Our Summer Trap 275 at Timaru is done for 2020. Lots of targets out the gate with 275 per shooter on offer, but overall a bit quieter on the entries front than those up North. It seems the draw of the upcoming DTL nationals has most down south fully focused on other disciplines, but with time the challenge of the UT field and the fun & camaraderie will draw more in. Huge thank you to our sponsors, specifically Fiocchi NZ & Target Products Ltd for ammunition prize sponsorship to ALL of our Universal Trench winners and High Gun, plus Laporte and Kilwell. We threw Laporte flash targets for the last round of UT on Sunday and everyone loved the experience, plus ALL winners received Kilwell dollars for the Kilwell online store. Finally Natalie Rooney was drawn first out of the hat, followed by local junior Patrick for the raffle of Buck Knives from Kilwell sport. These fund raising raffles at each event this year will help in establishing an account to support our 2021 teams that are being selected this year to travel overseas to UT World Champs in 2021. Many thanks to the club and it's committee members for opening their doors to UTNZ and the competitors and helping the series, along with the Rooney clan for catering with help from Sarah Bryant. It's a great club at Timaru with lots of history, and the Rooney's investment in the trench field has provided the opportunity for everyone to experience a truley world class field.

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Continental 75

Our first Continental match ever took place on Saturday, alternating with the Universal Trench rounds. Many thanks to Ned Kelland from the club for setting the field. A fairly brutal southerly rolled in for the end of day, causing some havoc. We used shooters DTL grades to provide us with a means of Handicapping with targets in (see the system here) and it worked out well with the full mix of grades going to shoot off for Handicap places. We also had shoot offs for Off the Gun places. It was all over surprisingly quickly, with the weather having more effect than expected.

 

Off the Gun:

Winner - Daniel Feutz 71 + 3

Runner Up - Peter Smrekar 71 + 2

Second Runner Up - David Donald 70 + 4

 

Handicap:

• Winner - David Donald - A Grade - 73  (70 + 3 in)

• Runner Up - Daniel Feutz - AA Grade - 71 (71 + 0 in) plus 4 s/off

• Third - Dave Merret - A Grade - 71 (68 + 3 in) plus 3 s/off

• Fourth - Peter Smrekar - AA Grade - 71 (71 + 0 in) plus 2 s/off

• Fifth - Jamie Cane - B Grade - 71 (65 + 6 in) plus 0 s/off

• Sixth - Max Edwards - A Grade - 70 (67 + 3 in) plus 4 s/off

 

Ball Trap 50

Two rounds of Ball Trap took place on Sunday in between the trench rounds. Again Handicap worked very well with a mix of 3 A grade, 4 B grade and 3 C grade shooters reaching the 50, and entering a first miss & out shoot off. If Handicap put shooters over the 50 possible, those targets were carried into the shoot off. The first 25 was shot double barrel with three shooters using lives to make it through to shoot the second round single barrel. David Nicholson and Daniel Feutz entered the next 25 with no lives left, while John Hillock still had one in tact. It got right down to the last target where Daniel Feutz had to hit his 25th single barrel to take the title, which he did, from John Hillock. Great display in the Timaru sunshine.

 

Off the Gun:

• Winner - James Mackie 49 + 21 s/off

• Runner Up - Daniel Feutz 49 + 20 s/off

• Second Runner Up - Natalie Rooney 49 + 4 s/off

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Handicap:

• Winner - Daniel Feutz - A2 Grade - 51 (49 + 2 in) plus 49 s/off

• Runner Up - John Hillock - B2 Grade - 52 (47 + 5 in) plus 47 s/off

• Third - David Nicholson - C2 Grade - 53 (44 + 9 in) plus 30 s/off

• Fourth - James Mackie - A1 Grade - 50 (49 + 1 in) plus 22 s/off

• Fifth - Natalie Rooney - A2 Grade - 51 (49 + 2 in) plus 19 s/off

• Sixth - Richard Jacobs - B2 Grade - 50 (45 + 5 in) plus 8 s/off

 

Universal Trench 150

Challenging conditions on Saturday were followed by a beautiful sunny day on Sunday. Natalie Rooney and Peter Smrekar led the board on Saturday, and Natalie went on with 50 straight Sunday morning. James Mackie managed to close the gap and equal Natalie with 75 straight, and a tight shoot off at the end of Sunday saw Natalie take the UT win. Quite a few club members tried their hand at birds only targets on the Sunday for a taste of the discipline, in addition to the good mix of shooters from around the country shooting the 150 competition over 2 days. A great mix of all categories and grades got through a few thousand Laporte Grand Prix targets, plus Laporte flash for the final round. Again the Handicap system looked to be on the money with a mix of A, B and C grades throughout, and the top six consisting of 2 A graders, 2 B graders, and 2 C graders, which included Veteran, Senior, Men and Lady categories. What more could one ask for in a Handicap competition? There was a shoot off for 6th place with 2 shooters on 140 Handicapped.

 

Off the Gun:

• Winner - Natalie Rooney  143 plus 22 + 2 s/off

• Runner Up - James Mackie  143 plus 22 + 1 s/off

• Second Runner Up - Tim Fuller 136

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Handicap:

• Winner - Natalie Rooney - A2 Grade - 149  (143 + 6 in)

• Runner Up - John Hillock - B2 Grade - 148  (133 + 15 in)

• Third - James Mackie - A1 Grade - 146  (143 + 3 in)

• Fourth - Tim Fuller - B1 Grade - 145  (136 + 9 in)

• Fifth - Dave Merrett - C1 Grade - 143  (122 + 21 in)

• Sixth - James Robertson - C1 Grade - 140  (119 + 21 in) plus 4 s/off

 

Overall High Gun

It was a tight battle for the High Gun at the end of Saturday with Peter Smrekar leading the scoreboard, followed very closely by Natalie Rooney and James Mackie. Sunday saw Natalie and James step up the pressure with lots of red on the board and both finished equal on 262/275 over all three disciplines of the weekend. This tie was broken by count back of score on the last round of each event. James scored a higher final round over Natalie in the UT, but Natalies final rounds in both the Continental and Ball Trap out did James, which saw the High Gun sash, Fiocchi ammunition and plenty of Kilwell dollars heading Natalies way. Well done Natalie, your good form is ramping up for 2020 in time for your overseas expeditions.

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Thank you to those who attended. We had a nice cold southern southerly on Saturday but everything still ran smoothly thanks to great facilities (and a roof over the trench station). Please continue to support these weekends by coming and joining in. All are welcome.