The Chesterfield Inlet Junior Canadian Rangers are gearing up for the annual marksmanship competition, hoping to earn the right to represent Nunavut at the national level.
Canadian Ranger Cpl. Glen Brocklebank said the shooting team has already been picked, but they haven't sent in their results quite yet.
He said the results of the Chesterfield Inlet shooters have to be submitted by Feb. 2 to Northern command.
“Then we wait for the results from the territory, with the top team earning the right to represent Nunavut at the national shooting competition,” said Brocklebank.
“In fact, I think the national competition is actually supposed to be in the North this year. Nothing has been announced yet, but 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group is supposed to host it, which is made up of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. All the infrastructure is in Whitehorse or Yellowknife, so I would imagine it would be in one of those two locations, but I don't know yet.”
Brocklebank said the Chesterfield Inlet Junior Canadian Rangers are feeling pretty good about the upcoming competition.
He said the community has done well the past few years, winning Nunavut and coming in fifth nationally three years ago in Winnipeg.
“The next year was in Niagara Falls and we couldn't go because of bad weather. This past year it was held in Newfoundland. We went to that, but our guns didn't show up. We had to use other equipment, so that didn't go well for us.
“Our team expects to go to the nationals this year, so we'll see how it goes.”
Brocklebank said it's the youth who keep the Chesterfield Inlet team so competitive year after year by trying to outdo each other.
“We've got three really competitive girls who all want the top spot. They push each other to compete harder. While they compete hard against each other, they're also very supportive of each other.
“Our shooters follow directions excellently. When the coaches, myself or Master Cpl. James Mullins, give them some tips on breathing, trigger pressure or muzzle control, they follow them exactly and the result are instantaneous.
“There are four different shooting positions: prone, kneeling, sitting and standing. Our team does really, really well in the prone position and they also do well kneeling and sitting. Standing is usually where we get our lower scores.
“We probably don't train enough to improve much in the standing position. It's a degree of not putting the same level of attention into our weaker one. Marksmanship is at the top of the list for both their ability and love for doing it. Land trips are also very popular, but marksmanship is at the top of the pile.”
