NRA request for volunteers

The National Rifle Association of New Zealand has the pleasure of being the hosts for the 2019 Long Range World Championship and the Palma Team Match.

The Palma Match and the more recently introduced Individual Long Range World Championship match will be held at Trentham, Upper Hutt, Wellington in conjunction with the 158th New Zealand National Championships.  This event, over 17 days from January 26th to February 10th 2019, is a major event on the New Zealand sporting calendar.

The Palma Team Match is arguably the oldest representative sporting event having first been contested between Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the United States at Creedmoor, Long Island, New York in 1876.  Countries that have participated through the years, but not necessarily in every match, are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Channel Islands, Continental Europe, East and Central Africa, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Kenya, Natal, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, West Germany, West Indies and the United States. Additionally, Cuba participated in one of the unofficial PALMA Matches.

Ranges that the matches have been conducted at are: Anzac (Australia), Bisley Camp (England), Bloemfontein (South Africa), Camp Perry (USA) Connaught (Canada), Rockcliffe (Canada ) Sea Girt (USA), Seddon Range (New Zealand) and Whittington Center (USA).Running this event requires a very large resource commitment in terms of both finances and human resources. The event is receiving major financial support from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment which has recognised the tourism potential benefits to New Zealand from this event.

HOWEVER, events of this nature and magnitude depend heavily on VOLUNTEERS to make the event successful. The Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and even the Rugby Sevens depend on Volunteers to make the event successful.

The organising Committee of the Long Range World Championships is seeking support from the community for VOLUNTEERS to assist with this event.  Shooting expertise is not required, just an interest in shooting sports would help but also is not required.

We are looking for:

• People for two weeks prior to the event to help with the preparation of the ranges at Trentham (must be reasonably fit)
• People in the Wellington region to offer billets for Volunteers from outside the Wellington Region
• People who can assist with various duties during the events, such as Security (basic), Parking, Range Housekeeping, Range setup, Target maintenance, visitor management, scoring assistants and all of the odd jobs that come up during the event.

Volunteers may define the days and time that they can be available.

If you feel that you can assist, please go to the LRWC2019 website https://lrwc2019.nz  then click on the VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION Button and fill in the form.

Having filled in the form, you will be contacted later to work out the details of how, where and when you can help.

If you have any questions, please contact Bill Aitchison, Volunteer Coordinator on volunteer@nznra.co.nz