Welcome to Michelle Knight – Michelle last shot a number of years ago in Blenheim before moving to Wellington for university and work.  Having completed university she is keen to get back into the sport and scored an impressive 98.6 last night, even though her equipment which was used by her father over recent years was slightly modified from her normal settings.

Congratulations to Ollie Tuohy on scoring a new PB – a phenomenal 99.6!!  Allowing the rifle to settle onto the target for a little longer before taking the shot is certainly achieving an excellent result.  Congratulations also to Phil Cox and Rhys Mountain on their new PB scores shot last night (95.2 and 93.3 respectively) – well done!

Top shots in D Grade this week were Ollie Tuohy 99.6, Phil Cox 95.2, Hamish Guthrey 94.0, Rhys Mountain 93.3 and Luisa Kristen 93.1, with many more scores recorded in the low 90s.  In C Grade Stephen Thessman’s 96.3 was just ahead of Greg Mason’s 96.1.  Andrea Tuohy shot the best B Grade score this week of 97.2.  Dianne Grain led A Grade with 99.6, a mere inner ahead of Ross Little on 99.5, and Meredith Ackrill’s 99.8 was best in Master Grade.  In the 20-shot competition Pratik Tailor scored highest with 199.16, followed by Dianne Grain and Meredith Ackrill both with 197.11.

It was good to see that nearly all members met the deadline for Round 1 of the closed champs competition.  The targets will be marked later this week with results available at the weekend.  The Round 2 deadline is Sunday 14 June.

Our college shooting coordinators have been busy organising teams for the Triple S college shooting competition.  This is a nationwide secondary schools competition comprising four rounds, with the deadline for the first round on Sunday 7 June.   Targets will be available near the club scoreboard next Sunday.

Last week I noted club members’ achievements at the Poroutawhao Open Champs in Levin, but had not included photos taken at the prizegiving (now shown below).  Congratulations again to Pratik and Jess on their wins.

The Association is keen to promote the quiz night fundraiser for Friday 12 June further than the Wellington membership and encourage you to invite friends, family and workmates.  Funds raised will be distributed to WSRA and participating clubs.  These evenings are a lot of fun, so please discuss at work, school, other activities, and with friends and family.  The idea is that people outside of clubs who are interested contact you in the first instance so that you can organise a team or two, then you forward these details to Evan Little (evster22@gmail.com) who is organising the event.  If you can’t get a full team together but have a few people interested, that’s not a problem - Evan will organise them into teams.  Please contact Evan on 021 855 939 if you have any questions.

The Hutt Valley Open Champs are being held on Friday 5 June and Saturday 6 June.  This match is highly recommended, and is the first of the six-match Wellington Provincial Champs competition, as well as being part of the North Island team selection ranking matches.   The D Grade entry fee has been reduced for these champs to only $10, so come along and have a go.  It is also a great opportunity for our secondary school shooters to try out the range where Round 1 of the local secondary schools match will be held in August.  If you are wanting to compete and require club equipment to be transported to the range, please let me know by next Sunday.

The club will be open as usual next Sunday, despite being part of the long weekend.

Upcoming events:

• Monday 25 May, 8.15pm, Interassociation A Grade match, 1x20.  Team #1: Dianne Grain, Evan Little, Ross Little.  Team #2: Jess Fair.  Emergency: Callum Osborne.  On call: Andrea Tuohy.
• Tuesday 26 May, interclub.  C Grade, 7.45pm, 1x10: Stephen Thessman (captain), Neil Maddever, Ollie Tuohy, Neakiry Kivi.  B Grade, 8.15pm, 1x10: Andrea Tuohy (captain), Stephen Thessman, Neil Maddever, Callum Osborne.  Open Grade, 8.45pm, 1x20: Pratik Tailor, Dianne Grain, Evan Little (captain), Michael Grain.  Team manager: David Grain.
• Saturday 30 May, Awahuri Open Champs, Feilding.
• Thursday 4 June, 7.30pm, NDC Round 3.  Team to be named next Sunday.
• Friday 5 June / Saturday 6 June, Hutt Valley Open Champs, Petone.
• Sunday 7 June, Triple S secondary schools competition, Round 1 deadline.