Lat saturday, the 26th of March, 13 visitors joined 16 club members at the Murray Bridge Rifle Club Monarto Range to compete from 700 metres, for the inaugural Bruce Moulds Memorial Stool in memory of former club member and much-loved person within the shooting movement, who tragically died of meningococcal last year.
By all appearances, it was a beautiful day for shooting, sunny without being hot and deceptively little wind early on. However, what the breeze lacked in strength it made up for in deviousness, changing direction and dropping or rising suddenly, catching out anyone who let their guard down for an instant. Things did not improve as the day wore on either, with the wind continuing to swirl all day, rather than settling down as it often does when the lake breeze kicks in.
Nevertheless, some very good scores were shot, and competition was fierce to win this meaningful award. In F-Class, there were eleven 58s shot, eight 59s and even one near perfect 60.08 from Lynton Wakefield. All up, there were four shooters who registered scores of 116 out of 120, and five who managed to achieve 117, but at the end of the day it was Murray Bridge’s Adrian Conlon who won the Memorial Stool with the impressive score of 118.06. But the lasting thought at the end of the day, as John Cranwell, who was the driving force behind instituting this memorial shoot, pointed out, was to see a group of people come together, united by the memory of a genuinely kind and good-humoured man, taken before his time.
The memorial shoot was held in conjunction with the Club’s ongoing championship, which as the top-shot for the day, was won in F-Open by Adrian Conlon, who didn’t quite get enough centres to meet the demands of his almost non-existent handicap, which was won in F-Class by John Cranwell. Best from F-Standard was Frank Marshall with 110.02, while Nicole Edwards was the top FTR shooter on 109.05. At the other end of the spectrum, Peter Casley was plagued with some bad luck, struggling to a 78 and claiming the F-Class “Magpie Award” with 4-birds. But it wasn’t all bad luck for him when his score turned up on the lucky wheel and won him $50!
In Target Rifle this week the off-rifle standout was Andrew Heard, whose possible 50 out of 50 in the first round was backed up with a 48 to claim the off-rifle prize three points clear of both Robert Paech and Greg Traeger as well as the handicap award by 0.1 from Greg Traeger. Both Greg and Rob had purple patches that threatened to catch Andrew but were caught out by the conditions severely enough that Greg scored a two in his first round and Rob managed two “birds” in his second. However, two birds were not enough to give Rob the “Magpie Award” for Target Rifle, which this week went once again to Daniel Irvine, whose first round was one to forget. He did have the less dubious distinction this week of scoring a perfect 20.04 for his sighters, topping the snipers table for the day, but unfortunately couldn’t keep the good starts going.
Many thanks once again to all those who made the journey to Murray Bridge to honour the memory of Bruce Moulds, and we look forward to hosting the competition again next year, where Adrian has issued the challenge for his comrades to return and take the unique trophy from him.
Next week the Club will shoot its Championship round from 400 meters.
Full Scores:
Club F-Class: J Cranwell (FO) 59.03, 58.04, 117.07 (127.5), D McDonald (FO) 57.04, 59.03, 116.07 (125.6), O Neumann (FS) 56.01, 53.01, 109.02 (125.5), A Conlon (FO) 59.03, 59.03, 118.06 (124.4), D Neumann (FS) 57.02, 48.00, 105.02 (122.2), N Edwards (FTR) 54.04, 55.01, 109.05 (121.8), F Marshall (FS) 54.01, 56.01, 110.02 (121.6), M Bracken (FTR) 47.02, 52.01, 99.03 (116.5), G Harrison (FS) 55.03, 48.01, 103.04 (114.6), W Halliday (FO) 52.01, 46.00, 98.01 (112.6), P Casley (FS) 41.00, 37.00, 78.00 (92.2).
Visiting F-Class Competitors: Danny Blakemore 56.03, 57.03, 113.06, Richard Braund 58.04, 58.03, 116.07, Karen Conlon 57.03, 58.03, 115.06, Bryan Galpin 59.04, 58.06, 117.10, Ali Gonully 45.01, 50.01, 95.02, Matt Lagana 57.04, 58.03, 115.07, Tim Manning 58.02, 58.03, 116.05, Rob Mitchell 56.04, 56.03, 112.07, Darryl Pink 57.02, 55.03, 112.05, Adam Pohl 59.05, 58.06, 117.11, Bob Savage 59.02, 58.03, 117.05, John Shobbrook 59.04, 58.06, 117.10, Lynton Wakefield 60.08, 56.03, 116.11.
Club TR: A Heard 50.03, 48.05, 98.08 (110.1), G Traeger 46.05, 49.05, 95.10 (110.0), D Irvine 39.03, 47.04, 86.07 (108.1), R Paech 49.04, 46.03, 95.07 (104.2), R Ryan 34.00, 40.00, 74.00 (100.00).
