“2024 - 10th Annual STEAMBOAT CHALLENGE” 

NRA ACTION PISTOL REGIONAL AND WYOMING STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Event was conducted at the 

Otto Road Shooting Range in Cheyenne, Wyoming

on August 16, 17 and 18, 2024

The spirit of Steamboat was strong this year marking its 10th anniversary and for the first time we had an “international” tournament with participation from New Zealand and Germany.  Feedback and satisfaction from the competitors was outstanding especially comments about all the volunteers and RO’s who worked hard to keep things moving along.  Robert was drafted into the job of Chief Range Safety Officer and kudos to him for keeping a lid on range operations on Saturday and Sunday.  I’m especially grateful to all of you who took down range equipment on Sunday and secured it in the CONEXes.  John Sanders and I went to the range this morning and cleaned out the classroom and office and retrieved my generator and gas can.  

I’d like to thank Hank and Dee Vangoethen managers of Otto Rd Range  along with Mark Eisele proprietor of King Ranch for their fantastic support of the shooting sports in Cheyenne.  Without them we have nothing.  

We couldn’t be prouder of Bridger Steege who finished a close 2nd place in the Saturday Regional and the proverbial ‘icing on the cake” — winning the Sunday Wyoming State Championship.  In previous years the US Army Marksmanship Unit from Fort Moore, GA have come in and swept the top awards — but not this year with young Bridger breaking their streak of dominance.  Well done Bridger!

Next up for me is to pay the bills and send the necessary reports to the NRA.  The idea of submitting thank you cards for prizes submitted by the sponsors went well.  I’ll be mailing them out and hopefully it will pay some dividends for repeat support.  

However, all was not well —a competitor (who I won’t name) was miffed at me being ‘loose with rules” regarding equipment for the special revolver side match on Sunday. This same competitor also had a run in with Marshall about parking too close to his truck on the range.   He said he will file a protest with the NRA about me and  how I went about equipment decisions.   But, thanks to our three member Jury of John Sanders, George Mowbray and Robert Gaskins the situation was handled professionally.   

Next year's Steamboat matches will be the third Saturday in August — 16 & 17 2025.   I’m strongly considering applying to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) to sanction the Saturday Regional match and the NRA for the State match.  Eventually I want to go with the CMP for both Regional and State matches.  

Once again thank you all  —  Steamboat is powered by volunteers and  the match doesn’t happen without you! 

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Andrew Rayland at 307-640-0396 or email at arayland@charter.net

See the the links below for the 2 gun aggregate on Friday, the Saturday Regional and the Sunday State match.

2 Gun Aggregate

Saturday Regional Match

Sunday State Match