Iles shoots to record

By Tina White
MELBOURNE Gun Club in Lilydale hosted more than 130 visiting clay target shooters from all over Australia last month.
The prize pool for the 2012 Yarra Valley DTL Classic attracted shooters from Western Australia, New South Wales and all over Victoria.
Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe, under the skilful supervision of Coldstream shooter and 2008 Olympic Games representative Craig Henwood, declared the competition open by firing the first shot.
The weekend event on 25 and 25 February produced a new Australian record when 12-year-old Mitchell Iles shot 231 targets straight before missing his 232nd, to allow local shooter Geoff Aston to win the double barrel event and take home the $1000 cash prize.
The 30-target single barrel event certainly was one of the skill testers for the weekend with windy conditions meaning that those little clay targets really needed to be set upon as soon as they left trap house.
As predicted no-one shot them, some did manage to get 29 out of the 30 so a shoot off was needed to determine the winners of each grade and it didn’t last long.
Cerberus member Hecta Crawford won the event overall and Frankston Clay Target Club president Lynne Curtis took out AA Grade. Local shooters and members of Melbourne Gun Club, John Mollica, Paul Grand-Court and Carmen Crowie won their grades and respectively.
Sunday was even more trying with the windy conditions surpassing the previous day. But still the heat was on.
These final two events were the highest prize paying events for the weekend, which saw extra visiting shooters register to get a crack at these prizes.
First for the day was a 60-target ‘champion of champions’ where competitors had to shoot 20 targets single barrel then 40 targets double barrel all in the one event.
As the day wore on and the heat and wind picked up it certainly put the skills of every competitor into perspective.
This event was sponsored by Focus on Furniture to the tune of a $1000 voucher to winners in each grade. Sheridan Morley (B Grade) and Darren Wilson (C Grade), Jack Wallace (junior) and all the Melbourne Gun Club members finished this event with huge smiles as did Echuca Gun club member Steve Atkins who won this event overall with a final score of 99/100.
Finally the event that is talked about all year, the 50-target mixed metreage, sponsored by Beretta Australia with the overall winner winning a Beretta Shotgun valued at $3200 and the recipient this year was Wayne Parkes from Wonthaggi who was the only competitor to shoot a perfect 50/50.
Beretta also sponsored this event with merchandise to the value of $300 for first place in each grade and Melbourne Gun Club president Roger Esplin (AA Grade) managed a 49/50 to take this home as did Melbourne Gun Club lady shooter Carmen Crowie, coming second in C Grade.
The committee of the Melbourne Gun Club have banded together to make it a strong event and are huge advocates of firearm awareness and safety in the community.
Find out more about the club at www.melbournegunclub.com.au.