Day 5 at the 2020 Outdoor Nationals in Tokoroa and the day started with the Womens Championship match being swarmed by mozzies and people (including Range staff and Drug-Free Sport NZ testers) leaping for the bug spray. Conditions continued to be tricky with massive mirage to contend with.
Congratulations to the winner of the 2020 Women’s National Championship match – Jess Burgess-Smith.
The next two matches were Elimination matches for the Men’s National Championship match. Mirage again made it challenging, with the fickleness of the flags only adding to the fun.
Due to the uneven squad numbers 11 shooters went through from the first squad and 9 from the second squad, giving the 20 shooters who will take part in the Qualification match tomorrow.
Benchrest shooters finished up their competition today, and results are now final. It was great to see some new people having a go at Benchrest, and we hope to see this more and more when the new TSNZ Benchrest Guidelines are finalised.
The day finished up with the Randle Team practice. The 12 women shooters sighted in at 50yds and 100yds for the match to be held tomorrow. There was plenty of advice being given loudly and enthusiastically, but the women managed to get their rifles sorted out in spite of that. Congratulations to the Randle Team members: Shania Harrison-Lee, Kirsten Birrell, Helen Freiman, Denva Wren, Jess Burgess-Smith, Janet Hunt, Stephanie McNair, Jackie Lindsay, Meaghan Reesby, Ruth McNair, Sarah Reesby and Piper Benbow. The two non-shooting members are Taresa Morris as Captain and Allison Archer as Coach. This is the first time TSNZ has had a Randle Team since 1984.
Island and International teams are now set, with the rankings from the two Graded matches plus the Women’s Championship match or Men’s Elimination matches aggregates being used for these teams. The Island match is being shot tomorrow afternoon, and the International matches will be on Saturday.
Congratulations to all our Island and NZ Representative shooters!