The Mounties Get Their Man

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police might not actually use horses that often, but they do keep a few around for ceremonial purposes (and also stomping the odd protester here and there). Another tradition the Mounties keep around is the Connaught Cup—and they’ve got a new winner for 2024. Corporal Pascal Boudreau from H Division (Nova Scotia) is the latest winner of the award for top shooter.

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What’s the Connaught Cup?

The Connaught Cup is the RCMP’s pistol-shooting trophy, handed out to the Mounties’ top handgunner as per the results of a shoot-off. It’s been handed out since 1903, and is one of Canada’s oldest sporting trophies, right up there with the NHL’s Stanley Cup and the CFL’s Grey Cup. The Connaught Cup is also one of the oldest shooting competitions in the country.

For this year’s trophy, a handful of competitors from across Canada showed up at the force’s Integrated Training Facility at Depot Division, Regina, Saskatchewan, including shooters from the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

The 2024 results

Boudreau was flawless in this year’s competition, says the RCMP’s press release:

The competition requires participants to fire a single RCMP Pistol Course of Fire using their force-issue duty pistol. Currently, this is the Marksmanship Course of Fire with a score out of 250. The individual recording the highest score is declared the winner, has their name inscribed on the Connaught Cup and is named "The Best Pistol Shot in the RCMP" for the year. Cpl. Boudreau scored a perfect score of 250 in the competition with 29 bullseyes. History was also made, as this was the first time that a participant from H Division earned this title.

This was the first time the Connaught Cup had run since it was put on hold in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.