Match Dates September 23-25
Peacemaker National Training Center, Glengary, West Virginia
West Virginia –-(Ammoland.com)- Registration is now open for the inaugural event of The Starlight 3 Gun Series presented by Timney Trigger set for September 23-25, 2015 at the Peacemaker National Training Center, Glengary, West Virginia.
And the dates aren’t a misprint, the Starlight 3 Gun is being held in conjunction with the National Rifle Association’s World Shooting Championship.
Together, they comprise the biggest week in practical shooting. Not just in terms of the sheer variety of types of shooting, but in terms of the outreach to spectators who might never have considered attending a shooting competition.
This combination of day and night competition will give spectators and fans the opportunity to see the world’s best all-round shooters competing in virtually any shooting discipline.
In the daytime, the NRA’s World Shooting Championship pits shooters from a variety of different disciplines in head-to-head competition across a variety of disciplines.
Then, as darkness falls across the West Virginia mountains, a limited field of the world’s best three-gun shooters will add lights and lasers to their normal 3-gun rigs and compete for nearly a quarter million dollars in cash and prizes. Additionally, manufacturers will offer contingency bonuses to shooters using their equipment, pushing the cash totals even higher.
Together, the events will shatter the largest combination of possible prizes in modern shooting sports.
“We think it’s going to be an amazing week of competition,” says Joseph DeBergalis, NRA Board Member and competition advisor to both events. So big, in fact, we’re inviting everyone who’s interested in competition shooting or shooting in general to join us – day or night.”
For Starlight 3 Gun Championship competitors, six stages will be contested over two nights. Each will challenge their skills, but reward great performances handsomely. They’re competing for guaranteed cash prizes of $100,000, plus the chance to shop a prize table unique to shooting sports.
The Starlight 3 Gun Series is under the direction of veteran professional shooter and Match Director Chuck Anderson. Designer of the wildly popular Crimson Trace Midnight 3 Gun Invitational (the event that inspired the Starlight 3 Gun Series), Anderson designs competition stages that aren’t just challenging for shooters, they’re highly entertaining for spectators. And the six stages of the inaugural Starlight 3 Gun Series Championship promise even more pyrotechnics, special effects and entertainment features for spectators and shooters.
“We’ve designed courses of fire that will bring out the best in the great shooters,” Anderson says, “but our goal isn’t just to create a challenging course of fire. We wanted to create a course of fire, lights, lasers, strobes, smoke and sound that would absolutely wow spectators, too. We have a perfect venue at Peacemaker National Training Center to set a new precedent in nighttime three gun competition.
“There are some twists in this competition that won’t affect their shooting,” Anderson smiles, “but it will definitely force them to bring their A-game for the entire match.”
Plus, the Starlight 3 Gun will include an unknown bonus stage for the top finishers that will be a high-speed, all-out challenge for a winner-take-all cash prize.
Additionally, both amateur and pros will compete for individual stage and category titles and the chance to shop the unique prize table
In addition to being contested in the darkness using lights and lasers, Starlight 3 Gun events are different from other competitions: spectators aren’t just welcome, they’re encouraged to come – and bring their entire family.
Each Starlight 3 Gun Series event offers a variety of entertainment options:
Watch and cheer on your favorite shooters, tour the vendor village to learn more about shooting sports, enjoy good food, or even try your hand at shooting at one of the informational stations.
“Our goal isn’t just to create top-level competition events for elite shooters,” says Starlight 3 Gun founder Jim Shepherd, “we’re building entertaining athletic competitions using guns and bullets instead of balls, bats or clubs, skateboards or race cars. We incorporate the personal skills of individual and team sports and the excitement of all-out racing.”
“Sure, hits and misses matter, but ultimately, the fastest total time across each stage wins. When you finish your run, you know where you stand, and so do spectators and TV viewers. Everyone knows exactly what it will take to win stages or the overall title.”
Starlight 3 Gun stages encourage shooters to strategize stages according to their particular strength. If you’re strong with a carbine, pistol or shotgun, you’ll run each stage in a way that maximizes that strength. The goal of hitting targets and finishing the stage as quickly as possible doesn’t change, but the different strengths of each shooter makes strategy crucial to take home one of the top prizes. It also makes for a great spectator event.
Normally fall events signal the end of the competition season, but for the Starlight 3-Gun Series, this this is the equivalent of the Daytona 500 for NASCAR. Rather than capping a season, this Championship kicks off a series of regional events that will culminate with the 2016 Starlight 3 Gun Series Championship. And high finishers in regional events will automatically qualify for the limited slots in that championship match.
Just like the Championship event, regional matches encourage spectator attendance and include education and outreach programs to get people interested in shooting and direct them to local places where they can learn more. State and national organizations will be at each of these events to help get turn spectators into new shooters.
“As an industry, we’ve been pretty good when it comes to outreach to newcomers,” Shepherd says, “but our goal is to do more. Not to just interest people in shooting sports- we want to engage and involve them in shooting sports. We can’t think of a better way than high-level competition that’s also great entertainment.”
Stage and other sponsorship positions are still available for the 2015 Starlight 3 Gun Championship, along with limited shooting slots for both professionals and amateurs.
Companies interested in joining presenting sponsor Timney Trigger, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Mossberg, MGM Targets, Warne Mounts, DRD Tactical, UM Tactical and many other companies in this exciting new series of competition should contact Jim Shepherd at [email protected] to learn about sponsorship and participation opportunities. Shooters can signup online for competition slots at:
https://clubs.practiscore.com/starlight-3-gun-1/register
About The Starlight 3 Gun Series
The Starlight 3 Gun Series is the nation’s first national series of nighttime shooting competitions. A collaboration between industry leaders and The Outdoor Digital Network, Inc. its goal is to build entertaining and engaging competitions that bring shooting sports to mainstream athletes and spectators.