The 28th International Silhouette Match, hosted by the Berrendos Club of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico came to a merciful close today, with all of us who were present literally gritting our teeth from enduring over 7 hours in a non-stop dust storm. Saturday's match was breezy but without flying objects.
This 2-day match was held in Tucson, Arizona, rather than Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to deal with the hassle courtesy of Mexican Federales and other agencies.
There were shooters from New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, Sonora and Sinaloa, and when then the firing was completed (the dust never settled), Tony Lopez of El Paso, had decisively won the match with a 2 day aggregate of 57 (33 on Saturday). Runner up was Joy Cox of Phoenix with a 2 day aggregate of 48. The U.S. team also won by a score of 196 to 174. How the score was determined, I do not know.
The shooting was tough both days, but there was widespread agreement that today was the worst godawful day anyone remembered shooting in.
Our poor target setters ate a lot more dirt than the competitors, since we had to stop the match on a couple of occasions because no one could see any of the targets at any distance from the dust. They really earned their pay and generous tip money.
Shooting at rams degenerated into wiring down one ram at each bank and counting impacts. Shooting at turkeys turned into a Chinese menu, with competitors picking and choosing among still-standing targets. All in al, it was still a lot better than doing chores at home. As usual the folks from Mexico presented winners with amazing trophies. Their Saturday fiesta was great as usual, with Mariachis, lots of cervezas, tequila and an excellent steak dinner.
Many thanks to all who participated and to everyone at Nogales and to Joe Duchene of Tucson, Norm Darnell and Eric Lutfi of Phoenix for making the event a possibility.
We hope all of you who missed this year's event can join us in 2005. :cb2:
