Team USA set the tone with standout individual scoring, yet the Field Marshal Earl Lord Roberts Trophy will reside in Britain after Team GB outpaced the Americans 3863-3821 in the 2025 edition at Bisley last week.
Sarah Beard’s 396 led all shooters, while Britain’s Adam Fowler anchored the home side with 391, backed by Robert Dowling and Lina Jones at 390 apiece.
The NRA Foundation supported the 2025 U.S. Roberts Team with a $10,000 grant.
Team USA Captain Patti Clark, Coach Eric Uptagrafft and Adjutant Shawn Carpenter guided a determined squad in Bisley this year, with team members Sarah Beard, Nick Mowrer, Deena Wigger McDorman, Mark Del Cotto, Evan Owen, Mike Carter, Chris Rakyta, Phil Latzgo, Howard Pitts and Steve Angeli. Reserve shooters were Kerry Spurgin and Megan Hilbish, and the official witness was Edie Fleeman.
Great Britain’s squad was captained by Mike Arnstein with David Phelps coaching. Team members were Robert Dowling, Lina Jones, Lenny Thomson, Adam Fowler, Richard Fowke, Vivien Minett, Charlie Cooper, Ken Bowley, James Paterson and Bill Baird.
At 50 meters, the U.S. had 1937 points. Beard posted the high score of 199, more than any other shooter by a two-point margin. Team GB’s Lina Jones, Lenny Thomson and Adam Fowler each had 197 scores at 50 meters, helping the team earn a 1947 score.
The Anglo‑American smallbore rivalry traces to 1931, when the U.S. challenged Great Britain to a shoulder‑to‑shoulder prone match for a new Pershing Trophy donated by General of the Armies John J. Pershing. The early contests were sporadic—interrupted by the Great Depression and World War II—before resuming in the 1950s. In 1969, British Olympian and rifleman Col. Thomas Sutton added the Field Marshal Earl Roberts Trophy, creating a paired tradition: Pershing in the United States and Roberts in Great Britain. The trophies are contested on staggered eight‑year cycles, ensuring one transatlantic meeting every four years.
The Roberts/Pershing pairing is often described as smallbore rifle’s answer to golf’s Ryder Cup—not for format, but for pageantry and national pride.
When the match is held in Britain, it is the Roberts Trophy; when in the United States, it is the Pershing Trophy—same rivalry, different silverware. The alternating venues makes each contest a great opportunity to experience the host nation’s national championship week and culture.
The course of fire has remained elegantly simple: 10 firing members per team, 20 shots at 50 meters and 20 at 100 yards, iron sights, on the host nation’s targets and rules, the latter a nod to sporting courtesy that forces travelers to adapt quickly.
Only Great Britain and the United States contest the Roberts in England, a tradition that keeps the duel intimate and the narrative tight—another reason the fixture looms so large in the smallbore community’s imagination.
Bisley possesses a meteorological reputation that borders on myth for U.S. shooters: tricky crosswinds that change speed and direction without warning. That lore isn’t idle talk; veteran accounts describe the venue’s wind as a constant tactical puzzle, a factor that routinely narrows—or widens—margins in decisive strings.
Plus, the match’s two‑stage rhythm—50 meters, then 100 yards—has historically produced momentum swings. In 2001, for instance, the U.S. edged Great Britain by four points at 50 meters (1933-1929), but lost three back at 100 yards, winning the day by a single point (3852-3851). At Bisley, fortunes pivot on tiny holds and quick sight corrections.
This year’s outcome—Team GB 3863, Team USA 3821—won’t be filed as the closest of contests, yet it fits the rivalry’s core themes: an American star (Beard) pushing against a British ensemble (Fowler, Dowling, Jones) and the ever present Bisley wind whispering its own strategy.
2025 FIELD MARSHAL EARL LORD ROBERTS TROPHY MATCH LEADERBOARD
TEAM USA
- Sarah Beard, 396
- Nick Mowrer, 389
- Deena Wigger-McDorman, 375
- Mark Del Cotto, 381
- Evan Owen, 383
- Mike Carter, 386
- Chris Rakyta, 377
- Phil Latzgo, 381
- Howard Pitts, 377
- Steve Angeli, 376
- Team Total: 3821
TEAM GB
- Robert Dowling, 390
- Lina Jones, 390
- Lenny Thomson, 388
- Adam Fowler, 391
- Richard Fowke, 386
- Vivien Minett, 387
- Charlie Cooper, 371
- Ken Bowley, 385
- James Paterson, 389
- Bill Baird, 386
- Team Total: 3863
Beyond the Leaderboard
Sarah Beard’s 396 was the top individual aggregate, a veteran‑level clinic in shot discipline. For Great Britain, Adam Fowler’s 391 set the pace, with Robert Dowling and Lina Jones each at 390.
To outsiders, a prone smallbore match can look quiet. To insiders, it is anything but: a high‑information duel where wind calls, sight pictures and tempo management decide national bragging rights by single digits as often as not. The Roberts is a living laboratory for that craft. Countless shooters have entered the tent city at Bisley as technicians and left as tacticians—humbled by a breeze and educated by the weight of a trophy that has been sought after for generations.
Next up, the rivalry cycles back stateside for the Pershing Trophy, where the U.S. will aim to flip the script on home targets under home rules. Two teams, one tradition and forty shots that always feel like history.
Be on the lookout for a full match report from the 2025 Lords Roberts Match, as well as more articles about Bisley and the competition shooting community in the United Kingdom in future issues of the digital magazine.
Notes: Historical context and descriptions are sourced from the National Small-bore Rifle Association (UK), NRA Competitive Shooting resources and Shooting Sports USA features by Hap Rocketto and staff.
