You’ll find a host of activities that appeal to the athletically gifted among us on the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) website. From the traditional sports like football, to the more intriguing such as ultimate frisbee, it seems like there is something for everyone. BUCS also caters for more rural crowds like with sports like equestrian and orienteering, but the glamour sport has to be clay pigeon shooting.
One of the major events in the clay shooting calendar takes place in the first term. The Clay Pigeon Shooting Championship is at West Midlands Shooting Ground on the first weekend in December.
Most teams tend to be made up of people who have shot before, but many will be trying out the sport for the first time, and your university society will have members who are able to help with safety, training and getting you ready for the big day.
Many agricultural students will be aware of the benefits that shotgun shooting brings such as pest control, and visiting a local clay shoot won’t be a completely new experience for most. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t untapped potential among the nation’s future farmers. And if it’s sporting glory you desire, don’t be fooled by the sport’s relatively low profile, because clay shooting can take you to the highest of heights.
Take Ed Ling, for example: He is an Olympic medallist, a world-record holder, one half of perhaps the most successful husband-wife shooting duo in the sport’s history (alongside Abbey) who have just celebrated the birth of their first child – no doubt a future clay shooting champion – and Ed’s young brother is becoming the brightest young spark in the sport.
The coolest thing about all this, though, is that Ed is just like you or me. His family grew up on a Somerset farm that boasts 50,000 free-range chickens, arable land and plenty of cattle. He spends his days waking up early, mucking out crap and feeding chickens, but there are benefits to living on a farm for an ambitious athlete. Ed has had an Olympic Trap layout set up, built to specification with high-end Promatic clay launchers. During periods where life on farm gets too busy to travel the world to different competitions, he and his family train on site.
Olympic medallist Ed Ling on…
...Getting into the sport
I started when I was 12 or 13 and got into it through my dad. We started shooting clays from a manual trap in the back of the yard and from there I went to small, straw-bale English Sporting shoots and quickly progressed to shoot the British All Round Championship. From there, I shot the ABT Championship, where I met the England team manager and I managed to make the team that year.
I quickly got into big competitions. Dad always said it’s best to start off in the deep end and learn how to compete once the safety and gun handling aspect is up to scratch. I started with an airgun from a young age and dad pushed me onto the clays as soon as I’ve been able to handle a shotgun really.
...Farming
I’ve always been on the farm. I wanted to help with anything I could do, from mucking out cattle to helping on the back of the tractor with my dad in field when I was too young to drive. There was never any question that that’s what I wanted to do when I was growing up.
We’re fortunate enough that I live on a family farm so I could get away from it whenever I needed to if a competition clashed with work. When I’m home I’m working to make sure I get all the jobs done before I get away.
We’re all actively involved in the farm. We’ve got 50,000 free-range hens and a lot of egg production – my sister does a lot on that side of things. I’m usually on the arable and the cattle and the sheep with my dad.
I’d always planned to come back for the harvest after the Rio Olympics. Harvest is always a fun time and I didn’t want to be missing it in Rio de Janeiro.
...Rio 2016 and competing
My work depends on the international calendar because there are competitions from the end of March right up until the end of September.
I’ve always wanted an Olympic medal. I’m a competitive person and when I’m out there I want to win it, but at the same time I’m very laid back about it as well. Athens was my first Olympics – once I got out there I saw what it was all about with the atmosphere. I didn’t try out for Beijing but I wanted to get to London, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent your country at your home Olympics. I was the first person to qualify in Britain for Rio, and the first to ever win a medal in the Olympic Trap World Championship.
I know if I shoot to my full ability I can win any event. I’ve won the European Universal Trench Championship with a world record 200ex-200. I’ve shot several 124ex-125 in Olympic Trap so I know I can come away with a medal. But like any sport, you can’t guarantee on hitting form when you want to.
When I came away with the medal last year, it made it all worth it. All the sacrifices you make are rewarding. We just came back from the Universal Trench Trap European Championship: I won that with 199 and Abbey won the Lades with 193, my brother got Runner Up in the Juniors and my dad won gold in the Veterans team competition.
Choosing a discipline
Clay shooting is like athletics. It is made up of disciplines in different ones. For example, those who do well in 100m sprint might differ from the top 5,000m runners.
ABT (Automatic Ball Trap) you shoot five targets flying away from you at five difference locations.
DTL (Down The Line) is similar to ABT, but instead of one clay broken counting for one point, it will either count for three points if you hit it with your first shot, or two points if you hit it with the second.
Compak is set up like a Trap layout but clays fly in different directions from various locations.
English Sporting is meant to simulate birds and their flight paths in real situations, you'll need plenty of landspace for this discipline.
FITASC Sporting is similar to English but has a wider international appeal.
Hélice targets have wings. When you hit the target, the clay will pop out and you only get points if the clay and the wings land within the circular layout.
Skeet is laid out in a semi-circle with a trap on each side. They throw targets that cross each other and you have to shoot them from seven locations around the semi-circle.
Olympic Trap is considered the most difficult discipline. It has five pads in a line and you shoot five clays on each stand that are flying away from you randomly at incredibly high speeds.
Check out www.cpsa.co.uk or read Clay Shooting magazine for more information.