The Shadow
Lauryl Akenhead, a competitor in the Precision Rifle League, finished first as a sharpshooter in the Ladies Open Category the first day of the International Championship competition in France.
The 17-year-old from Bedford, raised $6,270 via an online fundraiser to help pay for her expenses to travel to France to compete after she accepted an invitation from the U.S. Team.
Her best competitive matches prior to being selected to represent the U.S. Team that competed in France was a 4th place finish out of 87 shooters competing in the Road to Redemption competition in 2021 and a 4th place finish out of 53 competing in the Pigg River Precision, Inc. match held in Feb.
Competing against youth shooters from 66 clubs across America in the NRL 22 match in Aug., Akenhead finished second to legendary champion sharpshooter Allison Zane from Pa., losing by a 454-452 score.
By the end of the competition in France, the U.S. Team had won the championship with Akenhead finishing in the Top 20 as a sharpshooter. She placed 19th out of the worldwide field of 244 competitors.
Payton Grimes, the No. 1 shooter in the competition for the U.S., was the only sharpshooter on the U.S. Team to finish ahead of Akenhead.
Currently, Akenhead attends Central Virginia Community College where she pursuing a career as a welder.
She continues to perform as a team shooter for Master Piece Arms and competes in the Atlantic Coast Region.
With three years of competitive shooting under her belt, she represents the Virginia 4-H Shooting and serves as President of the Bedford County Young Farmers.
As for the greatest challenge that she faced in the shooting completion in France, she identified the erratic wind.
Akenhead recalled, “The biggest challenge was the wind shifts.”
She explained that the sudden shifts in wind from 30 degrees right to 25 degrees left made it more difficult to shoot with the accuracy desired.
“Also, it was difficult because we did not have berms behind the targets, and that made it harder to see the impact,” she remembered.
Akenhead expressed her thanks to her sponsors MasterPiece Arms, Leupold Optics and Lone Peak, and she explained that through their help that half of the expenses for her trip to France was met and that her “Go Fund Me” fundraiser on social media enabled her to raise the other half of the funds to cover the cost of her trip.
She offered, “We had teams from 27 countries competing, and the competitors were super friendly.”
“In America we have it super easy compared to some of the other countries,” Akenhead observed.
Her future plans include competing in more shooting matches in the US and abroad.
“I have four more this year, and then I’ll be competing in Tennessee for the U.S. Nationals,” she concluded.
Annie Oakley gained fame when she was 15 by competing in a shooting match against Frank Butler, a touring sharpshooter who hit 24 of the 25 targets, only to lose to Oakley who hit all 25. The couple married the following year and toured the world as sharpshooters.
After 50 years of marriage, they both died in 1926 within three weeks of one another. “Annie Get Your Gun,” is a Hollywood movie and a Broadway play about her life, including her touring with Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West Show.”
Sitting Bull took a liking to Oakley and gave her the nickname, “Little Miss Sure Shot.” Akenhead appears to be on her way to earning such a moniker as well.
