By DAVID COULTER

Last updated at 13:06, Monday, 08 October 2012

A FARMER from Fourstones pushed a world champion all the way in the final of a world clay pigeon shooting championships.

Stephen Armstrong: Narrow defeat.

Stephen Armstrong (25) came agonisingly close to lifting the Mitsubishi Motors World Clay Target Series Final, but bowed to a proven winner in a tense finale.

An excellent performance took him to a head-to-head with world champion, fellow Brit Graham Stirzaker, but the pressure of shooting in front of hundreds of people for the star prize of a Mitsubishi L200 pick up vehicle worth £20,000 got to him in the end.

Armstrong only took up shooting a short while ago and manages to squeeze in minimal practice around the farm and other work.

But he showed his potential in the sport, qualifying for the Series Final at the Midland Game Fair as he put in a good score out of 50 birds at Lowther Game Fair.

Competing alongside 96 people in the eliminating rounds after making the long journey down to Weston Park, in Shropshire, he won round one to book his place in the following round the next day.

As he suffers badly from nerves prior to competition, he did magnificently well to shoot his way through the first round with a large audience watching him perform.

And he went from strength to strength, winning each round throughout the day with five rounds under his belt.

This led him to a final shoot-out with Stirzaker but his nerves got the better of him, while the more experienced opponent kept his cool to take the top prize and leave Armstrong with the runner-up tag.

Armstrong said: “It was certainly a weekend to remember and this was hopefully the first of many individual wins in my shooting career.”

First published at 09:09, Monday, 08 October 2012
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk