On Thursday the 28th of April, J. Pepe Fanjul with his lovely wife Emilia Fanjul hosted the “Pre-Shoot Cocktail Party & Dinner” at La Casita Restaurant in La Marina for participants and guests of the 35th annual Sugar Shooting Tournament.
This year the Sugar Shooting Tournament began on Monday the 25th of April with practice clays at the shooting at the Casa de Campo Shooting Center and the first European-style Driven Bird Shoot at Rancho Peligro on Tuesday – and yet it wasn’t until Thursday evening that the “Pre-Shoot Cocktail Party & Dinner”, essentially the welcome event, was celebrated at La Marina. And whilst this may seem a little odd – the “Pre-Shoot Cocktail Party & Dinner” has always taken place on the Thursday of the event – and is in fact a nod to the tournament’s history.
You see when J. Pepe Fanjul founded the tournament 35 years ago the Casa de Campo Shooting Center was smaller – with the Sporting Clays circuit, two pigeon rings, and a skeet and trap facility the Sugar Shooting tournament was shot over just 4 days. 15 years later, however, following the appointment of the new Director of Shooting; Shaun Snell, the new shooting facility at Rancho Peligro for European Style Driven Bird Shooting was opened – thus growing the tournament from a 4-day event to the 6-day event it is today.
And so having already enjoyed the impressive Casa de Campo Shooting Center facilities and Rancho Peligro, the participants, family, and friends spent a pleasant evening enjoying cocktails and good food, whilst chatting and speculating about who may be crowned the tournament champion. With so many world-class shooters in the group, there was also much talk about shooting worldwide and the different styles of shooting found across the world.
The Sugar Shooting tournament continued at the Casa de Campo Shooting Center on Friday and Saturday and closed with the prize-giving ceremony and dinner on Saturday evening at the Marina Casa de Campo Yacht Club. Stay tuned for our coverage article!
Below a gallery of photos was taken by Laura Perdomo on Thursday, April 28th at La Casita Restaurant:
