Sunday, March 29, 2020

Cancellation of the 2020 Safari Rifle Challenge



I am sad to announce that the 2020 Safari Rifle Challenge in Libby, Montana is being cancelled.

With the shoot now less than 90 days away, and so much national uncertainty about how the COVID-19 virus may affect us in the coming months, the organizers felt that it was prudent to cancel this year’s event. The match director, Jay Sheffield, has personally spoken with several participants that expressed concern about travel at this time. We felt it was important to cancel the event early enough that there would be no issues for participants who would soon be scheduling vacation days, travel and lodging.

I hope you all understand that we did not make this decision lightly, but obviously the health and safety of event participants is our foremost concern.

On the positive side, we are making some huge improvements to our range facility. All work will be completed before June 12, 2021 which is the date of our next scheduled competition. The addition of four new shooting bays will allow us to run six different stages simultaneously. The planned format is for competitors to move from one bay to the next at their own pace. Shooters will simply need to have completed all six stages before noon. Then, while we have lunch and a prize raffle, organizers will be setting up six new scenarios to be shot during the afternoon. We believe that this format will not only allow for a smoother flow but will also allow us to increase the number of competitors.  With that in mind, please be thinking of someone that YOU could invite to the next event. As a little motivation to get the event back on track and celebrate our new facilities, we have decided to offer returning competitors $20 in raffle tickets for each new paid shooter that they bring to the event (details will be in next year’s registration packet).

Hopefully we will all weather the current situation without issue, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2021.