Jamaica's top shooters came out on top of their Caribbean rivals in last Saturday's Spectrum Handgun Championship held at Jamaica Rifle Association’s Mountain View shooting range in Kingston.

The home shooters topped all four divisions with Ryan Bramwell emerging the victor in Open Division, Andrew Yap taking the Standard Division and Chris Hart winning the Production Optics Division. Yeonie Campbell captured the Production Division.

Bramwell put on a master-class display of speed and accuracy to earn 1059.57 points, firing 215 rounds in 130.70 seconds over the 12-stage course.

Alrice Palmer scored 949.3 points to claim the runner-up spot while Lennie Moulton scored 879.76 points for third place.

"It was a great day. I shot very well. I was very fast and aggressive today (Saturday) and I had very good hits so overall I came out the winner,” the victorious Bramwell said.

“It’s a great feeling. Having put in the work and gotten the results, it’s fantastic and we go back to the drawing board and keep training."

Campbell copped the Production Division and topped the Ladies Category. In the Production Division she got the better of Anthony Johnson in a nail biter with just one point separating them while Rohan Wallace was third.

In the Ladies Category she was comfortably ahead of second place Florence Golding and third place Philana Brown.

"My performance today was okay. I think that the stages were very challenging as well as they allow you to express yourself so I was pleased with my performance," Campbell said.

“The ladies did very well today, exceptionally well today. I am very proud of them. I think that we all competed admirably today and the results showed it."

There was keen competition in the Standard Division which went to Master Class shooter Yap, who scored more than one hundred points more than of Darin Richards and Lennie Moulton who were second and third, respectively.

 The Production Optics Division went to Chris Hart ahead of Adrian Randle and Michael Bradshaw who took third place.

One overseas-based shooter got on the podium with Richard Durrant of Barbados getting second place in the Senior Category of the Standard Division behind Ellsworth Dixon while Thomas Jones was third.

Durrant commended the Jamaican shooters.

"The quality of shooting here is really high. I had some hope of placing on the podium. The last time I was in Jamaica was in 2018 and since that time the standard has really, really sky-rocketed,” he said.

“Andy Yap and Greg Henry, I shot against them before but today it was a different level. I have to go back to the lab now so I have to recalculate my shooting. The experience was really good. I would come again."

Major John Nelson, president of JRA was pleased with the overall standard of the competition.

"It’s a Level 3, which, is in fact the highest match we have had now for about four years. It is such a highly respected match that we had international shooters from the Cayman Islands, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago,” he said.

“It was attractive enough for them to be here. We had the highest turnout of our local shooters including our shooters from Trelawny, Negril and May Pen, who came in to compete in this particular shoot.

“Spectrum Systems have outdone themselves and as Mr. (Andrew) Stanigar said to me at the end of the presentations, you are not getting rid of us we are here to stay with you and support you."

Seventy-three of the Caribbean’s best shooters are set to battle for honours at the Spectrum Handgun Championship set for the Jamaica Rifle Association’s shooting range on Mountain View Avenue in Kingston, Jamaica on Saturday, April 29.

Shooters from Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and the Cayman Islands will be competing at the Level III IPSC event, Jamaica’s first major international pistol match and highest-ranked competition to be staged since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in 2020.

"Everyone is looking forward with great anticipation to the upcoming Spectrum Handgun Championship 2023 at the JRA,” said Match Director Paul Shoucair.

“We'll have all of Jamaica's top shooters versus top shooters from other islands in the Caribbean and the Ladies Division is looking pretty hot so looking forward to it and expecting some great stages."

The top gunners will compete in four divisions - Open, Standard, Production Optics and Production, which features the use of unmodified guns. The breakdown of the entry list shows eight overseas based shooters, eight female shooters and 57 local based male shooters are down to compete.

Among them is top-ranked master class shooter Ryan Bramwell.

"This match will in effect be a Caribbean championship and I am looking forward to competing against the best local and regional talent,” he said.

“The match itself promises to be a great event and I am really looking forward to doing my best on Saturday."

Among the other shooters vying for honours across the various divisions are Master Shooter Andy Yap and Darin Richards, and among the women, Alpha Angels Yeonie Campbell, Shayon Francis and Renee Rickhi.

 Competition on the twelve-stage range will get underway at 10:00 am.