Irish Practical Shooting Association - IPSA

Helmut Schwaiger Trophy 2008
Vienna in the Springtime by Nigel Barrett

Every Year, here at home, as the snowdrops fade out and the scangers rob daffodils from the middle of the motorway to sell to tourists, a motley crew descend on the city of Vienna from all corners of Europe. There are many Helmuts, Gunthers, Fritzes, lots of guys with surnames that end in 'wich' or 'ski' but this year there was something different - something they will not forget too soon - There were a selection of jackeen and culchie accents to be heard among all the Continentals - a few people who only spoke a couple of languages, none of them any use to them in this instance, guys in green shirts, The Irish were here.
To see the Opera you ask, to hear the Vienna Boys Choir, to ride gaily about in horse drawn carriages wishing for the return of powdered wigs perchance?
No such luck. They don their baseball caps, wraparound glasses, ear protection, knee pads, leather gimp helmet - sorry - wrong trip to Vienna - heave an unfeasibly large bag onto their shoulders and descend below ground to where the magic happens.
They are here for the Helmut Schwaiger Invitational Level III Practical Pistol Match, described by Saul Kirsch as the premiere Level III Pistol Match in Europe at the present time.

2008 was the 10th Anniversary of this competition. There were a number of Range Officers and a number of competitors from Ireland.
The range is located in old tunnels beneath the city of Vienna itself. They have a fantastic facility with some of the ranges being greater than 200 metres in length. They have a great clubhouse with both Kitchen and bar facilities. A great menu was available all day and some suds was to be had to wash down the cordite at the end of the day.
There was a massive turnout with greater than 300 registered shooters. There were a large contingent of Ladies and plenty of Seniors and Super Seniors also. As usual us sprightly young regulars were well represented although we had a few from the zimmer frame division also - they like to get out once in a while.
There were 14 stages with a wide range of both paper and steel targets. There were a large variety of activated targets and with targets ranging from 0 meters to 35 metres distance. It was a very testing competition. We even had moving targets at 30 metres!! 0 Metres I hear you ask. I don't know if it was meant to be 0 metres but a couple of targets were shot at point blank range which had the effect of blowing all the patches off!!
On this particular trip, from Ireland, we had a number of people attending their first IPSC sanctioned match, a few attending their first Level III as competitors and a number attending their second Level III. We also had a few people working as Range Officers at their first Level III match.
The match was run over two days with Day one running from 8am to 11pm and day two running from 8am to 5pm. We were on our first stage at 6:30pm on day one but due to a number of delays we did not get started until 8pm. This added to the tension for the new kids on the block but is all part of the sport.
Our first four stages on the first night were two sets of hot stages. What this means is that two were built in the one bay. Each shooter completed the first stage, re-holstered and then completed the second stage. Then both were scored and patched. On one you had to keep a button depressed with your weak hand to turn on the lights so you could see the targets in a darkened tunnel forcing you to shoot one handed. Another one had a target on a rail sliding along the back of the stage to disappear behind a wall. The Range officers got a good laugh when they went to score Keith D on this one to confirm that he had not just a double alpha but had landed 7 alphas on this moving target in the space of 2 seconds.
As is our custom we then proceeded to put away our firearms and head for the bar to show our support. A few giddy beers were had, a bit of craic with people from all over the place and then we hit the town.
Early start on Day two as we were on the Range for 8am, as far as we know, only Kerry got a bit of mass in beforehand. We had 10 stages this day and it must be said that by the end of it we were feeling the strain from the night before. We had great craic with the Range Officers all day. We got invited to a load of shoots all over the place. The Greeks got the gold star for incentives. A number of times during the day we were complimented for our safety by the range officers.There was a wide range of courses of fire with plenty of long stages requiring up to 32 rounds minimum. These stages are designed to force you to plan your route through them meticulously for fear of forgetting a target. On one yours truly was caught out and forgot a target entirely.
A number of people had set up merchandising stalls at the range with Double Alpha Academy and Saul Kirsch having the largest. At the end of the day we headed for the clubhouse again for the awards ceremony. A few pints were had and a heroes welcome was given for Kerry when he arrived once the RO's were finished. Truly a face only a mother could love.
The array of prizes was jaw dropping. There were about 300 bottles of wine. A good few of us won Glocks - sorry clocks - I won a set of SPS grips which I presented to her indoors as a birthday present, She's getting me the rest of it for my birthday - we live in hope. The Irish contingent, strengthened by a few bevvies were quite boisterous and when we won something you could swear the lotto had been won. It looked like the Italians won the most prizes with them requiring a trailer to haul it all out. Pat was quite disappointed that the hair dryer went to them.
Saul Kirsch again won the Helmut Schwaiger Trophy with Gregory Midgely winning the Standard Cup.
Unfortunately Ireland did not carry off any medals on this occasion - the first Irish Presidents medal is still out there waiting to be claimed.
All in all a fantastic time was had, great experience was gained by all, new friends made.
I for one will be booking my flights when I next see the snowdrops.