200 Shooters Saw Action At The Airsoft Surgeon European Championship 2017

OptimusPrime

19 Aug 2017

Another year, another milestone for Action Air Practical Shooting as a big number of airsoft practical shooters converged once again at the StrikeForce CQB in Gloucester, United Kingdom. This year, 200 players came to compete at the Airsoft Surgeon European Championship 2017 last 5th and 6th of August 2017.

With 20 stages to complete for two days, the shooters vied for the titles of being the top in their categories and divisions in one of the biggest tournaments in the airsoft world. The Airsoft Surgeon European Championship 2017 is now on its 5th year and it gets even bigger every year. For this year, more countries have joined in this competition with a contingent from Brazil flying all the way to be part of this event.

For us at Popular Airsoft, our task is to cover the event, which we have been doing ever since it started in 2013 at The Grange in Balsall Common located in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. For this year, I was finally joined by Master Chief, giving me an extra pair of hands. This freed me up to taking photos whilst I tasked him to take videos. With 200 shooters, his help went a long way.

We arrived late afternoon Friday in Gloucester and most of the players were already in town with the pre-shoot by the Range Officers and media already coming to a conclusion on that day. The pre-shoot took place ahead of the main competition to allow those who will officiate the event to already go through the stages and submit their times as they were also competitors at the tournament as well.

Around evening, we met up with the NABV team from the Netherlands for dinner. For this year, they were a smaller contingent comprised of Gerard, David, Luuk, and Marco as most of the usual shooters from their group were in other commitments that were in conflict with the schedule of the Euro Championship. Over a big dinner, some drinks and the usual banter, we did some catching up though we got to end the night early as they had to rest in preparation for the big day. Master Chief and I had a two more rounds at Hotel bar before we also called it a day.

Saturday, the 5th of August, we arrived at the StrikeForce CQB to see most of the shooters already geared up and ready to meet the challenges that lay ahead. But before the shooting started, a briefing had to take place. Clarence Lai, aka the Airsoft Surgeon, and Chris Kong of RedWolf Airsoft UK welcomed all the shooters whilst Justin Cooper of the WPPC who was the Match Director laid down the rules for the shooters to follow.

As mentioned previously, there were 20 stages, plus a fun stage. Organised by Airsoft Action for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre in Cheltenham, the fun stage is the charity stage and the shooter who posts the best score gets to win a prize. Also, a raffle for the charity was part of the event with the raffle winner announced on the second day.

By 0900H, the competition officially started. The stages whilst they are usually numbered, were also named after the sponsors. The UKPSA stage looked the most daunting, and for this year, the Airsoft Surgeon is a sanctioned Level 1 event by the UKPSA, making it an official IPSC event.

What we have noticed for this year there is a bigger number of very young shooters. Last year, there was one very young shooter, Kiko who was 9 years old at that time. Now, even more kids were participating with most coming from the First Person Shooter group from the Isle of Wight. It looks like the future of Action Air in the United Kingdom is very bright with this new generation of shooters.

I have to say that even with minor problems such as Wifi connectivity as scorers were armed with tablets to easily input the scores and, the event was managed smoothly. No drama at all, if you allow me to write that. Even the number of DQs has gone down as compared to the previous year, even if this was the largest batch of shooters to date.

Such a level of organisation is very much commendable, given that RedWolf Airsoft UK had their main office in Tewkesbury burned down last month, and along with it the prizes and paraphernalia for the Airsoft Surgeon European Championship. All the hard work went up in flames just like that. Nevertheless, RedWolf Airsoft in cooperation with the local clubs was able to deliver, if not the best, one of the best Airsoft Surgeon European Championships ever.

One thing that we missed for this event was the traditional BBQ that takes place at the end of the first day. This is where the Airsoft Surgeon himself puts on an apron and serves the shooters grilled food and drinks after a long and tiring day of shooting. With the aftermath of the RedWolf UK fire, I guess it was out of the question.

The second day started with the organizers acknowledging the big delegations as well as the new countries that have joined in the event. Justin Cooper, being the Match Director, announced that a penalty will be given to any shooter not helping in patching the targets. Shooters need to help in patching the targets so as to make any stage ready for the next shooter and keep the event on schedule.

By 1700H the shooting finally stopped, save for those shooters going through the Maggie’s Fun Stage. But for the tired airsoft practical shooters, it was time to find out the winners for event. But before that, it was the “Clarence and Chris Show” as affectionately called by the veterans of the Airsoft Surgeon European Championship. The antics of Clarence and Chris as hosts bring colour to both the opening and closing ceremonies of the tournament.

After thanking all the sponsors, giving away some goodies, and announcing the raffle winners, the awarding ceremonies too place. Familiar names were called as runners-up and winners for the Production, Custom, Open, and Standard Divisions as well as the Open and Standard winners in the Lady, Senior, Super Senior, and Junior Categories. For the kids, there was a “Young Guns” Division created specifically to award the young shooters. This was the idea of Jessica-Jade Dove of the FPS and took the initiative to have trophies made for them.

The Airsoft Surgeon European Championship 2017 officially ended by 2000H, which was rather later. With many of the competitors scrambling to grab their gear and into their cars to get home, goodbyes had to be said quick before they start their long journeys back home, save for some who planned on leaving Gloucester the next day.

Being the biggest airsoft practical shooting event in Europe, I wonder if next year will be another record breaking year for the Airsoft Surgeon and RedWolf Airsoft. 200 practical shooters is already a big number for an airsoft practical shooting tournament and I just hope it will still grow bigger. The event actually helps in the growth of action air in many parts of Europe as each year we see another country being added to the list. With the first sanctioned Action Air World Shooter finally taking place next year in Hong Kong, we will see how European Action Air has matured as we see their very best shooters compete against some of the very best in Asia who probably have a lead start in the discipline as they airsoft practical shooting in the region has been alive and kicking for many years now. But then, that’s another story to tell next year.

See you at the next year’s Airsoft Surgeon European Championships.