Grouse Ridge hosts sporting clays championships

WASILLA — Local shooting range Grouse Ridge hosted the sporting clay state competition this weekend, an event that started July 30 and concluded today.

Approximately 50 competitive shooters participated in the Alaska State Sporting Clays Championship, a four-day contest offering a number of different shooting games, at Grouse Ridge LLC off of Wasilla Fishhook Road.

Participants of the championship were allowed to participate in a number of different styles of shotgun games, including FITASC, preliminary and main events, as well as side-by-side and sub gauge competitions.

FITASC, which stands for the French title, Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse, is a sporting clay event in which shooters stand at a number of vantage points around a large area and attempt to hit a sequence of targets. Competitors are presented with four or five single targets and two pairs in a regular FITASC stage, with multiple stations representing an entire FITASC event.

In the preliminary competition at the championship, which took place July 31, shooters tried to hit at a total of 100 targets. At any given stage in the preliminary, two machines spurt out clays in different yet consistent trajectories and competitors are allowed to shoot at each target once. Shooters will attempt to hit both targets three or four times at each station, such that they attempt a total of 100 targets by the end of the course. Grouse Ridge’s preliminary course included thirteen different stations.

The main event is exactly the same as the preliminary in format, though the former has its specific differences. It involves a total of 200 targets, is played over two days, and involves two, thirteen-stage courses that are both set up differently than the preliminary course.

The side-by-side and sub gauge games are similar to the preliminary and main events, but are specific to certain types of shotguns. Most participants will elect to shoot in the main event, though a lot of competitors also did the FITASC tournament, according to Grouse Ridge owner Arlene Brunnhoelzl.

“The majority are going to compete in the main event, but probably about three quarters of the overall shooters did the FITASC as well,” Brunnhoelzl said.

Shooters at the competition will compete within different classes based on ability, where the top finisher in each class receives a “punch” for winning. Once a competitive shooter has accumulated a certain number of punches they move up in classes that are labeled alphabetically until they reach the master class, which represents the highest level of skill. Though the Alaska State Sporting Clays Championship only offers one punch for a class win, bigger competitions will distribute more punches, according to Brunnhoelzl.

“If you go down to a really really big shoot and there are ten or twenty people in your class, then you get more punches, and they even punch down two or three deep,” she said.

Though Brunnhoelzl said she welcomed an almost perfect split of Anchorage and Valley competitors this weekend, in addition to some shooters from Homer, she expected two Valley youngsters to do well. Dillon Cook, a 2015 Twindly Bridge graduate and Colony High student Colby Lord were two competitors Brunnhoelzl thought would excel.

Lord started to shoot after completing hunter safety class at the age of 12. The 16-year-old said he had been shooting ever since with the help of his father, who has coached him throughout his career. Lord competed in the preliminary and FITASC competitions, and was unphased as he attempted the main event course.

“The course is pretty good right now, I’m doing okay,” Lord said during the first day of the main event. “There are some pretty good targets.”

Looking forward to the second day of the main event, Lord said he was prepared for anything.

“I don’t know what to expect, but there will be targets I’ll have to shoot, I know that,” he said.

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com