A group of four Isle of Man shooters competed in the 2024 Welsh International Open Airgun Championships recently.

This event attracts the highest number of entries on the British circuit and includes a strong contingent from European countries such as Germany, Belgium and Norway.

On the first day, Kathryn Holden competed in the Air Pistol Junior Women’s Cardiff Grand Prix, while Nathan Holden and Perryn Watson took part in the AirOShoot match, a European series in which competitors earn points towards qualification for a Super Final in Europe in 2025.

Kathryn started her match strongly before struggling for consistency in the latter stages, but she still managed an excellent fifth place.

In the AirOShoot matches, Nathan finished 17th in the men’s competition and Perryn finished 24th in the women’s match.

On day two, Kathryn and Joshua Holden both performed well in the Under-21 AirOShoot matches, with Kathryn scoring 544 to qualify for the junior women’s final in fourth and Joshua 549 to qualify for the junior men’s final in fifth.

Unfortunately, both were eliminated earlier than they would have liked in their respective finals, with Kathryn finishing eighth and Joshua knocked out in seventh.

In the Cardiff Grand Prix, Nathan finished 23rd in the men’s air pistol and Perryn finished 26th in the women’s.

Sunday saw the men’s and women’s Welsh open championships decided. With no separate classification for the under-21s, Kathryn put in a solid performance finish 12th overall, only five points off qualification for the championship final, with Perryn finishing 49th.

In the men’s championship, Joshua outscored his father by a couple of points to finish 28th, with Nathan in 30th.

Overall, no medals were won by the Isle of Man shooters but there were still some very good performances.

The Isle of Man was also very well represented on the officiating front, with Colin Watson, Harry Creevy, Nathalie Mooney and Perryn Watson all travelling to Wales to lend their experience to the running of the event.