Martin Myers has recently confirmed his status as one of the 'top guns' in the United Kingdom, Europe and even the world.

The clay pigeon sharp-shooter returned to his home in Letterston with the coveted silverware from the British Open Sporting Gun Championships, held at the West Midlands Shooting School near Market Drayton, after fending off the challenge of over 1,100 other hopefuls for the title which he has already won once before.

It nicely rounded off a productive spell for Martin because prior to that he earned the silver medal at the European Championships and also captained the English team to second place in the World Team Championships which were held in San Antonio, Texas.

Amazingly, Martin never practises because of work commitments but is involved across the UK most weekends so that he racks up over 30,000 miles each year, with wife Ruth doing a brilliant job of keeping his competition diary for him as his unpaid secretary!

Martin warmed up for his latest major success by competing on the Saturday morning in the British Open Sport Trap Competition at the same venue and confirmed he was in good form with third place overall after winning his category amongst all the top shooters by hitting 93 clays out of 100.

"It was a good way to warm up before my specialist event,“ said Martin, "and in the afternoon we started with a qualifying round in his AAA class (the top level amongst others like AA, A, veterans, ladies, juniors and colts).

"I came third with 111 out of 120 'birds' and moved up a place on Sunday morning as I shot 71 out of 75 to claim my place in the next stage that featured the top five in each class (a total of 180 competitors, that was then winkled down to the top six who had the final 25 cartridges at the end of a long day in batches of eight, eight and nine shots at different stands, known as 'stations'.

"These six were made up of three AAA-rated guns and three veterans and I knew I was in with a chance as I went to my final station needing to hit seven out of my nine clays to pick up the title.

"I was delighted, and relieved," he admitted, "to hit my first seven so the trophy was on its way to Pembrokeshire - and I must have relaxed because I missed my final two shots!"

Martin was duly presented with the solid-silver cup, which was then returned to a safe place because of its value, but he was given a replica to keep for the year.

"I was also presented with a new gun as part of the prize, the fifth I've won this year, but since I have a hand crafted gun supplied by sponsors Krieghoff and cartridges from the Hull Cartridge Company it will go away with my other trophies for safe-keeping!"

The European FITASC Target Shooting competition was this year held in Lulworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, with 800 of the top guns from countries across Europe in attendance over the four days.

“Each competitor had to shoot 50 clays each day and I scored consistently well throughout to finish with 184 out of 200 in challenging conditions to stay very much in contention - but was pipped by just one shot by a Frenchman named Christophe Auvret.”

Martin also had a long stint as captain of the English squad at San Antonio, having previously warmed up in a competition in Florida.

"There were 24 members of our team that was made up of men, ladies, veterans, supervets and juniors - and although we were in contention throughout we were beaten narrowly by the USA.”

"It was another memorable moment but now it's back to the round of smaller competitions, starting next weekend where Ruth is coming with me to Ireland - and then there's the internationally-known Midland Game Fair, where I love to compete and I have even won a car there on one occasion!

"I am very lucky to have total family support and really enjoy what I do," Martin told us, "and I aim to carry on as long as I enjoy it - and can put up with all the travel!"