McPherson tops McMorris Memorial Cup Shooting Cham­pi­onship

WESTERN BUREAU:

Arjun McPherson of the Jamaica Rifle Association produced a dominant display, outshooting several other licensed firearm shooters to win the third annual David McMorris Memorial Cup Cham­pi­onship at the weekend.

McPherson, a national representative who won the United States International Practical Shooting Confederation C-Class in 2022, amassed 399.19 points in the handgun championship held in celebration of the life and work of David McMorris and organised by the Negril Tactical Shooting Range in Westmoreland on Saturday.

Thomas Jones finished second with 370.74 points and Troy Foreman was third with 309.86.

Ahead of securing the David McMorris Memorial Cup, McPherson won the open category scoring 421.99 points, bettering that of Foreman, 309.86 and Andrew Nish with 309.05.

In the standard category, Thomas Jones outscored his competitors, scoring 470 points to beat Renaldo Richards, 199.58 and Karey Powell 140.71.

Rohan Wilson, 338.54 points, narrowly got the better of Kevon Martin with 332.06, while Melbourne Leslie could only manage 240 points in the production category.

LONE FEMALE SHOOTER

Kayree Ann Daley, the lone female shooter, took home that gender specific trophy while Ledford Whitehead scored an impressive victory in the Production Optics category, finishing with 470 points.

McMorris, who was an avid competitive shooter and businessman in Mandeville, represented Jamaica nationally and internationally. He died in 2021.

Prior to his death, McMorris topped the open competition in the seniors category of the Caribbean Cup Pis­tol Shoot­ing Cham­pi­onships in 2019 when Jamaica hosted and dominated the cham­pi­onships, including winning the overall team title and most of the individual divisions, classes and categories held at the Jamaica Rifle Association’s headquarters in Kingston.

Newly crowned champion McPherson congratulated the shooters who turned out to support the cause.

He told The Gleaner that he was happy to be back in the competition this year and to come out as the combined overall champion, especially after having to manoeuvre what he deemed was a challenging and technical course.

“The courses were difficult this year. Very technical with some challenging stages, but they were creative,” McPherson said of the course which saw shooters attacking their targets from the inside of a motor vehicle including operating a backhoe.

“The creativity is very high so you have to be very technical in how you approach the stages,” he noted.

Proceeds from this year’s championship will go towards the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, an institution the David McMorris Memorial Cup champion believes is in need of much attention.

“Health is a priority and we must try to give back as much as we can to those in need and the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital definitely needs help, so I am happy to have played my part by entering the competition,” McPherson added.

For her part, Christine Green, owner of Negril Tactical Shooting Range, said her team staged this championship to honour McMorris who was her friend and fellow shooter, and who had long supported her business and charity events.

“Every competition that I have facilitated has been a charity match because I am a Rotarian at heart and Salvation Army by denomination,” said Green who added that she misses McMorris a great deal.