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Shooting for Success …
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Louise Aiken
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Sport Northern Ireland funded athletes David Christie and Louise Aiken are hoping to shoot for success at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships taking place in Jersey at the weekend. David will be participating in the clay target discipline called Olympic Skeet and Louise will be shooting in the Women’s 50m, smallbore event.
Louise took up the sport at the age of 16 as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and was hooked from her first shot, a bull (ten out of ten). To date Louise has won both the Ulster Short and Long range Championships, and represented Northern Ireland at National and International level. She won a Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in 2005 in Melbourne, Australia and won individual and pairs Silver medals at the 2005 Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships in the Isle of Man. While representing Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 she achieved her personal best score of 594, and is hoping to beat this score in this year’s Championships.
Louise in action
Louise is funded through Sport Northern Ireland’s ‘Athlete Support Programme’ and commented, “Funding from Sport Northern Ireland has benefited my shooting in enabling me to travel and compete in International and National competitions, gaining experience shooting against international shooters’. It has also helped in buying equipment needed to compete and assist in my training and coaching schedule. I would not have been able to achieve as much as I have done without the help of Sport Northern Ireland. I hope that I continue to improve my shooting and achieve my dream of a gold medal for Northern Ireland thanks to Sport Northern Ireland”.
David began Clay Pigeon shooting when he was sixteen. Every weekend he practiced shooting in a discipline called National Skeet - a slower version of what he shoots now. After a few years shooting National Skeet competitions David started to look for a new challenge. Being faster and an Olympic event, the Olympic Skeet discipline provided just the challenge he was looking for. “After switching to Olympic Skeet I haven’t looked back. I was 19 when I first represented Northern Ireland at Home International level”.
David Christie
Since David started shooting Olympic Skeet he has represented Northern Ireland three times, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. At the 2004 Home International he was the top Northern Ireland shooter in the Team competition, and won his class the following day in the Individual Open event. In 2006 he won several of the Northern Ireland team selection shoots including the Ulster Open, and finished the year ranking second overall in Northern Ireland.
This year David has won several of the Northern Ireland team selection shoots, including the Ulster Open once again. He also posted several scores above the minimum consideration score, to stay in the running to be selected to represent Northern Ireland at the 2010 commonwealth games. He finished the season again ranking second in Northern Ireland.
Take Aim and ... Fire!
David also receives funding from Sport Northern Ireland and stated, “Like Louise, without the generous funding of Sport Northern Ireland, I would not be able to compete at the level I’m at now. The funding has enabled me to enter the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships, as otherwise I would not have been able to afford to cover the costs of traveling to the competition. The funding will also enable me to have some of the best coaching available before next year’s competition season”.
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