Mark actually got into shooting by accident when he was 12 years old. He didn’t come from a shooting background at all, so when his dad was invited to go clay shooting by a friend, he asked if Mark could go in his place instead. It was literally the first time Mark had ever seen a gun; He hadn’t even held an air rifle before. But by all accounts Mark was a complete natural – no one believed that he had never shot before – so Mark was encouraged to take it up. His dad started taking him to the local clay ground twice a month as that was all they could afford. It wasn’t long after that. His local clay ground in Essex ran 70-bird competitions on Sundays and almost right away Mark started winning the junior section. After that, His dad and Mark started touring the country, making sure that he entered the England selection shoots. By the time Mark was 15, only three years after he first fired a gun, Mark made the England Sporting junior team. Ever since then, shooting has been his life. Mark’s proudest achievement has to be winning the Stratstone Ultimate One at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School. Mark went home with a brand new Range Rover Autobiography! That competition may never happen again, so it was a bit of a miracle that Mark won it, especially with a score of 25 straight (the next best score was 19)! Mark still has to pinch himself when he thinks about it – it really was an incredible day.[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/19851230/height-orig/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/custom-color/ba2000/height/90″ height=”90″ width=”100%” placement=”bottom” theme=”custom”]
