Sparta Classifieds

Here is a photo of the new World Shooting & Recreational Complex where the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships will (probably) be held each year in August since leaving Vandalia. It is outside Sparta, in southern Illinois farm country, near St. Louis.

There are 30 "banks" of trap houses (A bank = 4 traps, so there are 120 traps along what looks like a runway in the photo) which run over three miles from one end to the other! There are 1,000 campsites (seen center left in the photo) and three lakes along with PLENTY (4,0007) of parking spaces.

Trap lines face north, so the top of this photo is west. At the west end are 4 banks(16 traps) used in programs and 3 banks (12 traps) used for practice and to shoot makeup targets. The grandstand area used for shootoffs is there. The large (air-conditioned!) vendor buildings and the Main "Central" building are also there. Across a short divide, on the east, are 23 banks (92 traps) and vendor tents (unairconditioned!).

Submitted by and compliments of
H. Lynn Parsons M.D., FACS