A group of Barrhead Air cadets will be heading to Edmonton in early April to compete in a provincial competition after they finished in first place in zone qualification.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, five members of Barrhead 526 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron (RCACS) travelled to Whitecourt to compete in the Stage II Marksmanship competition against cadet teams from Whitecourt, Mayerthorpe, Edson and Onoway.
Capt. Susan Peters, 526 RCACS’ Commanding Officer, said although the Barrhead contingent has been taking part in the zone competition for a number of years, this is the first time the squadron has won.
“We have had a number of cadets do very well on an individual basis, but this is the first time we have won the event,” she said.
The event Peters is speaking about is a zone air rifle team competition. Teams of five shooters competed in two different shooting events designed to test competitors accuracy.
In the first event, competitors start from a standing position and shoot at a small circular target located 10 metres away using the cadet standard issue Daisy 853 air rifle. In the second event, shooters are once again 10 metres away from the same small circular target, but this time are shooting from a prone position laying on their stomach.
After the two events were completed, the scores from both events are combined and the team with the best overall combined score is named the winner.
“It’s a real test of skill,” Peters said, adding that in the standing position shooters take 10 shots, while in the prone position it’s 20 shots.
The Barrhead 526 RCACS team will compete in the Provincial Cadet Air Rifle competition on April 12, at the Debney Armoury in Edmonton.
