Cool and wet, but on target

By John Wood
A COOL day with showers greeted the competitors at the Woods Point Gun Club for the Goulburn River Championships.
The day started well with four shooters, Phillip Desmond, Jim West from Bright, Dave Hoon and Laurie Poile, sharing the cash in the Eye Opener.
The first of the championships was 25 targets Double Barrel with three shooters, Mick Ward, West and Desmond scoring the maximum 25/25 to go into the shoot-off.
It was raining heavily so the shoot-off did not go too far with West taking the Overall Winners sash, 34/34.
Ward won the AA Grade prize with 33/34 while Jim West took A Grade, 26/26. Desmond was second in A Grade, 25/26. B Grade went to Peter West, 24/25 with Phil McDonough second, 22/25. Richard Brown had another win in C Grade, 23/25, with Chuck Lay taking second, 22/25.
The main event was a 60 target Deauville Quadruples Championship, two shooters, two shots each, four targets in the air. There was no room for error but a lot of room to have fun.
The teams of two shooters were drawn from a hat. The team of Ward/McDonough looked strong while the teams of J. West/Lay and Desmond/Brown were in with a good chance as well.
After the 60 targets one team had comprehensively won the event. It was not one of the favoured teams but Peter West and junior shooter Tom Allen who scored an excellent 55/60 to beat the next closest team, McDonough/Ward, 39/60, by 14 targets.
Desmond/Brown after a shoot-off won third place, 58/100, with Hoon/Poile fourth, 55/100. Some of the scores were a bit down but everyone was having so much fun that they forgot to get serious, except for Peter and Tom.
Thirty targets Double Rise Tower was the final championship for the day. One shooter, two targets released simultaneously, only one shot allowed at each target.
Ward and Allen were the top scorers with 25/30 each. After a five-pair shoot-off Ward took the championship sash, 34/40, just one target in front of Allen.
McDonough’s 22/30 was enough for him to take third place, with West fourth, 20/30.
The Overall High Gun and the Junior High Gun over all three championships was Tom Allen with a final score of 93/115, a great score considering the difficulty of the last two events.
The next shoot is the Maori Creek Championship on Sunday 26 June.