Jennie wins silver for her shooting

Top Island shooter, Jennie Cartwright, returned home this week from the World Shooting Championships in America with a silver medal.

Jennie, 52, from Freshwater Bay, was part of the England clay pigeon shooting team which spent 10 days in San Antonio, Texas. The squad of 14 included four teams in the various events being represented by five seniors in the men’s competition, three ladies, three veterans and three juniors.

Jennie said: “The ladies’ team is put into separate categories depending on how good they are and I was in the ‘AA Class’, which is just below the ‘Masterclass’. I finished 20th out of 100 in my division with a total score of 148 from 200 over the three days of shooting.

“However, our team’s combined scores meant we finished second overall and took the team silver medal. It was a brilliant result because a lot of the shooters on the US circuit do it professionally, whereas it’s very much still a hobby over here. It was also a fantastic experience as we shot three different courses, so you have to perform well over all the three days of competition; it tests your stamina, continuity and consistency.

“Representing my country was something I only ever dreamt about, although it was always a target for me, but the whole event was overwhelming. It was also a great achievement because I took up shooting at a fairly late stage and a lot of the competitors are much younger and have been shooting all their lives.

“I was wary beforehand because the pressure of an event like this can overwhelm people who have not experienced it before. So I had a couple of sessions with a psychologist and I felt that afterwards I had the tools to deal with the pressure and do my own thing.”

Jennie shoots regularly at the Isle of Wight Gun Club and also represented the Island in Jersey at the Island Games in 2015, bringing back one silver and two gold medals.

In the men’s singles final, England’s George Digweed came up against five Americans and took gold to complete an incredible record of winning a World Championship in each of the last five decades.