Capt Mark Hynes shoots his way to gold

Capt Mark Hynes is introduced to the crowd before the start of the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix at the Pan Am Shooting Centre in Cookstown, Ont., May 1.

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

Capt Mark Hynes shot his way to redemption and a gold medal at the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix at the Pan Am Shooting Centre.

The competitive marksman who works for Joint Task Force Pacific, J3 Land Operations, finished in first place in the Men’s Air Pistol category at the shooting competition, April 28 to May 1 in Cookstown, Ont.

He edged out opponent Colin Smith of the United States by less than half a point to take the title, scoring 192.2 combined points to Smith’s 191.8.

The triumph at North America’s largest international air gun competition was especially sweet for Capt Hynes who faced disappointment at the same venue, located 90 km north of Toronto, last July while competing in the 2015 Pan Am Games.
 

“The victory gives me a huge psychological lift, but I need to remember to keep working at this and practicing because there are many others capable of winning at this competition; there will always be someone looking at knocking you off the podium next time out,” he says.

He wasn’t at his best at the Pan Am Games and settled for a disappointing 12th- place finish in qualifying for the 50m pistol qualifying, and was 25th in the 10m Air Pistol qualifying competitions, missing out on a chance to qualify for this summer’s 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“It would have been nice to do the same thing a year ago, but it was nice to go back to the same venue and put together a score that was good enough to win.”

For the win, he topped an international field that included shooters from Germany, United States, India and Trinidad and Tobago.

Capt Hynes has also competed in the Military World Games and represented Canada as a civilian at two World Cup shooting events, two continental championships and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Next up is the Canadian Nationals, which will be held at the Pan Am Shooting Centre in August.