On this day, the veteran marksman, Harold ‘Topgun’ Hopkinson proved that his dominance of the handgun sport of the mid-90s had not diminished over the years.

In the sun and rain, at the Timehri Rifle Ranges, against younger and much fitter shooters, the `Topgun’ was consistent; for he was in the points playing position at every single stage of the three-week, National Handgun Championships. So too was the GNRA handgun captain, Dale Hing, who unwaveringly hounded his former captain at every stage and sometimes surpassed the veteran marksman’s achievements.

Hopkinson was eventually rewarded for his resilience, as he wrested away the handgun championship trophy from last year’s winner, Hemant Narine, who subsequently faltered after his spectacular performance in the first shoot with .22 pistols and last year’s runner-up, Dale Hing who dominated the final IPSC shoot. Hopkinson went into the last IPSC shoot with a 6-point lead over Hing’s 24.

After the smoke cleared and the reverberating crash of gunfire from the CZ-85B, Bul M-5, Walther P99 and the Glock pistols subsided, the `Topgun’ was still in front by two points with the handgun captain on forty.

Using the 9mm CZ-85B Combat pistol, Hopkinson made up for his age with the ability to move very fast with accuracy, reliability, consistency and some amount of agility. The national association’s top hand-gunners apparently took turns in dominating the three-stage competitions. It was Narine in the first week with the Colt .22 pistol, Hopkinson in the second week with the 9mm, CZ-85B Combat pistol, then in the final shoot with an astonishing display of speed and accuracy, using the 9mm, CZ-85B Combat pistol was the Handgun captain Dale Hing, who at times seemed bent on overtaking this year’s winner.

After points, penalties and hit factors were tabulated and deductions made for procedural infractions, Everall Franklin’s 15 points earned him fifth place, (Glock 17 pistol), fourth was Hemant Narine, with 16 points (Glock 34 pistol), third was Richard Austin, with 19 points (Glock 34 pistol) and with a huge runaway total was Handgun captain Dale Hing with 40 points (CZ-85B Combat pistol). Capturing the 2003 GNRA Handgun championship trophy was Harold ‘Topgun’ Hopkinson who used his CZ-85B Combat pistol.

The presentation of prizes for the Fullbore and the Handgun sections will be held on December 20.