By James R. Langford
South Carolina Bureau
Article dated March 10, 1995

MONTMORENCI - The wind was icy, one of the marksmen had congested sinuses and the practice grounds were incomplete.

Nonetheless, Great Britain's Olympic skeet team coach and manager gave four members a workout at the South Carolina Outdoor Shooting Center Thursday and pronounced it to be exactly what they were looking for.

Coach James G. Mair said he even likes the Augusta area's humidity, though there was little of it Thursday morning.

``The humidity here is slightly higher (than Atlanta's) which will be good when we get to Atlanta, because that will be a little bit friendlier.''

``The facilities are fine,'' too, he added. ``Unfortunately, the weather has thrown things behind a bit.''

Weather prevented the completion of the shooting center's trap-shooting bunker, officials said. The bunker is a partially underground compartment from which 15 trap machines project targets into the air.

Otherwise, the center ``is tremendous,'' said team manager Roger Peace. ``We appreciate the severe bad weather you've had and that it's curtailed the building program, but it's coming together. We know that it will be finished.''

Thursday was the team's first run-through at the Windsor center, its official training site for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Mr. Mair said the team plans more trips to Aiken this fall, then in April, June and July 1996.

That will allow marksmen to acclimate themselves to the humid southern climate - which could prove problematic for people used to a temperate climate.

``Humidity leaves you lifeless,'' Mr. Mair said. ``It wrings you out, literally. That brings in stress; stress brings in loss of concentration and that brings in loss of targets.''

While in the U.S., Mr. Mair said he wants to tour Wolf Creek, the Atlanta shooting club where the Olympic event will be held, and compare its layout with that of the Windsor club.

``The sort of background they've got there determines the sort of background we train with,'' he said. ``There's no sense working with one background if you're going to be shooting at something complete different.''