The Toronto International Trap and Skeet Club in Innisfil had a total makeover in 2015 when it hosted the Pan American Games shooting competitions.
Renamed the TTS/Pan Am Legacy Shooting Centre, the hope was that investment in the facility would create future opportunities to host national and international competitions – a hope that has been realized.
This week the shooting range, located on 5 Sideroad near Cookstown, hosted the 2019 Canadian National Olympic Championships, Canadian National Trapshooting Championships and national team selection trials, Aug. 26-Sept. 1.
Between 147 and 157 competitors from across Canada took part in the championships, in small-bore rifle, pistol, and trapshooting.
Four members of the Canadian Trapshooting team, just back from the Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru, last month, were among the participants.
Curtis Wennberg and Amanda Chudoba-Obrigewitch captured Bronze in Pairs, in Lima; Elizabeth Longley and Matthew Van Harren placed second in the qualifier, and sixth in the finals.
Wennberg noted that he last won a medal at the Pan Am games back in 1991, when his partner, Chuboda-Obrigewitch “was only one year old.”
He had praise for the Canadian team at the Lima Pan Am Games. “They’re a great team,” said Wennberg, “and they brought home a little bit of hardware.”
“We did great,” agreed Chuboda-Obrigewitch. One disappointment: despite the showing at the Pan Am Games, and the Canadian National Trapshooting championships this week, there will be no Canadian Olympic Trapshooting team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Canada was excluded through an Olympic quota system.
“We’re going to come back stronger in 2024,” promised Chuboda-Obrigewitch.
The shooters also had praise for the Innisfil facility, and the improvements made at the club in 2015.
“It’s a nice legacy for our sport,” said Chuboda-Obrigewitch. “We can say, you should come to Toronto Trap and Skeet – it’s a nice place to shoot.”
“Beautiful,” said Wennberg, who started the National Trapshooting Championships with a rare perfect score on the first day of shooting. “This is a gorgeous place.”
They weren’t the only medallists competing at the Legacy Shooting Centre this week. Legend Susan Nattrass, seben-time world champion and winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy, was there, along with 4-time Olympian Cynthia Meyer.
“This is the fastest Olympic sport,” said volunteer Bill Longley. With the traps – clay targets - launched at speeds of 90 to 100 kmph, and shotgun shells travelling at close to 1600 kmph, it takes tremendous eye-hand co-ordination, he said, and very little to miss a shot.
“It’s a mental game,” agreed David Scola, VP of the Ontario Olympic Trapshooting Association. “Definitely in terms of eye-hand coordination, of all the sports this requires the highest level.”
The championships recently received a boost from the Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. The Hon. Lisa Macleod announced a total of $798,372 in funding for 15 Ontario sporting events and venues, including the Pan Am Legacy Shooting Centre and the championships.
“We applied for and got funding from the Ontario government, which we were very happy to get,” said Longley.
Minister MacLeod noted that the province is supporting the 15 events “to help our athletes develop their skills and boost local tourism. It is anticipated that these events will generate a total of $26.5 million in economic activity.”
The championships continue to Sept. 1, and are open to the public for viewing.
