| NSW State Skeet Carnival - 14-17 August 2009 |
On Friday 14 August 2009 all the fun started, we had people coming from all over NSW and also from other States. The weather was perfect for shooting on Friday and Saturday, with the showers coming in on Sunday. You can usually tell a good shoot! No complaints about the targets, no trap break downs, great weather (for the first two days and then it was a bit ordinary), affordable noms, a good return of money back to shooters, 92 shooters with a good mix of the grades, good catering and four state titles up for grabs. This was the NSWCTA Skeet carnival held at the National Shooting Ground in Wagga over three days in August, and the scene was set for some excellent shooting by all who attended. Several members of the NSWCTA executive: President Paul Watchorn along with Les Aberley, Peter Haley, Fred Rapley, Bob Blake and Michael Kruger-Davis, rolled up their sleeves and got in to run the shoot. Sponsorship was secured from Gunsmoke in Bathurst, Safari Firearms, Winchester, Max Kavanagh and Glenn Walker from Hydefspex, who generously donated a set of these fantastic shooting glasses. Whilst it was expected that Frank Auditore would run the office and the shoot via his brilliant shoot program, this was not to happen. So this shoot was run the old way: by hand. Whilst it might have been a little slower when nominating and squad sheets had to be hand written, once the first wave was out shooting the job got easier and there were no hiccups from then on. There were several other people who need to be mentioned because their input made the shoot the success it was: Kathleen Dawe, our State Secretary, had never experienced a state carnival before, so this was a good initiation before the state trap carnival in October. Trina Watchorn and Sandra Haley worked flat out processing the squad sheets, getting the scores entered on the board and preparing the shoot-off sheets. Ken Douglas also needs a mention because he stepped in and did a range of ‘gopher’ jobs, those little jobs that take time and cause great concern if they are not done. A tireless job, that is an absolute necessity, was performed by Elaine Reed and her daughter Donna, who kept the shooters well fed with a range of fair and even some home-made cakes and muffins. I would be surprised if anyone didn’t enjoy the shoot and I would be even more surprised to learn that this was the sum total of skeet shooters in the state. So let’s get behind this carnival for next year, if you are a skeet shooter come along, and if you’re worried about competing at a state carnival because you feel you’re not good enough: don’t worry. There is a chance that you could take home a handicap prize or a B or C grade medal and a prize. The biggest gain will be that because you have experience in a bigger shoot, you will be able to perform better when you back at your home club. If you’re mainly a trap or sporting shooter, then you are also most welcome: the cross discipline training will improve your shooting and you may take home a prize. It happened this year. If you have any ideas on how the NSWCTA can promote the skeet carnival better, then drop the Association a line: we would value your ideas. So in beautiful weather, the shoot got off to a good start, and it wasn’t long before there were some scores on the board, several in red. A full list of the results follow. On Friday we started with Event 1 the 50 target 20 Gauge Championship, we had 69 competitors, of which were 5 ladies, 3 juniors, 2 sub-juniors, 14 veterans, the rest open. The overall Champion in this event was Paul Johnston of Melbourne VIC with 137/137, 1st in AA was Adrian Cousens of Bairnsdale VIC with 113/114, 2nd in AA was Peter Vella with 85/86, 1st in A went to Shane O’Brien from Kalgoolie 136/137, 2nd in A went to Locky Irons with 72/74, 1st in B was Doug Blewitt from Cooma NSW with 52/54, 2nd in B was