I actually attended a USPSA match last weekend, Saturday. I didn't impress anybody ... I haven't been doing much actual shooting for the past year, and it shows ... but I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed the people in my squad.
In fact, I was having so much fun that I didn't drag the camera out of the range bag until the last stage of the match ... the Jungle Run.
Tell you the truth, I didn't even care very much that I wasn't filming the match, except that I missed a lot of 'funny stuff'. I decided that I would film a couple of shooters. It was sheer guilt.
Just my luck. I caught one lady shooter doing a very respectable job on the stage, and then I filmed another lady shooter in the most embarrassing moment possible: a Match Disqualification.
A bit of background is in order here.
The Jungle Run is an unimproved trail through ferns, low bushes and other moisture-loving foliage. The trail parallels a creek, and is in the middle of a small swale which traps moisture. The soil is clay, which traps and holds moisture in all but the driest summer months. Consequently, the trail is almost always a slippery surface, and in the competitors rush to move between targets it's all too easy to over-run your forward-leaning body posture. The slightest miss-step will pitch you head over tea-kettle, which is exactly what happened here.
I've seen it a dozen times. It's the kind of thing which makes the Dundee "Croc Match" an especially challenging exercise, but it's a Widow Maker.
Here's Judith, who demonstrated a classic Jungle Run stage. This version required the shooter to engage only 8 targets, but three shots were scored on each target with a final scoring 24 shots.
The video is classic, as is the stage. The first stretch of the trail is within the view of the starting point, although this is not a "Surprise Stage". The end of the trail is hidden from view, so all we know of it is that there are 'more targets'.
Then we see Kim's execution of the stage, and from the available footage it's impossible to see what she has "done wrong".
What happened is, Kim slipped on the wet surface and fell forward on the slippery rail. The impact jarred the pistol from her grip, resulting in a Match DQ because she lost control of her firearm. I don't know if the muzzle of her pistol broke the 180, and it doesn't really matter. As soon as she dropped the gun, the Range Officer (Brad) shouted WHOA! and took charge of the situation.
Brad did what he was suppose to do, and Kim demonstrated that she was a real Lady by accepting the consequences without Histrionics or any protest.
Well, it's a "Gun Down!" situation, what can you do?
Unfortunately, I have seen far too many competitors shift to Denial Mode at Warp Speed, but Kim was above all that. It speaks well for her competitive-but-not-excessively-so mindset that she was willing to accept the Match DQ with equanimity.
I liked Kim through the match, and I was impressed by her demeanor.
As he Common Wisdom had it;
"If you must DQ, it's best to do it on the last stage of the match. At least you don't miss out on most of the Fun Stuff".
It's worth mentioning that she had some bad luck on the first run (she was the first squad member to shoot the stage), but her score was not recorded. She was reshooting the stage when she DQ'd.
If nothing else, this serves to prove that a reshoot very rarely improves one's score.
Tough luck, Kim. But you recovered like a champion.
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