By all appearances, it was a beautiful day for shooting, sunny without being hot and deceptively little wind early on. However, what the breeze lacked in strength it made up for in deviousness, changing direction and dropping or rising suddenly, catching out anyone who let their guard down for an instant. Things did not improve as the day wore on either, with the wind continuing to swirl all day, rather than settling down as it often does when the lake breeze kicks in.
Nevertheless, some very good scores were shot, and competition was fierce to win this meaningful award. In F-Class, there were eleven 58s shot, eight 59s and even one near perfect 60.08 from Lynton Wakefield. All up, there were four shooters who registered scores of 116 out of 120, and five who managed to achieve 117, but at the end of the day it was Murray Bridge’s Adrian Conlon who won the Memorial Stool with the impressive score of 118.06. But the lasting thought at the end of the day, as John Cranwell, who was the driving force behind instituting this memorial shoot, pointed out, was to see a group of people come together, united by the memory of a genuinely kind and good-humoured man, taken before his time.
The memorial shoot was held in conjunction with the Club’s ongoing championship, which as the top-shot for the day, was won in F-Open by Adrian Conlon, who didn’t quite get enough centres to meet the demands of his almost non-existent handicap, which was won in F-Class by John Cranwell. Best from F-Standard was Frank Marshall with 110.02, while Nicole Edwards was the top FTR shooter on 109.05. At the other end of the spectrum, Peter Casley was plagued with some bad luck, struggling to a 78 and claiming the F-Class “Magpie Award” with 4-birds. But it wasn’t all bad luck for him when his score turned up on the lucky wheel and won him $50!
In Target Rifle this week the off-rifle standout was Andrew Heard, whose possible 50 out of 50 in the first round was backed up with a 48 to claim the off-rifle prize three points clear of both Robert Paech and Greg Traeger as well as the handicap award by 0.1 from Greg Traeger. Both Greg and Rob had purple patches that threatened to catch Andrew but were caught out by the conditions severely enough that Greg scored a two in his first round and Rob managed two “birds” in his second. However, two birds were not enough to give Rob the “Magpie Award” for Target Rifle, which this week went once again to Daniel Irvine, whose first round was one to forget. He did have the less dubious distinction this week of scoring a perfect 20.04 for his sighters, topping the snipers table for the day, but unfortunately couldn’t keep the good starts going.
Many thanks once again to all those who made the journey to Murray Bridge to honour the memory of Bruce Moulds, and we look forward to hosting the competition again next year, where Adrian has issued the challenge for his comrades to return and take the unique trophy from him.
Next week the Club will shoot its Championship round from 400 meters.
Full Scores:
Club F-Class: J Cranwell (FO) 59.03, 58.04, 117.07 (127.5), D McDonald (FO) 57.04, 59.03, 116.07 (125.6), O Neumann (FS) 56.01, 53.01, 109.02 (125.5), A Conlon (FO) 59.03, 59.03, 118.06 (124.4), D Neumann (FS) 57.02, 48.00, 105.02 (122.2), N Edwards (FTR) 54.04, 55.01, 109.05 (121.8), F Marshall (FS) 54.01, 56.01, 110.02 (121.6), M Bracken (FTR) 47.02, 52.01, 99.03 (116.5), G Harrison (FS) 55.03, 48.01, 103.04 (114.6), W Halliday (FO) 52.01, 46.00, 98.01 (112.6), P Casley (FS) 41.00, 37.00, 78.00 (92.2).
Visiting F-Class Competitors: Danny Blakemore 56.03, 57.03, 113.06, Richard Braund 58.04, 58.03, 116.07, Karen Conlon 57.03, 58.03, 115.06, Bryan Galpin 59.04, 58.06, 117.10, Ali Gonully 45.01, 50.01, 95.02, Matt Lagana 57.04, 58.03, 115.07, Tim Manning 58.02, 58.03, 116.05, Rob Mitchell 56.04, 56.03, 112.07, Darryl Pink 57.02, 55.03, 112.05, Adam Pohl 59.05, 58.06, 117.11, Bob Savage 59.02, 58.03, 117.05, John Shobbrook 59.04, 58.06, 117.10, Lynton Wakefield 60.08, 56.03, 116.11.
Club TR: A Heard 50.03, 48.05, 98.08 (110.1), G Traeger 46.05, 49.05, 95.10 (110.0), D Irvine 39.03, 47.04, 86.07 (108.1), R Paech 49.04, 46.03, 95.07 (104.2), R Ryan 34.00, 40.00, 74.00 (100.00).
