Yukon rifle shooter hopes to build on success at nationals

When it comes to shooting, 17-year-old Nich Rittel is a man of few words, but his natural talent in the sport speaks for itself.

When it comes to shooting, 17-year-old Nich Rittel is a man of few words, but his natural talent in the sport speaks for itself.

The Whitehorse resident is coming off of his best season to date, which is a direct result of both his passion and dedication to improving as a shooter.

Rittel’s most recent competition was the national silhouette rifle championships in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

This was his second silhouette nationals and Rittel was on a mission to better his impressive six medal performance in 2007.

He achieved that this year by taking home a personal best total of eight medals.

“It was good,“ he said about his performance at the 2008 nationals. “I just like to shoot.“

The shooting format used at the silhouette nationals featured four different sets of targets, which were in the shapes of chickens, pigs, turkeys and sheep.

The animals are placed at different distances depending on whether a shooter is competing in the small bore standard rifle category or the hunter class.

The small bore standard rifle had the chicken targets located at 40 metres, while the pig targets were at 60 metres, the turkey targets at 77 metre distance and the ram targets were placed at 100 metres .

The animals get progressively larger at the greater distance.

A shooter has no longer than 2 1/2 minutes to get through each five round stage.

Competitors receive one point for each animal that is knocked off it’s stand and can score a total of 40 points in an individual match.

The hunter class at the nationals included targets that were life-sized steel plate silhouettes of chickens, pigs, turkeys and sheep.

The different distances in hunter class included the chickens at 200 metres, pigs at 300, turkeys at 385 and sheep at 500.

Participants were given 2 1/2 minutes to fire one round at each the targets.

A shooter can also qualify for the the high power competition if they score high enough at the conclusion of their match.

Targets in a high power competition are moved back to an even greater distance with the chickens at 200-m, pigs are 300-m, turkeys are 385-m and rams are 500-m.

As a result of the greater distance the targets are increased in total size in a high power competition. All events are done standing up.

Every hit is worth one point and at the end it’s an aggregate total for the two match event.

Rittel, who competed over four days in Prince Rupert, won six gold medals and two silver medals.

He took the aggregate in the AA small bore standard, while AA small bore hunters event. Rittel also finished as the top junior in both classes.

At this year’s silhouette nationals, Rittel won an extra two medals after he qualified for the high power category for both the small bore and hunter class after he shot an 18 out of 40. 

Rittel shooting skills aren’t just limited to silhouette competitions. He also has done very well in air gun events.

Air gun competitions are all shot at a fixed distance of 10-m and athletes have choice of shooting with either an air rifle or air pistol.

Participants have a set amount of time to fire all their rounds and have to change targets after every shot. Each competitor shoots twice over the course of two days and their final score is tallied up.

There is also a separate competition for men and women, where participants are divided into a specific age category, including master, expert, junior and sub-junior.

The targets are round rings, numbered one to 10. One is the largest, while 10, being the smallest is worth the most points.

The size of the 10 ring in an air pistol target would be smaller than a dime, while in an air rifle event it would be just a tiny dot.

Rittel, who competed in the men’s junior category at the Toronto Air Gun Grand Prix, finished with a score of 1112 out of 1200. The score put him in eighth place in his age category.

Rittel plans on competing in an upcoming air gun competition in Calgary and said he hopes to place in the top eight.

He credits his success this year to the training done with head coach Ken Speiss.

“He’s good,“ Rittel said. “He knows what he is talking about.“

Speiss, who has been Rittel’s coach for three years, said he has really improved as a shooter this season.

“He has come a long ways and that really jumped out this year at Toronto in February,“ Speiss said. “I took him to the Grand Prix and he shot master scores, so that is the first place where he really showed he was starting to get it.“

He said he is confident that Rittel can transfer his success in silhouette competitions to air gun events.

“They are kind of two different disciplines in shooting, but the success in one definitely transfers over,“ Speiss said. “He has a lot of natural desire for the sport, but that doesn’t take you very far. You have to work hard and he has.“

Speiss said he is looking forward to the start of the season.

“I am sure it’s going to be a challenging and rewarding year, like I say, Nich lives for it,“ he said. “He is a bit different that way, where he really looks forward to all this work. He’s one person I don’t have to keep going on about being on time and sticking with it. He just naturally does it.“