edge pistol, which was raffled at the prize ceremony amongst all the shooters present, as was the rest of the impressive prize table. My Double-Alpha Academy was also a match sponsor, and proud to be one. If you ever want to have a really good time shooting a match - this would be a good one to come to. If you plan to be on the podium - make sure you have a change of cloths with you? As always, I have my sponsors to thank for their support:
Drummen Custom Guns
Nobel Sport
Arredondo accessories
Rescomp Handgun Technologies
Aimpoint
BUL Transmark
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED) Until the next time, I wish you all fast shooting and lots of double alpha's DvC
Saul Kirsch
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