Local Derby lad Michael Gilligan aged 23 has spent the last 10 years shooting. He started beating pheasants with his mates then eventually bought his own gun. He first shot English Skeet, Sporting and DTL before moving onto Olympic Skeet.

Michael initially qualified for the GB team back in 2005, he won the European Championship Individual Bronze and his team won Gold, whilst also setting a new world record of 354/375.

In 2007, Michael shot the first straight 100 for a UK shooter in the Home International Olympic Skeet Competition (4 rounds over 1 day event), he still holds this record today. Also in 2007 he won a gold medal at the Australian Youth Olympic festival.

In 2009, Michael won the UK Championships.

In 2010 he won the British Grand Prix as well as the GB and European Championships.

He has one more competition this year in Jersey at the end of September for the mini Commonwealth Championships. With the next Olympics already in mind ensuring qualification for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 is Michael’s priority.

Michael is a great shooter with much more to prove and strives to continue improving his skills. Working at Doveridge Shooting Ground means he can practise whenever the weather allows and has decided to compliment his current training regime with DryFire. Michael has open access to use the DryFire system at Park Hill and will work with the DryFire team with testing new software.

Michael is currently looking for sponsorship to support his drive to becoming an Olympic Gold Medallist, Doveridge Shooting Ground currently provide some sponsorship but to support his ambition Michael needs more. Travelling and accommodation to participate in competitions and purchasing equipment is very expensive.

I am sure there are more local Derbyshire companies willing to support a talented athlete and potential Olympic Gold Medallist in a great British sport.

Please contact Michael directly if you would like to help him with his journey.

I have been shooting clays since I was 13 when I started at the BASC 'try-out' stand. I was totally hooked on it and within a couple of years I had represented my home county of Powys, 5 times in the ABT and All Round Events and this is where my high level of ambition took over and I started shooting Olympic Trap with the Welsh Team. In 2010 I qualified for the Welsh teams in Olympic Trap and ABT, however due to injury and various other reasons I was unable to attend the Home Internationals.

After recovering from my injury which had meant I was unable to shoot for 6 weeks. I was keen to get shooting again at a high level and with there being limited competitions in Wales, I travelled to Ian Coleys Shooting School near Cheltenham where I tried the Olympic Double Trap discipline and met Stevan Walton (double commonwealth gold medallist).

After a great day shooting Stevan suggested I go along to the next GB selection shoot for Double Trap at Southern Counties Leisure in Dorset.

I went along, and almost instantly thought this is the discipline for me, and now 2 years later I'm currently ranked no.1 Junior and 12th in the overall rankings.

My Awards:

My Ambitions

To be a member of G.B. Junior Double Trap Team and to be ranked within the top 10 in Great Britain by the End of 2013

To compete in the European and World Championships in 2013

To compete in the Olympics in 2016 and come home with a medal.

To Shoot the Perfect Score 150/150 at Olympic Double Trap

If you wish to assist me in achieving my goals and would like to sponsor me, I am prepared to put company logos on clothing, put advertising and logos on my website, which has over 2000 visitors per month. Any form of sponsorship would be welcome, monetary or otherwise. I will be available for endorsements, promotional and corporate events. You can contact me using my details above.

Delvin Banks was the location for this year's Claysports Ireland Summer League Final, the final included a team event on Saturday 6th October and the individual finals on Sunday. This event was jointly sponsored by DryFire and DryFire Ireland.

The Claysports Ireland Summer League Final this year had over 60 qualifying shooters and the DryFire Simulator was one of many prizes including 5 Guns, over €4,000.00 cash and 10,000 Shells. Congratulations to all the winners and all who took part in a great two day final.

A special mention goes to Criostior McCormack who won first prize in the Claysports Ireland Summer League Final in Class D and won a Dual Head DryFire Simulator. We expect to see Criostior rapidly moving up the Classes in the coming year.

Criostior won in a 25 bird super final for his class which went to a sudden death shoot off which he won on the second pair.

Next year's final will be at Mourne Shooting Grounds, expect to see the DryFire system available for demonstration over the two day final.