MANITOULIN—Talk about performing your best at the right time! This can be said of the 348 Royal Canadian Sea Cadets Corps marksmanship team which took first place in a zone competition held this past Saturday in Sudbury Armoury.
“I am aware that the competition is usually very strong, and I expected we would get some medals but taking first place was a pleasant surprise,” said coach Denis Blake on Sunday. “As coach I would like to commend the team for their hard work and dedication throughout the year, and how the cadets conducted themselves yesterday.”
“Several of our cadets shot better in the competition that they have in practice,” said Mr. Blake, who pointed out the team has been practicing weekly since October. Each team member shot pellet rifles in the competition.
Mr. Blake explained the Manitoulin team was one of seven different corps in the Sudbury area to take part in the zone competition. The competition is broken up into two parts with two sheets with 10 targets on each for 20 individual targets. Competitors shoot at the targets while in a prone position (lying down) and then in a standing position for the second round.
“We finished first in the team category,” said Mr. Blake. He pointed out there are two categories, the junior category for those under 15 years of age and the open division, which includes all cadets (18 years of age and under).
“Master Cadet Elizabeth Hazlitt earned first place in the junior division and first place in the open division as well. She ended up first overall in the competition,” said Mr. Blake. “Team captain and Chief Petty Officer second class Rhys Allison was third in the open division and finished as the third best overall shooter in the competition. Leading Cadet Austin Flikweert was second in the junior category, while Master Cadet Samuel Pennings and Chief Petty Officer second class Lydia Pennings also contributed to the teams first place finish.”
There were a total of 35 competitors in total participating in the competition.
Mr. Blake said that equivalent zone competitions are taking place in Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins. “The top two teams from all of these areas will compete in the provincials. Until everyone of the other three areas holds their competition we will not know if our marks are high enough that we qualify (for the provincials).”
The last time a similar competition was held in Sudbury was in 2020 due to the pandemic. “Four of our five team members had never attended this competition in person until Saturday,” said Mr. Blake.
“I want to also mention we get great assistance and cooperation from the Branch 177 Royal Canadian Legion in Little Current. They allow us to use their facilities for marksmanship practice every week. They are very good to our program,” added Mr. Blake.
