It has been said that ‘The King – KO1M SA (The King of 1 Mile South Africa) or KO2M SA (King of 2 Miles South Africa) claims to be the most sought after and prestigious event on the South African shooting calendar – which is a tall order in fast-growing long-range shooting sport.
This year the internationally recognized competition was attended by many overseas competitors despite the tricky COVID-19 travel challenges.
The competition was held at the new ELR Range at the Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve which is the perfect venue for the LR and ELR competitions. As the venue forms part of the greater Karoo Conservancy there is plenty of accommodation, fully catered, self-catering, and camping options all close to the range.
Six- shooting points were built offering liberal space with a standard gazebo to shield competitors from the harsh weather – even though the conditions and climate, in the area, is excellent to host an event of this caliber. Each of the shooting points had concrete floors which are the ideal platforms for shooting accuracy. The range is also open to groups and clubs that want to organize private events prior to big events and it will soon, the venue that is, will have a range of standard gongs available.
As the ‘King’ is an international competition both KO1M and KO2M have qualifying rounds on day one. And on the second day, the top 10 or 15 shooters compete – depending on the overall number of competitors.
In 2021’s competition the KO1M saw 5 shooters (out of 80 entries) and KO2M had 10 shooters (out of 40 entries) competing for the titles.
A core shot at a dedicated target sets off the qualifying round followed by five shots on Target 1, three shots on targets 2 – 4 totaling 15 shots. The final only allows for three scoring targets – each target is allowed five shots to tally up to 15 shots.
The range varies from 600m to just over a mile (KO1M) and from 1200m to just over 2 miles (KO2M) and the principle of ‘hit to advance’ forms the rules for this event – this means that you can only shoot the further targets once you’ve reached the ones closest to you.
The whole event was so well organized and not even the harsh and unexpected heavy rain and winds could put a damper on things. The KO1MSA kicked off on a Thursday with a strong entry of 80 people, and yet with winds of up to 300 miles an hour and very wet fields the competition was completed that day.
On Friday morning the KO2M SA competitors also faced cold and wet weather and once again strong wind but this didn’t subdue the excellent camaraderie and sportsmanship shown by organizers and competitors alike.
Saturday morning was kinder weather-wise, the wet range was still causing a bit of a problem but the day still ran smoothly leading up to an excellent dinner and prize-giving that evening. The special group of long-range shooting fanatics were thrilled to be together and experience an event of this magnitude.
