Welcome back!!

I had a brilliant welcome back to the uk with Rachel (lying toe-rag) suprising me at heathrow not only with her presence but also with a TV crew, (cheers love) I assume you've seen that on the news!!
Arriving back at the Welsh Institute of Sport I was greeted by Mum, Hari and Phil. More Cameras and yes as you've all seen on the news, more tears. Believe it or not I had missed them, Hari included!!!!

Later that evening, Dave does LIVE radio sports debate!!!


The guys at work were impressed!!


And so onto the quiet drink I was expecting up at the Black Cock Inn. (Rachel = lying toe-rag again) Quiet - no, big party - yes, AWESOME - absolutely!!!!!
Cheers to everyone for coming up and a big thanks goes to Rachel for the organising, and especially on the flag.

Here goes chaps.....

Say CHEEEESE....

The flag	The cake

Cardiff Uni Rifle crew	Tesco (safeway) work crew

Hey were not drinking	Niether are they

(Honest guv)

Phil is LAMF	He may not have been alone in LAMF

I don't want to know!!!!	Me and my Official double (I'm on the right!!)

Smiley happy people!!!	and yet more

Should I be disturbed??	maybe not....

Now listen ere Dave


Cheers guys


and we'll speak soon.

Dave

The CGV - The end

Here are some final images from the village on the day we left the village. It was quite emotional (no I didn't quite cry) to see the village closing down and waving goodbye to various teams and people I'd met. It had been home for quite a while and its a place that will forever stay in my memory as a part of home from home.

Shock horror!! Casual dining closed - this hurt the most....


Some of the shooters luggage


Team Wales awaits the buses



As does Team Australia


This was great..



And that was the end of the Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006 for me. A highly successfull and enjoyable experience for not just myself but the team also.

There are far to many people who I would like to thank for their contributions to my shooting and well being, and without wanting to forget or omit any name I shall put it simply:

Thank you all

Dave

The CGV day 22

Look who I met at lunch....


Now listen here Mr Blair......


He asked to pose for a photo with a Gold medalist (I happened to be around and not busy)

Or was it other way round, can't remember???

The unofficial Welsh inprovise didjeridoo (spelling) band

album due out soon.....
( and yes they are plastic table legs...)

Have fun guys and see you all soon..

The previous post has been updated too....

Dave

The CGV day 19

GOLD

Pics are here!!!!!!

nice colour me thinks


Who's that shooting then????


Who's the Man


It meant a great deal to be on that rostrum!!!!


We like pictures....


The wall of fame.....

As you can imagine, I am over the moon and still climbing.

Thank you to all who have helped, supported and well wished me to this medal. Everyone has played their part, Thank you all. I can't wait to get back home and see all you guys and celebrate this success with you all. I think its going to be one huge, messy and long party!!!

Well done to Johanne on her bronze medal, fantastic!!!


Already shooting have won more medals here than we did back in 2002 in Manchester. Another interesting stat is that Welsh shooting has won a gold medal at the last 4 consecutive Commonwealth games, and we don't have a Welsh national facility!!!! Just think what we could achieve if we had one!!!!!!

I'm going to be quite lame here and leave this for the moment and carry on the drinking! I'm thinking I need the practice for when I get back, because I intend to get battered with anyone and all of you who would like to join me!!!

( will uplaod pics as soon as blogger allows me!!!!)

Dave
Commonwealth Champion prone rifle

(sounds good, I think I like it)

The CGV day 16

Its ben a fairly quiet day today for me, though the 3p guys were performing today. Unfortionatly the lack of pictures on here goes to show where they finished, I won't dwell on it, but neither were happy.

We did have a bit of an international superstar at the range today though.....

KARAK
(Official mascot of the games)


The blog is getting bigger coverage as the days go by, Here I introduce the blog to some very lovely and extremely helpfull volunteers in the transport area at the Victoria Hotel (told you I put the picture on here!!)


And while I was there, they took this picture!!

Cheers for the e-mail!!!

Here's one for Rachel...

Free, Unlimited, vegetarian spring rolls - casual diner, CGV
(they're LUSH!!!!)

Breaking News!!!!!
Amazing occurance at the air range - a que of people tring to get into the range due to it being at full capacity!!!!!

WOW!!!

I have my elimination match tomorrow evening, it shouldn't be a problem as we only need to drop a few from each detail, in preparation for the qualification match on the 22nd. Fingers crossed and watch this space for a lateish update tomorrow (maybe).

Th Th Thats all folks...
Untill the next exciting installment that is.

Cherrs and god speed.

Dave

The CGV day 15

Here's what the BBC website had to say:

Gruffudd Morgan and David Phelps took bronze in the 50m prone pairs to give Wales their third bronze of the Games.

The Welsh pair finished with 1176 points, behind Scotland (1179pts) and England (1182pts).

"It's very difficult to express how over the moon I am. After a lot of hard work, effort and team-work we've brought home the bacon," said Phelps.


All I can say is NICE!!!!!

No medals in the shooting today for Wales but there was some success for other home nations.

Louse and Becky win Gold in 3 position women's Pairs match	Julia and Georgina won Bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol pairs match.

Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport, came to the range today and took part in the awarding ceremony for the men’s rapid fire pistol pair’s event. It was really good to see a politician at a shooting range and to take part in the events going on. He seemed to smiling a great deal and looked to be enjoying his time there. Alun, if you read this and ever want to give shooting a go for yourself, please don't hesitate to ask!!

Alun takes part in the prize presentations	And meets my Dad

I also met Rhianon and family today at the team Wales Treacy center (chill out and meet n' greet place). It was great to see them and meet some of the family I'd never seen before. They are coming to the range on the 22nd to support and chear me on as part of their holiday to melbourne to see the commonwealth games.



I'm sorry for the lack of pictures today, but I've been on the laptop for over 2 hours and not 1 photo has uploaded!!! Not fair!! I will try yo edit this post tomorrow with the appropriate pictures.

Edit: as you can see now, I have uploaded some pics. Enjoy...

Speak again soon.

Dave

The CGV day 14

This is what we wanted all wanted to see.


And this is where we wanted to see it!!!!


These are the scores posted on the board.


A clean sweep by UK on the rostrum for the mens Prone 50m Pairs event.


A lot of preasure has lifted of the shoulders now, I have a Commonwealth games medal to my name. Thank you all who have supported and helped me along the way, its meant a great deal to me over the months and years.
Cheers guys, I'm going now before I start crying again. Its getting embarrasing now!!!!

Dave