What a great weekend at McLeans Island (Christchurch) for the South Island Championships, the weather played nicely (well mostly) over the weekend and a keen bunch of shooters from near and far gathered for the event.
The 3x40 3P match on the Saturday morning saw only a couple of keen locals compete in initially cold conditions, with Denva Wren and Piper Benbow enjoying the readable conditions of the morning. The wind got stronger during the match making it interesting for standing, but there were still smiles at the end given how the event played out (although perhaps the smiles were due to the temperature increasing).
The afternoon saw slightly more challenging conditions for those that arrived for the prone sweepstake match and a line up of bench rest shooters being very promising. Two details ran during the afternoon, with excellent shooting coming from Martin Hunt & Helen Freiman in A grade; Katherine Butt in B grade and local Rachel Olliver in D grade. The bench rest was lead by locals Russell Henshaw and Ray McCaw.
Sunday brought overcast but calm conditions, whilst the wind flags didn't show much movement initially there were light conditions throughout the match and those that finished quickly were able to make the most of the early calm weather.
We saw excellent shooting from Martin Hunt & Helen Freiman (both from Manawatu) in A grade and local indoor shooter Lindsay Barnes had a solid decimal count for his match to take out 3rd place which was hotly contested.
B grade saw locals Ray McCaw and Piper Benbow battle it out; C grade John Shepherd from Southland took the win from local Samantha Whitcombe (who shot a personal best) and D grade had Rachel Olliver again post another solid score to take the win.
Thank you to Jackie Lindsay (TSNZ) for travelling down to Christchurch for the event and who helped run the marking room; the local club members for their assistance over the weekend and those that traveled from further afield for coming to enjoy the relaxed shoot and pitch in to assist with marking where possible.
Regards
Denva Wren
President - Canterbury Outdoor Target Shooting