Snipers show their skills at Coleman’s Creek Sniper Competition

ELLERBE — Fifty-eight marksmen put their sniping skills to the test over the weekend at the inaugural Coleman’s Creek Sniper Competition.

The two-day Sniper Competition, hosted by Coleman’s Creek Training Center, is a precision shooting accuracy match modeled after the annual United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) sniper competition. The shooters competed in teams of two, and each team completed six consecutive timed stages per day. Each stage was located at one of Coleman Creek’s several shooting ranges located throughout the 640-acre facility. All of the ranges are unique in range, purpose and difficulty — the largest range is a mile long.

The stages featured several targets, including some that were easily visible in plain sight and others that teams had to work together to locate. The competition included timed stages, meaning teams had to work fast to find the targets — some of which were several hundred yards away and surrounded by vegetation — and hit as many of them as possible in the allotted time frame.

Coleman’s Creek is a privately owned facility located at 199 Green Road in Ellerbe. The center is designed to be used by military, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Coleman’s Creek currently has approximately 300 members. Both members and non-members of Coleman’s Creek could register for the Sniper Competition. The field of competitors included marksmen from U.S. Army Special Operations, law enforcement and several civilians.

Coleman’s Creek Owner Keli Elkins said a father-son team from the Dietrich family won the competition after pulling ahead on the second day.

“The first time J.B. Brown, Coleman Creek’s range director, saw the beautiful Sandhills and terrain (at Coleman’s Creek), he thought it would be the perfect venue for all range shooting events,” Elkins said. “He wanted this competition to be on par with The USASOC Sniper Competition held on Fort Bragg each year.”

“We think it was a success and look forward to next year,” she added. “We had a lot of local support and national, state and local sponsors.”

Coleman’s Creek is slated to host the Bushnell Elite Sniper Challenge in February 2021.