2005 Gamaliel Cup Exceeds Expectations!

Within the shotgun sports community, Gamaliel Shooting Supply has a long history of providing friendly service and quality products at fair prices. Established in 1976 by Garon Pare and his wife, Faye, Gamaliel is now managed by their son, Geoff Pare. With its store located in rural Kentucky, Gamaliel Shooting Supply has grown into a thriving business enjoying worldwide Internet and catalog sales.

To say thank you to the many shotgun enthusiasts who have faithfully supported Gamaliel through the years, Garon and Geoff Pare wanted to host a special event. After a great deal of planning, the Gamaliel Cup was born.

Held at the Tennessee Clay Target Complex on March 3-5, the first Gamaliel Cup was a resounding success attracting a large number of entries including many of the country's top sporting clay shooters. The “long distance” award went to Dennis Morgan who traveled from Jamaica to shoot the event and support his friends at Gamaliel Shooting Supply.

This “big blast” event offered a 100 target preliminary event and a 200 target main event. Also included was a Fitasc and 5-stand competition. Jason Menke of Briley/Mattarelli set the traps. Jason has developed a reputation as one of the best at setting creative tournament courses. His heavy-duty Mattarelli traps performed exceptionally well throughout the shoot, as did the excellent GP traps generously provided by Ray Morris to equip the Fitasc course.

The shoot began on Friday with the 100 bird preliminary. Excellent weather provided shooters little excuse. At the close of the day, England's Doug Vine with a score of 95 won the prelim while Bill McGuire claimed runner-up honors with a 93.

Unfortunately, Friday's nice weather gave way to blustery cold winds for the start of Saturday's main event. Winds gusting to 30 mph chilled the morning flight of competitors and made targets especially challenging. Many top shooters saw their scores suffer as the heavy winds took charge of the targets.

The 11:30 and 2:00 flights enjoyed much nicer temperatures. Sunshine warmed the air to a tolerable 55 degrees and the wind gusts slowed to only 15 mph. Scores improved dramatically and Wendell Cherry turned in Saturday's top score of 93.

Sunday could not have been more pleasant as light wind, sunshine and 65 degree temps prevailed. The course still remained challenging as only a hand full of shooters earned scores in the 90s.

Wendell Cherry secured his victory by posting an outstanding score of 97 on Sunday. A professional shooting instructor, Wendell has now added the Gamaliel Cup Championship to his long list of accomplishments, which includes a U. S. Open Championship.

Of particular interest was the Fitasc event, which was won by a sub-junior! Thirteen year-old David Radulovich shot a score of 75 to win out-right the Fitasc event. Congratulations David! The Sub-junior Concurrent was handily won by 15 year-old John Ray with a great score of 169.

The Junior Concurrent was won by 17 year-old Greg Jackson, who also claimed Master 4th in the main event with a score of 187. Also 17 years old, Ashleigh Hafley dominated the Ladies Concurrent with a score of 159.

The winner of the Veteran Concurrent was Jerome Holden, while Super-Vet honors went to Gordon Bulla.

The 5-Stand title went to none other than Wendell Cherry, while runner up honors went to John A. Ray.

There were many other exceptional performances. Congratulations to all of the winners and many thanks to each of the participants.

The first annual Gamaliel Cup was a big success. Our many thanks to the Pare family and the staff at Gamaliel for making this event possible. You can bet that the 2006 Gamaliel Cup will be even bigger and better!