For the third successive weekend, Ayre Clay Target Club hosted a 2024 Manx Championships but, unlike the previous weekend’s English Skeet contest which required a shoot-off, the outcome of the 100-bird Olympic Trap Manx Championship was never in doubt.

Windy conditions at Blue Point on Sunday may have made for difficult targets but, once Jake Keeling hit an opening round 22, he never looked back and was always out in front.

So much so that the experienced ex-Commonwealth Games marksman finished on a score of 79 to be crowned Manx champion and seal his second island title in as many weeks – he was the winner of the All-Round Manx Championship a fortnight previously.

Arran Wade (73) and Rob Watterson (70) were his nearest compatriots with Alan Wade and Jack Kneen completing the top five.

The run-in to the end of the club’s summer season begins this Sunday (October 6) with the sixth and final round of the Sport Trap League – always keenly contested – from 10am.

JAMES DAVIS