25Jul
IPSC Championnat De France 2012
Lady's Production Champion Laetitia Daguenel
The 2012 French National Level III IPSC Handgun Championships was hosted by the French Shooting Federation Tir Sportif De Vitesse from 21st to 24th June. This Level III Championship match consisted of 18 stages was put together by Quartermaster Pascal Schoepflin and his team for a 339 round count. The preparation for the competition was carried out by Match Director Camille Brocard, assisted by Stat Officer Caroline Urbain and Sponsor Director Bertrand Guillaume.
IPSC Championnat De France 2012
Championnat De France – Tir Sportif De Vitesse
CTCM Level III IPSC 2012 French Nationals at Le Coudray Montceau
The Airbus A320 banked from its 39,000 feet ceiling and started on its descent to, as we thought, Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport. Some twenty minutes before the estimated landing time the captain informed the passengers that he was diverting south to Paris Orly, due to the severe electrical storms engulfing the airspace above Charles de Gaulle. Groans all round as the aircraft bounced and rolled as it descended through the turbulence of the edge of the storm system.
Looking north from were we were sitting at Orly the sky was as menacing as it is possible to be. Speaking later to two Dutch competitors who were north of Paris at this time, the weather was that bad that they pulled their car off the road as the rain was that heavy and their visibility was minimal.
With the wine bottles and barrels this was a French themed stage Laetitia Daguenel
negotiates her way through the winery with her 9mm CZ Shadow
Taking off an hour later when the sky cleared we made the short flight north to Charles De Gaulle. As these two main airports serving Paris are north and south of the city passenger jets do not normally fly over the centre of Paris. As the flight only lasted 25 minutes we did not reach cruising altitude and the passengers were treated to an excellent view of the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Avenue Foch and Arc de Triomphe as we flew over the centre of Paris.
From the Czech Republic Lenka Horejsi was the first placed Lady in Open Division
with her STI Grandmaster .38 Super calibre pistol
CTCM - Paris
CTCM - ParisThe 2012 French National Level III IPSC Handgun Championships was hosted by the French Shooting Federation Tir Sportif De Vitesse. Held from 21st to 24th June this Level III Championship match consisted of 18 stages ( plus chronograph ); put together by Quartermaster Pascal Schoepflin and his team for a 339 minimum round count. The preparation for the competition was carried out by Match Director Camille Brocard, assisted by Stat Officer Caroline Urbain and Sponsor Director Bertrand Guillaume. Each year this match is hosted by a different club and this year it was hosted at the CTCM Shooting Range of Le Coudray Montceau, just of the A6 motorway south of Paris.
In Stage 17 Switzerland’s Annamaria Zanardi shoots her STI Grandmaster .38 Super calibre
Open Division pistol one handed as she is carrying the suitcase in her other hand
The pre-match for officials, range officers and those who were working at the match was held over 21st and 22nd and the competitors started arriving on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to register for the main match. The Main Match started on Friday 22nd June, under the watchful eye of Range Master Philippe Fromajot and CRO’s Jean Francois Dessaugere and Jose Dumont at one o’clock and consisted of 18 stages, shot over Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and was concluded by early Sunday afternoon.
Italy’s Luigi Della Valle was one of the 10 competitors taking part in Classic Division
with a .45 ACP M1911 pistol
The competitors were grouped into 18 squads, some of up to 18 shooters, with 08.00 am starts on the Saturday and Sunday. Each stage was run by a range officer and / or an International Range Officers Association ( I.R.O.A. ) official. 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 France’s Denis Altuna negotiates Stage 6 with his 9mm CZ75 Shadow
Match Statistics
Match StatisticsWith the popularity of practical pistol competition in Europe at an all time high, this translated into all five IPSC Competition Divisions being represented at the French Nationals. This also spread into the various categories of lady, junior, senior and super senior. Production and Open Division were the most popular with 137 and 73 competitors respectively. Standard Division had a total of 56 shooters in this category. The number of competitors in Production Division has steadily increased so that it now 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 10 entries. Ten competitors took part in Classic Division, in which you use a M1911 single stack pistol. A total of 299 competitors started the match.
Switzerland’s Marwan Itani was the first placed competitor in Revolver Division
18 Stages
18 StagesThe 18 stages were grouped into two zones and consisted of nine short stages of up to 12 rounds; five medium stages of up to 24 rounds and four long stages of up to 32 rounds for a minimum round count of 339 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 five of the 18 stages included different forms of reactive targets. Zone 1 consisted of stages one to 11 and Zone 2 covered stages 12 to 18, with car parking in between both zones. It was a few minutes walk between the two zones so a wheeled trolley would have been very useful at this match!
From Florida USA, Frank Garcia has been taking part in the major competitions in the European IPSC circuit
All of the stages offered different degrees of challenges, with different ways to complete the stage. With lots of pepper poppers, swingers, movers and a couple of longer range poppers and paper targets, difficult targets were combined with “run and gun” targets in most stages.
CZ Shooting Team member Martin Kamenicek finished in third place in Open Division
with his 9mm Major calibre CZ Checkmate Open Division pistol
Stage six “In the Cellar” was a 31 round long course and had a distinct French theme. The start position was at a wine cellar bottle rack and wine barrels were used to conceal both paper and steel targets that became visible as the competitor advanced down the range. On reaching the final barricade the competitor had two windows through which there were numerous paper and steel targets. Dropping the two poppers advocated two swinging targets that not only swung but pivoted and rotated at the same time!
CZ Shooting Team member Zdenek Liehne finished in seventh place in production Division
with his 9mm CZ Shadow
Results
ResultsIn Open Division Holland’s Saul Kirsch won with a 0.96 % margin over France’s Emile Obriot. In third place from the Czech Republic was CZ Shooting Team member Martin Kamenicek. In Ladies Open Division Lenka Horejsi from the Czech Republic, STI European Team member and Italy’s Irene Canetta and Switzerland’s Annamaria Zanardi took first, second and third place. In Standard Division STI European Team members Juan Carlos Jamie Diaz and Ralf Jensen took the top two places. From third to seventh place 0.83 % separated Julien Boit, Gregory Midgley, Jerome Poiret, Roman Podleska and Eddy Testa!
STI European Team member Gregory Midgley was one of the five top placed
Standard Division competitors that finished with match with 0.83 % separating them!
In Production Division France’s Eric Grauffel chalked up another win over CZ Shooting Team members Robin Sebo and Marian Vysny. In Ladies Production the top spot went to France’s Laetitia Daguenel. This division was the most popular at the French Nationals, with some 46 % of the total field. It continues to grow in popularity at matches, due to the fact that the start up costs to purchase the equipment required to take part are 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.
French competitor Laetitia Daguenel was the first placed Lady in Production Division
with her 9mm CZ Shadow
In Revolver Division Switzerland’s Marwan Itani Zdenek was in first place, with France’s Jean Francois Baillet and Erick Dodane in second and third place. The new IPSC Classic Division was represented at the French Nationals with France taking the top three spots with Laurent Perrot, Pierre Cabelguen and Patrick Mant in first, second and third place.
Another round chambers into Remo Schraner’s 9mm Sphinx Production 3000 pistol.
The use of this Swiss made pistol is on the increase in Production Division
Shot over one full day and two half days with excellent catering provided on site, the Level III IPSC French Nationals was very well run in a relaxed atmosphere in Frances capital city. Next years event will be a “to do” match on the European IPSC competition circuit.
Representing Sweden another case ejects from STI European Team member’s
Ralf Jensen’s .40 S&W STI Executive pistol. Ralf finished in second place in Standard Division.