27Jun
Ceska Zbrojovka IV Extreme European Open
Anastasia Vetrova at the EEO
EXTREME suitably describes just about everything for this match, with 30 stages, 532 minimum round count with the top IPSC shooters across all divisions, but at least this years event there was no extreme weather event! Organised by the Hell squad - Moravian IPSC Club and the Czech Republic IPSC Region, the Ceska Zbrojovka 2012 Extreme European Open ( EEO ) was a huge event and the match organisers took on the mighty task of running a 30 stage competition.
Ceska Zbrojovka IV Extreme Euro Open
The Ceska Zbrojovka IV Extreme European Open Practical Pistol Competition
Hodonice, Czech Republic, June 2012
EXTREME suitably describes just about everything for this match, with 30 stages, 532 minimum round count with the top IPSC shooters across all divisions, but at least this years event there was no extreme weather event! Organised by the Hell squad - Moravian IPSC Club and the Czech Republic IPSC Region, the Ceska Zbrojovka 2012 Extreme European Open ( EEO ) was a huge event. The match organisers took on the mighty task of running a 30 stage competition for the 514 competitors who started the match, with a minimum round count of 532 rounds. A competition this size required a larger than normal group of match officials. This event was organised under the guidance of Match Director Lubor Novák ( CZE ), with Assistant Match Director MilanTrkulja ( CZE ). The Range Master was Zoran Stamenkovic ( SER ) who was assisted in this task by area Range Masters Stephanie Kieninger (SUI), Kurt Kreuzer ( AUT ) and Johann Kurz ( GER ). Wieslav Geno Sioda (POL), Jan Stanek, Vaclav Zvonar, Lukas Blahuta and Vitezslav Kubac, from the Czech Republic, looked after the stats. The competition was supported by an excellent match web site, which you can view at www.extremeeuroopen.eu
Current European Champion and one of the Worlds top Production Division
competitors, Spain’s Eduardo Du Cobas finished in second place
Competitors came from all over Europe, both the established IPSC regions and the newly emerging IPSC regions in Eastern Europe. As well as the competitors from European countries, in which Israel and Russia are included, competitors from other countries around the world also participated in the match. Outside of continental Europe, competitors travelled from as far away as America, South Africa and South America to participate in this match. The international attendance from a total of 38 nations helped to add to the atmosphere of what was a big event outside of Level 4 Continental and Level 5 World Shoot IPSC competitions.
Shooting with a Dan Wesson M1911 in .40 S&W calibre Angus Hobdell,
who now runs the CZ-USA Custom Shop, took first place in Classic Division
Geco Match Ammunition
Geco Match AmmunitionMost European countries and other countries from around the Globe were represented at the 2012 Extreme European Open. This meant that many competitors flew to this competition. As the minimum round count for this match was 532 rounds, this exceeded the 5 Kilogram maximum weight of ammunition that you can carry on a flight. The solution to this was for the organisers to provide official match ammunition for the EEO. As Geco provided the official match ammunition for the 2011 IPSC World Shoot XVI in Rhodes, the organisers of the EEO also asked Geco ( www.geco-ammunition.com ) to provide their IPSC Match Ammunition for this event as well. Many of the competitors at the EEO would have had the experience of using the Geco IPSC Match Ammunition in Rhodes at WS XVI. As well as providing the official match ammunition Geco also had a stand displaying their products, which was staffed by their Technical Services Department to answer competitor's questions. The article on the Practical Handgun review of the Geco IPSC match ammunition can be viewed in the Ammunition – Pistol Reloading section on the Home Page menu bar.
Geco supplied their official IPSC match ammunition for the EEO.
This ammunition was developed by Geco for the 2011 IPSC World Shoot in Rhodes, Greece
The range officers and match officials registered for the event on Saturday 2nd June and the event started on Sunday with a three day Pre Match for all the range officers and match officials. Competitors based themselves around Znojmo and arrived in the town on Wednesday to register for the match. Wednesday was a day off for the RO’s and associated staff; to steel themselves no doubt for the three days ahead!
Gregory Midgley of the STI European Team finished in fifth place in
Standard Division using his .40 S&W calibre STI Edge pistol
Main Match
Main MatchThe Main Match started on the Thursday morning of 7th June and consisted of 30 stages, shot ten per day over three half days. The competitors were grouped into 54 squads of up to 10 shooters, which shot for half a day alternating between mornings and afternoons; 7.30 am to 12.45 pm and 1.30 pm until 7.00 pm. The way the match was organised meant that 27 squads shot in the morning and another 27 squads shot in the afternoon. Each stage was run by a range officer and / or an International Range Officers Association ( I.R.O.A. ) official. Although the competitors spent half a day at the range for three days, the RO’s were there for the whole day, every day. All the range officers put in a lot of effort to keep everything running smoothly and on time and with minimal delays.
Competing in Production Division Serbia’s Snezanna Subasic reloads her 9mm CZ Shadow
Match Statistics
Match StatisticsWith the popularity of practical pistol competition in Europe on the increase, this translated into all five IPSC Competition Divisions being well represented at the EEO. This also spread into the various categories of lady, junior, senior and super senior. Production and Standard Division were the most popular with 197 and 141 competitors respectively. Open Division had a total of 120 shooters in this category. The number of competitors in Production Division has steadily increased so that it now equalling or exceeding Open and Standard Divisions in popularity. This is borne out in other major matches around Europe. Revolver Division continues to have its devotees with 14 entries. A new IPSC Division this year is Classic Division, in which you use a M1911 single stack pistol, in which 18 competitors took part. A total of 494 competitors completed the competition.
