"What does it feel like when each shot counts?"

Canada's Gun Store has this great story that they put together about me and shooting. Go have a read here:

"What does it feel like when each shot counts?"

53 days until Pan Am Shooting CHampionships in Peru!

Confirmed: We're heading to Lima, Peru in October!

The Shooting Federation of Canada will send our Team Canada shooting team to Lima, Peru this October for the 1st PanAmerican Shooting Championships (currently limited details online). My first international competition since Intershoot at The Hague in February of 2020.

Competing in 10m pistol event at Intershoot 2020
Photo credit: Arno Brinkman

Despite international travel opening up it's still a challenge coordinating flights to a different continent. My travel to Peru takes me from Vancouver to Toronto first where I'll meet up with my teammate Stuart Burns, then we take a redeye to Bogota, Columbia, have a 14 hour layover then fly to Lima Peru and arrive that night. It's about a 40hr duration for me flying there and same coming back. Although my return trip has me travelling from Lima -> Panama City -> Bogota -> Toronto -> Vancouver.  

We'll have lots of updates from our shooting team while there. We've got a good sized team travelling down and competing in rifle, pistol, and shotgun events.

Let's do this!

Cancelled: Canadian National Pistol, Rifle, & Trap Championship

The 2021 Canadian National Pistol, Rifle, and Trap Championships have been cancelled for 2021. The Skeet National Championships will still happen. Official message from the Shooting Federation of Canada be found here.

It looks like my next competition will be the 1st Panamerican Shooting Championships to be held in Lima, Peru in October.

CUSF - Down The Barrel episode 15 - "Competitive Pistol Shooting with Allan Harding"

I had a fun chat (and 🍻 !) with Swally and Michael over at CUSF. My teammate Stuart Burns also joined the podcast. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQknkm1q0JM 

Spring 2021 Update

Well travel restrictions continue in BC and domestically around Canada so I've been mostly at home doing some self work and completing some projects. I finished up an app which I'll make a bit more noise about in the summer. A couple other projects on the go. It's an exciting time anyway.

I was hoping to compete in Changwon, South Korea in April but that ISSF World Cup was postponed TBD. Our Team Canada high performance team trials were also cancelled that were scheduled for June and the ISSF World Cup stage in Azerbaijan is out for me.

I'm now focused on the Shooting Pan Am Championships in Peru this October which I'm hoping I can piggyback a trip to Mexico on my return to visit family in Mexico.

I'll do a training update in June and will do a live stream from the range while I'm shooting 50m pistol. 

2021 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! 

I'm looking forward to getting back to some competitions this year. I'm hoping the ISSF World Cup Series will all move forward as scheduled. My first ISSF World Cup since 2019 will be in Changwon, South Korea in April. I love competing in South Korea and was there in 2018 for the 52nd ISSF World Championships.

The return to sport internationally has many challenges during a global pandemic. We've already seen many limitations with travel. I'll go into more details on the various protocols in place to keep everyone safe. For now, it's good to be back to training and wanted to wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year. :)

Stay healthy everyone!

2 years ago in Guadalajara!

2 years ago I was in Guadalajara, Mexico for the 2018 Championships of the Americas. I secured Canada's first shooting quota spot for the 2019 Pan American Games. My teammate Lynda Kiejko won gold in her event and locked in a quota spot for the 2020/1 Olympic Games being held next summer in Tokyo.

This is what we did afterwards to celebrate her win... 

I'll be in Ottawa Sept 11-13 to support the CCFR

The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights is organizing the Integrity March on Sept 12th. I'll be there... come say hello!

A huge CCFR shout out to #TeamCanada athlete, pistol shooter @alharding for his support of the CCFR, commitment to excellence in our sport and generous $5000 donation to the legal challenge. 🇨🇦❤️🥇#olympicathlete #internationalphenom #TeamAllan #NoGunBan #WorkOnCrime pic.twitter.com/Go4wij0Qwb

— CCFR/CCDAF (@CCFR_CCDAF) September 4, 2020

 

Throwback photo and SFC website update

 Here's an awesome photo from what looks like the 1994 Canadian Nationals!

JP, Stan Wills, John Rochon on the far left. Me on the far right.

Also, the Shooting Federation of Canada website has gone through a major update in design, content, and membership database and tools.

Stay healthy. Stay safe. Be kind.

Excellent training resources from OlympicPistol.com

Hopefully you're all staying healthy during this time. It's difficult training with limited or no access to ranges, gyms, fitness centres etc.

My friend Ramon over at OlympicPistol.com has a great article on home training exercises specific to pistol shooting. Go check it out!

Stay healthy, stay positive, stay productive, and wash those hands! :)

Stay healthy everyone!

What a difference a month makes. I hope you're all staying healthy and staying optimistic about things. Keep washing your hands, social distancing, and staying home but also staying active!

I've found myself refocusing my time differently the last while. With my competition / travel calendar being postponed and cancelled I'm at home a lot more. Since returning from Europe I have been at home for more days in a row than anytime in the last 9 years or so. It's good. Good to get into some routines and developing better habits.

Also, doing things like this one colour puzzle:

Finished the Ravensburger Krypt Puzzle 🧩@RavensburgerUK @RavensburgerNA #ravensburger #puzzle #krypt pic.twitter.com/WvwoAHVC1b

— Allan Harding (@alharding) April 3, 2020

And finishing a Rubik's cube while planking:

Stay focused, stay optimistic, get in touch with friends and family and check-in on how they're doing.

Stay healthy!

Intershoot recap and what's coming up next

I'm back home now and somewhat adjusted back to Pacific time zone. Those quick trips to Europe always feel too short and definitely take some adjusting. There and back. Plus training and competing 4 days of the week while I was away is a lot. Typically going to an ISSF World Cup you would do pre-event training 1 day and competition the next day for a single event.

My first day went well with the 565/600 and missing Finals by only a few points. The following days were more of a challenge. I shot a lot of 9.9's which in 10m pistol and the integer scoring they're counted as "9" even if they are a hair width away from scoring "10".

It was great to catch up with old friends from around the world there and to meet some new ones as well!

Me and Ramon Suarez (@olympicpistol)

Me, Nikhil Kumar, and Saurabh Chaudhary (@SChaudhary2002)

The Netherlands is beautiful, I'll aim to be back for Intershoot 2021 next year! Hopefully I can stay a few more extra days!

Sun setting outside the Sherlock Holmes pub

Packed and ready to fly home!

Up next will be:

• Mar 6-8: BC Airgun Champtionships - Vancouver, Canada
• May 22-24: Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Toronto, Canada

Then in June I'll be back in Europe for the ISSF World Cup Series stages in Munich, Germany and Baku, Azerbaijan.