SSW001 UKCA.indd 32 20/07/2018 17:37 S S 1 7 : 3 7 SS 17:37 032 SlingshotWorld T he Prince Edward Primary School in Sheffield has a lovely new building, right next to their old ones. The old school buildings have Buddleia bushes springing up through the tired tarmac playgrounds here and there and the place has an air of slight urban decay. Graffiti art and some tatty glazing give the place a raffish air. What goes on in the place these days is deeply valuable. It is a boxing gym called De Hood, (run by a visionary with a past that drives him) and is also a community hub with drop-in centre and a cafe at times and the folks who run it are particularly lovely for allowing the UK Catapult Association to hold their shoots there. Serious effort from sheer love of the sport has come from the organisers and this year was a corker. Two kids’ classes, going down to Under Eights! And they went first. Then the ‘Snooker Challenge’, 10M classes in regular style frame and ‘PFS’ or Pickle Fork Shooter (those weird tiny fork gap frames) and the legendary 10M Polo Mint Challenge. That last is about whom shall hit the mint in the least time. You pay an extra tenner to enter and the winner takes the lot. You try it. A Polo mint, 33 feet away and 12.5 seconds this time round to hit it. The targets were all engineered by Mark Willis, known as Jumbo, for his compact size. Think of Hobbit and Hagrid and you got me and Jumbo side by side. Mark is one hell of an engineer and fettles motorcycles for a living. He is literally a legend in UK catapult tournament shooting. The Spanish style knockdown targets were sized thus: Two 75mm for 2points each, two 60mm for 4points each, four 50mm at 5points each and one each of UKCASHOOT,DEHOODGYM, SHEFFIELD,SPRING2018. The UKCA had their biggest shoot of the year, as ever, in the biggest indoor venue in UK catapultry. Your editor was impressed with the top VFM bacon butty! JonJoe Knight, Ranked 10th in the WORLD! Keith Dighton & Alex Rosier 45mm and 35mm being worth 8, then 10 points, for a maximum of 50 points with ten shots. Built so they can put up with the onslaught and powered electronically to reset. Awesome bits of kit. The chalks which smashed most satisfyingly if properly hit, were sized, 45mm, 40mm, 35mm, 30mm, 25mm and 20mm, going white, yellow, green, brown, COMPETITION SCENE SSW001 UKCA.indd 32 20/07/2018 17:37