Anastasia Vetrova, a member of the winning Russian Ladies Production Team
at the 2011 IPSC World Shoot, blasts through a stage at the EEO, with her
Grand Power X Calibur 9mm pistol
The 30 stages were grouped into three areas and consisted of 15 short stages of up to 12 rounds; five medium stages of up to 21 rounds and 10 long stages between 22 and 32 rounds for a minimum round count of 570 rounds for the match. As well as static full sized and partial versions, the IPSC Classic targets consisted of moving, bobbing, rise and fall and swinging versions placed between two and 30 metres from the competitors. All but two of the 30 stages included different forms of reactive targets.
From the USA Frank Garcia was finished in place in Production Division.
Frank will host the 2014 IPSC World Shoot at his Universal Shooting Academy in Florida
All of the stages offered different degrees of challenges, with different ways to complete the stage. With lots of small steel plates, many swingers, movers and a couple of longer range poppers and paper targets, difficult targets were combined with “run and gun” targets in most stages. Included again this year were a number of rise and fall paper targets, which still left a small portion of the shoot target visible in its lowered position, thus miss penalties still applied.
One of Russia’s top Lady Production competitors, Svetlana Nikolaeva
finished in third place at the EEO
Results
ResultsIn Open Division France’s Emile Obriot won with a 3.3% margin. Always coming near the top place this was a great achievement for Emile, so congratulations to him! Saul Kirsch and Petr Pijacek came in second and third place. In Ladies Open Division Lenka Horejsi, Katerina Sustrova and Martina Sera from the Czech Republic took first, second and third place. In Standard Division STI European Team member JC Jamie Diaz took the top spot from CZ Team member Petr Znamenacek and Hungary’s Gyorgy Batki, by less than 3%.
From France STI European Team member Emile Obriot took first place in
Open Division with his STI Grandmaster competition pistol in .38 Super calibre
In Production Division Eric Grauffel chalked up another win over Spain’s Eduardo De Cobo and Serbia’s Ljubisa Momcilovic. In Ladies Production the current IPSC Lady Production World Champion Maria Gushchina from Russia came in first place. In second and third place with virtually identical scores were France’s Laetitia Daguenel and Russia’s Svetlana Nikolaeva. This division was the most popular at the Extreme Euro Open. It continues to grow in popularity at matches, due to the fact that the cost to purchase the equipment to take part is lower. As well as being the perfect entry level into IPSC matches, Production Division at the top level is also as competitive as any other Division.
CZ Shooting Team member and Serbia’s Ljubisa Momcilovic finished
in third place in Production Division
In Revolver Division the Czech Republic took two of the top three places. Zdenek Nemecek was in first place, with Austria’s Reiter Gerald in second and Milan Kolar in third place. At the previous CZ EEO events there was a category for the M1911 single stack pistol and this is now a proper IPSC
Division. Using a .40 S&W calibre Dan Wesson M1911 pistol, Angus Hobdell from the USA took first place, with Finland’s Esa Marjoniemi and Denis Altuna, from France, were second and third.
Having dominated IPSC Open Division for so many years Eric Grauffel
is now competing in Production Division with his Tanfoglio and won this
division at the EEO
The prize giving took place on Sunday afternoon and in the morning before this there was a steel plate man v man shoot off for the top placed finalists in each division. Always a crowd pleasing spectacle, a large number of spectators gathered to watch. Have a look at the competition web site for a full set of results.
Russia’s Maria Gushchina, current Ladies World Champion in
Production Division, also finished in first place in Ladies Production
with her 9mm Tanfoglio at the EEO
The Czech Extreme European Open accommodated the 494 shooters who completed the match, with 07.30 am starts and approaching 7.00 pm finishes. The match worked due to the pre planning and organisation and the dedication of the range officials and range staff. Even with this years rain showers, congratulations are due to Hell Squad - Moravian IPSC Club and the Czech Republic IPSC Region, IROA the match sponsors Ceska Zbrojovka ( CZ ) for giving all the competitors three action packed days and a thoroughly enjoyable match.
Switzerland’s Christine Burkhalter charges through a stage with her
9mm Sphinx Production 3000
This is a Sphinx and there are many like it, but this one is Christine’s!
Well done to all the competitors who battled on despite the rain on day three. A BIG thank you is due to all those who worked at this match. They kept the match on the rails despite the conditions of heat and damp that we all had to cope with. Take a look at the competition web site www.extremeeuroopen.eu for the match results of EEO 2012. The details of EEO2013 will also be announced on the competition web site web site.
Euro Challange 2012
The organisers of the EEO have also announced a match that they will be running in September this year. The details are below.
II. LIMIT EURO CHALLENGE 2012
Date: 29 & 30 September 2012
Level: III.
Stages: 18
Rounds: 350
Prematch – capacity: 50 competitors
Main match – capacity: 360 competitors
Registration fee: 90,- Euro ; ( Juniors 45,- Euro )
Divisions: Open, Standard, Production, Revolver, Classic
Categories: Regular, Lady, Junior, Senior, Supersenior
Web Site: http://www.hellsquad.eu/index.php/iieuro-challenge-2012
Shooting Range: Hodonice, Czech Republic
Serbia’s Snezanna Subasic and her four legged friend enjoy the
warm weather and competitive atmosphere of the EEO 2012