Olympic dreams of sharp shooter Lucy

Level 3 Land and Wildlife Management student, Lucy Marsden, is a keen shooter and has been given a gun courtesy of Longthorne Gunmakers after being spotted at a local charity clay shoot. Lucy was invited to go to the Longthorne factory in Northampton for a fitting, and was presented with her gun last week in association with BASC on a driven grouse day on Shap Moor.

16-year-old Lucy has already taken part in the Team GB Talent Pathway programme and hopes to represent the Great British Trap Shooting team in the Olympics.

Lucy said: ‘’My sponsorship of the Longthorne Gun came about as Jim and Elaine the owners of Longthorne Guns saw me shooting one day. Elaine approached me and asked me if I would write down my shooting history and any competitions I had entered. Elaine then received this information and asked me to go to their headquarters, where I got my gun fitted for me.’’

‘’My main hobby is shooting in any form. I shoot sporting, Olympic Trap and Down The Line (DTL) during the summer, and I enjoy shooting game and deer stalking during the winter.

‘’Every time I shoot trap I find it exciting. I enjoy the training with the GB coaches and shooting alongside of some of other medal winners. I also like trying different shooting grounds and different disciplines to get more experience on different targets at different grounds.

’’My Dad first introduced me to shooting when I was 7. He has given me the most support during all my shooting time. He gives me tips when shooting and tells me what he thinks I should do. He also gives me support throughout the good and bad times.

‘’In the future I’d love to shoot abroad representing Great Britain.’’

Sharon Burke is a Lecturer in Countryside and Game Management and Lucy’s tutor on her course at Myerscough College. She said: ‘’It’s fantastic that we can attract such enthusiastic and talented students such as Lucy to our countryside courses here at Myerscough. Hopefully Lucy will continue to develop her skills with us while she’s on her study programme, ahead of what I’m sure will be a great career in the sector.

‘’It’s no surprise that Lucy’s talent has been spotted by Longthorne and I’m sure their gun sponsorship will go a long way to helping Lucy fulfil her ambitions.’’