News

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 12th January 2019, T W Willman Trophy, 900yards

            Wind, strong gusty wind was the enemy on Saturday and it came at shooters from a number of directions throughout the day, before settling between south and west, jumping backwards and forwards, and increasing and decreasing in velocity. At times there were four point changes between shots as the wind squared up, and there weren’t many who escaped its wrath as the carnage continued through the afternoon.

                Just hitting the target was difficult for some and there was a wide spread of hits on the target. Of the target rifle group Graeme Bright and Steve Williams put in the best performances with Bright shooting a superb 49.06 second stage to secure the Cock of the Walk from Williams who also shot 49 but could not find enough centre bulls eyes. Gordon Shepherd had a one point lead at the changeover but the wind gusts caught him out with two magpie threes ending his challenge.

                B grade shooters really had a hard time of it as they jumped about the target seemingly without any control. From Dennis Lavelle and Ron Gibson down 9 points apiece to John Coghill and Darren Crimston down 14 and 12 points respectively things looked pretty grim and the situation didn’t change in the second stage. Coghill and Crimston fared even worse but Gibson did a good job in grinding out a Cock of the Walk win with a 46.01 second stage to just top Lavelle who also put in a big effort with 45.02.

                F class competitors were just as perplexed by the gusty, swirling wind and scores were a testament to the level of difficulty. Jeff Eppleston, Grahame Willis and Ben Wright did well to score in the mid 50’s but their super bull’s eye counts were quite low. There were 4 competitors grouped in the 49 to 52 range none of whom excelled in the super bulls eye area. Phil Mahon managed 3 in his 49 whilst Luke Harris shot a 52.2 but Geoff Willis 52.0 and Angus Ogilvie 50.0 couldn’t find a single one.

                The second stage was little better than the first with Grahame Willis holding off Eppleston, on count back, both finishing with 110.4. Mahon was one of the few who improved to 51.1 as did Geoff Willis and Ogilvie who shot 54.2 and 52.1 respectively. The remainder went home disappointed except for Vanessa Grimmond visiting from Larg near Maitland having her first experience with large bore target shooting. Grimmond found more super bulls eyes than some of the more experienced contingent as she improved 7 shots over her first stage.

                Wright won the T W Willman trophy by ¼ of a point over Gibson 99 ¼ to 99.

                Next week the Gilmour Cup, first presented in 1909, commences over 300 yards. 

 Scores:
B Wright FSA 107.4 (12) 99 ¼
R Gibson TRB 87.01 (12) 99
J Eppleston FSA 110.4 (8 ¼) 98 ½
G Bright TRA 95.07 (3 ¼) 98 ¼
S Williams TRA 95.05 (3 ¼) 98 ¼
D Lavelle TRB 86.04 (12) 98
G P Willis FSA 110.4 (7 ¼) 97 ¾
G Shepherd TRA 92.05 (5 ¼) 97 ¼
A Ogilvie FSB 102.1 (12) 95
P Mahon FSB 100.4 (12) 93 ¼
G S Willis FSA 106.1 (4) 91 ¾
D Crimston TRB 71.02 (9 ¾) 80 ¾
J Coghill TRB 68.03 (12) 80
L Harris (Hornsby) FSB 96.2
V Grimmond FSB 85.2  

by John Coghill   

 All scores/plots can be found Here.