John Dyas with 51/54, 1st in C was Alison Farish of Benalla VIC with 60/64, 2nd in C was Trevor O’Connell with 59/64, Veteran Award went to John Guberina from NSWGC with 50/50, Junior Award went to David Douglas with 44/50, Sub-Junior Award went to Chris Barber of CPCTC with 34/54, Ladies Award went to Alison Farish. Friday afternoon we stepped into Event 2 the 50 target State Skeet Handicap. We had 85 competitors in this event, 1st went to Stephen Bell of CPCTC with 174/180, 2nd went to David Douglas from NLMCTC with 173/180, 3rd to David Pope from Wangaratta with 124/129, 4th to Michael Kruger-Davis from Narrandera with 77/80 and 5th went to Peter McWilliam from Griffith with 63/68. On Saturday we held Event 3 the 100 target State Skeet Championship, we had 92 shooters in this event, made up of 7 ladies, 2 sub-junior, 3 juniors and 13 veterans. Overall went to Paul Johnston from Melbourne VIC with 100/100, 1st in AA was Martin Perry of WA with 121/122, 2nd in AA went to G Clarke with 120/122, 1st in A went to Reg Coombes of SA with 98/100, 2nd in A went to R Nicholson with 97/100, 1st in B went to David Douglas from NLMCTC with 98/100, 2nd in B went to Frank Hedley with 97/100, 1st in C went to Alison Farish of Benalla VIC with 93/100, 2nd in C went to Jack Cunningham with 92/100, Veterans Award went to John Guberina with 99/100, Junior Award went to David Douglas, Sub-Junior Award went to Ross Tourgelis from CPCTC with 83/100, Ladies went to Alison Farish. Sunday brought on the rain and started with Event 4 the 50 target NSWCTA Skeet Championship, 85 competitors in this event 5 ladies, 2 sub-juniors, 3 juniors, 12 veterans. Overall went out to Gill Farish from Wangaratta VIC with 127/127, 1st in AA went to John Guberina with 126/127, 2nd in AA went to Paul Johnston with 89/90, 1st in A went to Jeff Martin of Bathurst with 64/65, 2nd in A went to David Cunningham with 56/57, 1st in B went to Michael Kruger-Davis with 63/64, 2nd in B went to David Douglas with 49/50, 1st in C went to Chris barker with 45-50, 2nd in C went to Jack Cunningham with 52/58, Veterans Award went to John Guberina, Junior to David Douglas with 49/50, Sub-Junior Award went to Chris Barber with 45/50, Ladies went to Leonie Johnston with 52/58. Event 5 the 25 pair State Doubles Championship was held Sunday afternoon with 82 Competitors. Overall went to Julian Lucchitti from NSWGC with 68/70, 1st in AA went to Peter Vella with 67/70, 2nd in AA went to N Mahouf with 54/58, 1st in A went to John Cassin with 47/50, 2nd in A went to Jeff Martin with 50/54, 1st in B went to Justin Hayden from Melbourne VIC with 48/50, 2nd in B went to David Douglas with 46/50, 1st in C went to Nic Tourgelis with 47/50, 2nd in C went to Peter Dent with 46/50, Veterans Award went to John Guberina with 47/50, Juniors Award went to David Douglas with 46/50, Sub-Juniors Award went to Ross Tourgelis, Ladies Award went to Leonie Johnston with 43/56. High Guns went to AA Grade Julian Lucchitti with a score of 245, A Grade Jeff Martin with a score of 241, B Grade David Douglas with a score of 241, C Grade Stephen Bell with a score of 231, Women’s High Gun went to Alison Farish with a score of 227, Veterans High Gun went to John Guberina with a score of 244, Junior High Gun went to Joshua Bell with a score of 231, Sub-Junior High Gun went to Chris Barber with a score of 194. The Overall Carnival High Gun went to Paul Johnston with a score of 295/300. Teams representing their Zones Central Zone – Peter Vella, Doug Moorby, Jeff Martin. Total score = 142
State Skeet Teams selected to represent NSW at the Nationals Open – J Lucchitti, J Guberina, D Douglas, T Dent, P Vella. The Two Man Team event winners were – Paul Johnston and Gil Farish with 387/400. The Three Member Club Team event winners were – Mal Briggs, Brendon Pearson, Locky Irons of Melbourne with 437/450.
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