THE King Of The Mountain Championships were held at the Woods Point Gun Club on a day that changed from spring warmth to a winter storm then back to spring again.
The starter event was the Single Barrel Eye Opener that saw Dave Hoon, Rob Kirley and Peter West break all targets to share the cash prize.
The first KOM championship was 20 targets Single Barrel shot from the 15-metre handicap mark. No one managed to shoot 20 targets clean.
Rob Kirley and Laurie Poile, 18/20, were the top scorers and shot off for the sash. It took only two targets for Poile to win the event 20/22.
In the grades, Kirley won AA, 18/20 with Phillip Desmond 2nd, 17/20. A Grade was an easy win for Poile, 18/20, with Ken Skinner second, 17/20.
B Grade saw another good result from Dave Hoon who is back shooting after a four-month lay off and a major back operation, taking B first, 17/21, and Chuck Lay second, 16/21.
The old fox Barry McKenna snuck in a C Grade win with 12/20, while Sally Kirley at her first official ACTA shoot, came second with 8/20.
The 30 target KOTM Handicap championship was next.
The best scores recorded during the winter storm were John Wood (EL P) and Tom Apps, both 29/30. A very short shoot off saw EL P drop his second target leaving Apps to shoot to win. He did! Final score 31/32, EL P 2nd 30/32. John Butters shot well to take third place 28/30 whilst Phillip Desmond collected fourth prize, 27/30.
There was plenty of sunshine for the last event, 25 targets Tower, but it was so clear and bright that the orange targets were hard to see against the sky.
Dave Hoon capped off a successful day to win the Championship sash, 24/25. A shoot off was needed between Laurie Poile, Ken Skinner, Tom Apps and Phillip Desmond to sort out the minor places. After another 17 targets Desmond claimed second, 39/42, Apps third, 38/42 and Skinner fourth, 29/32.
The Overall KOTH High Gun was decided after a shoot off between Apps and Desmond with Apps taking the sash, 73/81. Jessica Kirley was the Junior High Gun winner with Sally Kirley Junior High Gun second.
Anne Skinner made sure that everyone was well fed and nourished over another successful Woods Point shoot.
A team of nine shooters from Woods Point, Mansfield and the Yarra Valley are heading to Alice Springs to compete in the 2012 Masters Games four-day competition in mid October.
The next shoot at Woods Point is the Bernie Elstrek Memorial Championships on Sunday 28 October.
