2017 Marlborough Autumn Meeting
Marlborough Autumn Championship, Saturday 22nd April 2017
Tui Black Inter Association Teams match, Sunday 23rd April
Marlborough turned on a balmy autumn day with a light breeze for the 38 shooters on Kaituna's vineyard range. The course of fire was 10 shots at 300 and 600 in the morning, and then 15 at 900 in the afternoon. The TR result was close with only centres separating the top three, John Snowden came out on top with 173.21, from Amy Hatcher on 173.17 and Bevan Mehrtens on 173.11. In B grade Clinton Whyte won with 169.9, from Vic McMurdo on 168.13 and Nicole McKee on 167.18. C grade was a close contest too with Megan Snowden winning on 162.10 from Kieran Crickmar on 161.8 and Brian Hawksby on 160.10. The 10 strong field in FTR saw Daniel Alexander emerge as the winner on 198.15 from Eben Fourie on 196.10 and Geoff Smith on 194.7.
Ian Hughes was the sole F Open shooter but he put on a great show shooting 60.8, 59.4 and 87.5, to only miss the 6 or X 4 times for the day, posting 206.17.
Some notable scores on the day, at 300, A grade Murray Steele and Malcolm Dodson 50.8. B grade Clinton Whyte 49.3. C grade Megan Snowden 49.6. FTR Daniel Alexander and Eben Fourie 59.4. At 600, A grade John Snowden 50.5, C Grade Megan Snowden and Kieran Crickmar 49.3. FTR Brian Graystone 57.3 and Eben 57.1. At 900, A grade Amy Hatcher 75.9, Charlotte Flanagan and Graeme Bolland 74.8. B grade Nicole Mckee 73.8, Clinton Whyte 73.5 and Vic McMurdo 73.3. C grade Brian Hawksby 69.5. FTR Daniel Alexander 84.5.
After the relatively calm conditions for the Saturday, the flags were on the move from the outset of the teams match which saw teams of up to ten from Canterbury, Wellington and Marlborough battle it out firing 10 shots at 300, 600 and 900. The breeze was a warm nor'westerly cross wind which kept the coaches on their toes for the whole day. There were some last minute ring ins to balance the team numbers. Marlborough having the services of Paul Tidswell and Alan Drake, and Wellington having Darryl Crow. Canterbury and Marlborough both had ten and Wellington nine, so the first two both had a cut out score to give a team score out of 450 at each distance.
Marlborough took the early lead after 300 yards with 432.34 from Wellington on 431.35 and Canterbury on 421.29. At 600 yards Marlborough were again top with 430.34 to Canterbury 430.25 and Wellington 420.23. With the breeze well up for 900 yards an interesting afternoon was in prospect. Canterbury showed their class with 424. 34 to Marlborough's 411.18 and Wellington's 406.17. A feature of the Canterbury score was the 48's shot by their two youngest shooters, Megan Snowden and Sam Kershaw. The end result was a two point win to Canterbury with 1275.98, to Marlborough's 1273.86 and Wellington's 1257.75.
Possibles were hard to come by on the day. One each to Paul and Malcolm at 300 yards. At 600 yards Amy and Paul again, and at 900 yards John Snowden got the only one. The top score on the day went to Amy with 147.10, coached by Eben. Paul also on 147 with 8, coached by Charlotte, and Murray with 145.11 coached by Bevan. The F class shooters had 2 teams with a Canterbury team and a largely Marlborough one with Ian Hughes added. Because of uneven team numbers they decided to work on an average of the scores at each range. At 300 yards Canterbury averaged 57.1 to Marlborough's 56.6. At 600 yards the result went the other way, just, with 54.3 to 54.1. After 900 yards it went back to Canterbury with 50.7 to 50.6. The end result was a win to the Canterbury team with 161.9 to 159.5.