Shooting: St Andrews Rifle Club ace Frankie Calder wins for Scotland at Great Britain Junior International

Calder, also a member of the Scottish Target Shooting Performance Squad, shot 610.7, a new personal best, to qualify for the individual final of the 50m smallbore rifle prone competition.

She emerged victorious after a tense final with the lead constantly changing between several shooters.

At the same event, St Andrews junior member Nicola Coggle scored 541 out of 600 to reach the air pistol individual final where she finished fifth.

Calder’s win followed her success in the Scottish 50m Championships at Denwood, Aberdeen, where she won the U21 Championship and came fourth in the overall event.

Calder has been picked to represent Great Britain in the annual U21 Drew Match, a 50m, 60 shot match against teams from USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the trial she shot a new personal best of 587 out of 600 and will be representing Great Britain in the main match and women’s match for the second year running.

The past year has been outstanding for Calder, winning the 2022-23 British Women’s

Short Range Championship, defending the 2021-22 Scottish Junior Championship in 2021-22 and landing the National Smallbore Rifle Association (NSRA) 2021-22 Individual Junior League, Division 1, her fourth straight success in the division.

Calder was invited to join the Scottish Target Shooting Performance Squad and as a consequence has transitioned to air rifle as smallbore rifle is not being shot at the next Commonwealth Games.

In her first competition at the STS Grand Prix in Inverness, five months after picking up an air rifle, Calder won her class, qualifying for the overall final and finishing fifth behind current world number one Seonaid McIntosh.

At the Scottish Air Championships a month later, she came second in the Women’s U21 Championships behind current British champion Rhona Love.

Also at the Scottish Air Championships, fellow member Andrew Walker was third in the Men’s U21 Scottish Air Pistol Championships before going one better the following day and coming second in the men’s event.

Two other junior members of St Andrews RC, Lily Driscoll and Kathryn Walmsley, both pupils of St Leonards School, were selected to represent Scotland Schools in the annual Home Nations match whilst Lily Driscoll and Calder were picked to represent Scotland in the annual U21 match against New Zealand.

Over the winter (October 2022- April 2023) St Andrews RC had competed in the Fife and Kinross League with St Andrews A winning Division 1 and St Andrews B winning Division 3 with St Andrews C second.

Teams from St Andrews also won the Stravithie Cup (team of six), Burton Cup (team of four) and Mitchell Cup competitions against teams from Alloa, Dunfermline and St Andrews University.

A number of St Andrews members also competed in the Perthshire and the Cumbria and Northumbria Individual Leagues in prone rifle, air rifle and air pistol with some success.

For more information about target shooting at St Andrews Rifle Club, please contact the secretary by emailing [email protected]