Shooting for the stars at 50 years old.
Patrick Reed intends to do so well into his 80s, and quite literally so.
Reed returned home this month from the World Police and Fire Games, his second time competing in the Olympic-style sports competition for first responders and retirees, which were held June 27 to July 6.
The competition is hosted every other year all around the world.
He collected 10 medals—three gold, four silver, and three bronze—in sport shotgun shooting, among fellow competitors who he said had an average age of 50, including some “well into their 80s.”
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) lead mechanic, who is an avid sports shooter in his free time, competed in a range of trap, skeet, and sporting clay shooting contests over 10 days in Birmingham, Alabama—the host city of the 2025 event.
“I’ll continue to shoot until I can’t,” Reed said.
Reed, who has worked with Vancouver’s Fire Department as a mechanic since he was 34, explained he began taking part in the department’s fundraiser, the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) “Shoot for a cure,” which happens every spring in Richmond
“I started going down to that shoot 17 years ago, and I started to gain a passion for sport shootings. So yeah, that's how it all started. It was kind of through my work,” he said.
The Vancouver Firefighter Charities’ website reads that the fundraiser is “a sporting clay shooting challenge with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the ALS Society of B.C. … with the hope that a cure for ALS will one day be found.”
A couple of years ago, Reed discovered that the World Police and Fire Games' teams practised sports shooting, so he signed up and headed to compete in the games, which were hosted in Winnipeg in 2023. He also spent 10 days there, coming away with four silver medals.
He said that he started shooting competitively around B.C. about six months before his time in Winnipeg. Although largely self-taught, he said he has recently taken formal shooting lessons up in Kamloops, “which really seemed to help,” in his preparation for this year’s games in Alabama.
Reed travelled to Montgomery for three days, and Talladega for two, as there were no on-site shooting facilities on the central games site in Birmingham. Accompanying him, and shooting beside him as his teammates, were four agents from the Canadian Border Services Agency, two from Vancouver, and two from Christina Lake.
“All five of us shot [well]; everybody kind of lifts the shooting scores when everyone is doing good,” Reed said.
In Montgomery, Reed and his team competed in trap shooting, firing a total of 300 shots in 3 rounds; 100 at 106 metres (116 yards), 100 at 112 metres (122 yards), and 100 doubles at 15 metres (16 yards), in which two ‘birds’ appear as targets simultaneously.
In Talladega, Reed competed in skeet shooting, firing 100 single shots in one round, then 100 doubles in the other.
His final day in Talladega was spent firing 100 shots of sporting clay.
Reed said he spent some time that week with two hockey teams from Vancouver, and a weight lifter, also from Squamish, and working with the Vancouver Fire Department.
Reed cites outdoor recreation enthusiast and past Squamish resident Dale Rockwell among his big influences.
“[Rockwell has been] super helpful over the years with little tips and tricks,” he said.
Reed said he continues to partake in shooting at The Squamish Valley Rod and Gun Club (SVRGC), and also thanked Dave Banbury (a close friend of the late SVRGC member Art Brendle) for making his shooting experiences so enjoyable.
“Your passion and camaraderie have made all the difference, and without you, none of this would be possible,” he said.
Reed elaborated on his fondness for his like-minded communities.
“Within the fire service, there are a lot of fishermen and hunters and so on. And that's why the ALS fundraiser shoot [has] such a huge following. There was an amazing team from Florida that I met [at the games]; they’re old, retired firefighters who like to talk about hunting and fishing, and they're great people. It's the same with the people that I shoot with in Squamish. Everybody is very kind and welcoming … shooting [is] not just a hobby, but something I genuinely look forward to every weekend.”
Reed gave further honourable mentions and thanks to firefighter Adam Bordignon, “who goes above and beyond organizing everything,” and Alta Lake Electric for providing him with “proper” shooting glasses, which have “made a world of difference.”
Reed is mindful that shooting can be a contentious activity, but encourages safety and the strength of community foremost.
“I know it's a touchy subject and there's a lot of negativity around it, but if people were to go [to a local gun club] and see how much fun there is to be had, people's opinions would change. I shoot for fun, but I also like the addictiveness of it,” he said.
“It'd be nice to get more youth involved, to learn about gun safety, and experience time with great people. I've learned a lot.”
Reed confirmed that he and his team from this year’s games will be competing in the next World Police and Fire Games in Perth, in March 2027.
Ina Pace is The Squamish Chief's Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) reporter.
This reporting was produced through the LJI, which supports original civic journalism across Canada.
