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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 29th December 2018, W Northcott Memorial Trophy, 700yards. 

              Was it a westerly breeze or a north westerly or a rear fishtail? Whatever it was it was very light but the accompanying mirage was brutal, rising and falling and swapping sides with little indication, as the flags hung down the flag poles or flapped innocuously in what little breeze there was.  

            We were graced with the presence of Brisbane Commonwealth Games Queens Prize Individual Silver Medalist Jim Bailey from the Holsworthy Rifle Club in Sydney who was in town visiting relatives. He didn’t seem to find any of the problems with the conditions that the locals encountered, his only blemish being an inner four early in his second stage.

            John Coghill (37.02) was all at sea with the mirage delving into the outer regions of the target and Dennis Lavelle (40.0) wasn’t much better. The A grade pair of Graeme Bright and Steve Williams fiddled with the magpie areas but Ron Gibson belied his B grade ranking to top the stage with a 45.01.

            The second stage was only slightly better but was highlighted by a comical error when Coghill logged his screen onto the wrong target and adjusted his sights based on where his competitor’s shots were landing. Bright made the biggest improvement with a 47.02 securing the A grade Cock of the Walk from Williams (45.0). Gibson (44.0) hung on to pip Lavelle (43.02) for B grade.

            F class scores were close but disappointing with Jeff Eppleston winning the CoW from Grahame Willis with just one super centre separating them at 107/120 a piece. Ben Wright had two moderate stages of 52.2 but Colin Howell crashed to a 47.1 after a reasonable 54.0 first stage. Angus Ogilvie and Luke Harris are starting to experience summer conditions on the Bathurst range for the first time and the uncomfortable heat hasn’t helped their initiation.

            Geoff Willis appeared to be bedding down on the mound when he produced a pillow but he was only trying to cushion his injured elbow which eventually caused his retirement.   

             Next week the 5th January is the Norman Rutherford Memorial Trophy over 800 yards.

            Gibson won the W Northcott Memorial Trophy with a handicap possible, 100 points.  Target calibration has been moved back a week to Tuesday morning 8th Jan 2019.  

Scores:
R Gibson TRB 89.01 (12) 100
D Lavelle TRB 88.02 (12) 100
G P Willis FSA 107.4 (10 ¾) 98 ¼
B Wright FSB 104.4 (12) 96 ¾
J Eppleston FSA 107.5 (7 ¾) 95 ¾
G Bright TRA 90.04 (5 ¼) 95 ¼
C Howell FSB 101.1 (12) 94 ½
S Williams TRA 88.0 (4 ¾) 92 ¾
A Ogilvie FSB 94.0 (12) 88 ¼
J Coghill TRB 74.03 (12) 86
J Bailey (Holsworthy RC) TRA 99.06
L Harris FSB 90.0
G S Willis FSA 53.0 - Rtd:

by John Coghill

All scores/plots can be found Here.