Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990 TAG: 9006180332
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran Outdoor Editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bruce Michie, a world-class skeet shooter from Roanoke, isn't accustomed to having serious, international-style competition on his home turf, the Franklin County Gun Club near Rocky Mount.
Michie usually finds that in distant places such as Chino, Calif., where he will compete next week in the 30th U.S. International Shooting Championships, or in Yugoslavia, where he competed in the World Cup and European Grand Prix in 1988.
In early July, however, the competitors will come gunning for him. Michie, 36, is a top contender in the Virginia CorEast State Games, where skeet guns will boom and clay birds will explode at the Franklin County range.
About 50 shooters have signed up for skeet, .22 rifle, .22 pistol, air rifle and air pistol events in the State Games. Others will be shooting arrows at multicolored bull's eyes in archery competition.
Trap events have been canceled because of a lack of facilities, said Hampton's Neal Johnson, the Games' shooting coordinator.
Michie, a 5-foot-6 left-hander who operates an automobile repair shop in Salem, is one of a handful of local shooters and archers committed to participate in the State Games. Another is Johnny Grace, a James Madison University shooter in the early 80s and now the owner of two archery shops in the Roanoke Valley.
As archery coordinator for the games, Grace has invited Jay Barrs, an Arizona archer who won a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.
"We shot together in school and I used to beat him all the time," Grace said. "He has gone on to be the world's best."
As a non-resident of Virginia, Barrs won't compete in the Games, but he will do some shooting and give a seminar July 5-6, Grace said. Barrs will give advice on long-distance shooting.
The challenge of Olympic-style archery is hitting targets from 90, 70, 50 and 30 meters with the kind of recurved bows many American shooters cast aside for modern gear two decades ago. The bull's eye at 90 meters is about the size of a grapefruit, Grace said.
While modern compound bows aren't a part of the Olympics - although they are under consideration - there will be two classes for them in the State Games, Grace said.
"This will be one of the first official FITAs [international shoots] ever held with compounds being shot on the same line," he said.
The archery competition will be at McClelland Park (behind Trussmark Homes) in Salem, begining 9:30 a.m., July 5-8.
In the rifle, air gun and pistol events, some of the toughest competition is expected from youthful shooters out of the Tidewater and Northern Virginia areas.
Johnson said one shooter to watch is 15-year-old Eric Anderson of Alexandria, the Virginia Junior Champion in rifle disciplines. Anderson is a familiar name in shooting circles. His father, Gary, won gold medals in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.
"I am going to try to talk him into shooting," Johnson said of the elder Anderson, who reportedly is retired from competition.
The Roanoke Rifle and Revolver Club range, located off Virginia 116 on the Franklin County side of Windy Gap Mountain, is the venue for standard rifle three-position (women), 7 a.m. July 5; free rifle prone (men), 7 a.m. July 6; free rifle three-position (men) 7 a.m., and sport pistol (women) 3 p.m., July 7; and free pistol (men), 7 a.m., July 8.
On Target, at 2203 Shenandoah Valley Ave. N.E., is the venue for air gun running-target (men), 7 a.m., and air rifle (men), 1 p.m., July 5; air rifle (women), 7 a.m. and noon, July 6; air pistol (men), 7 a.m., July 7; and rapid-fire pistol (men), 7 a.m. and air rifle (men), 1 p.m., July 8.
Skeet competition at the Franklin County Gun Club, off U.S. 220 south of Rocky Mount, begins at noon July 6 and continues 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. July 7-8.
by CNB