The Tasmanian Gun Club Inc. held the annual Tasmanian Skeet Championships at their club on the weekend of the 29th and 30th October 2011.

Conditions on the first day were cold and quite windy with frequent drizzling rain, making the competition very difficult. The second day saw an improvement in the weather, but the wind still persisted. The intermittent patches of sun were welcome. The club house was pretty well packed most of the weekend.

A good attendance of 55 shooters attended over the weekend, numbers were up considerably thanks to the contingent of mainland shooters who always support our carnival. The carnival now has a very creditable prize pool, thanks to the generosity of Casella Wines, World Heritage Cruises, the Rockliff Family, George Pinner and John Foster.

There were some very good scores shot with Chris Rockliff of Sassafras winning the prestigious High Gun award with an aggregate score of 246/250, this resulted in him being presented with a sash, a coveted silver Tassie Badge, a cruise on the Gordon River courtesy of World Heritage Cruises of Strahan and a cash prize.

Chris’s only event win for the weekend was the 100 target State Skeet Championship with 113/114, however this is the major skeet event in the Tasmanian calendar and the one all skeet shooters strive to win.

The Don Taylor Memorial Championship held on Saturday was won by Phil Turner of Devonport with 68/68 after a shoot-off with Glen Clarke, Alan Spinks and Bernie Smith who took out the AA, A and B grades respectively. Good shooting by Matthew Glover saw him claim C grade and the junior section with a 49/50. Phil Turner's 50/50 also saw him claim the veterans section.

The State Skeet Doubles Championship was won by Glen Clarke with an excellent 57/58 after a shoot-off with Graham Blaskett and Eddy Elder. Graham and Eddy, both shooting an event score of 49/50, had to be happy with the AA grade and A Grade prizes with Eddy also claiming the junior section.

The scores were also high in the State 20 gauge Championship event, this event has been a feature of the carnival for the last two years and is now firmly entrenched on the annual skeet championship weekend. Hobart shooter Michael Blackwell shot an excellent 64/64 to win overall after a shoot-off with John Foster, Chris Rockliff and Bernie Smith of Devonport. John had to be satisfied with AA on 61/61 and Bernie with B on 50/50. An excellent 49/50 saw Matthew Glover from Burnie claim C grade. Eddy Elder took A grade with 49/50 and Junior with a 54/55 after a shoot-off with Matthew Glover.

The 100 target State Tasmanian Skeet Championship was won by Chris Rockliff on 113/114 after a shoot off with mainland junior Eddy Elder, both shooting an excellent event score of 99 out of 100. Eddy had to be satisfied with a win in A grade with his 99/100. Shane O'Brien all the way from Kalgoorlie shot an excellent 98/100 to win AA and Katrina McLaren shot a creditable 96/100 to win the ladies section.
Katrina always manages to shoot excellent scores and this year managed to get a 100 break badge. Break badges were also won by Alan Spinks 75/75 and both Tom and Chris Jenkins 50/50.

All in all a very good weekend's shooting enjoyed by shooters from all over the state and from the mainland.


Click Here for Winner's results