A very busy week on the club shooting calendar with four representative matches, interclub and the National Indoor Champs, along with regular club shooting.  Congratulations to the following members on gaining their marksmen’s badges – C Grade: Neakiry Kivi, D Grade: Leilani Fam and Nicoli Yamog.

In club shooting, best on the rest was Inge Little with 87.0.  The top five D Grade scores this week were Ben Cox 95.3, Hamish Guthrey 94.2, Georgia Karantze 93.2, Leilani Fam 93.1, and Dave Wilks 91.0.  Stephen Thessman recorded the best C Grade score of 97.3.  Callum Osborne had a great night in B Grade with 99.6, only an inner off his PB.  The best A Grade score was shot by Dianne Grain 98.7, closely followed by Jess Fair with 98.4.  Only an inner separated the top two in Master Grade this week, Michael Grain 100.8 and David Grain 100.7.  The best 20-shot target was also shot by Michael with a score of 199.17 which included a very tidy 100.9.

Results from Round 4 of the closed champs competition show that Michael Grain continues to lead Master Grade with an impressive 399.26, followed by Pratik Tailor with 397.28.  The lead has switched in A Grade between Evan Little and Dianne Grain, with Evan now ahead by a point on 393.20.  The best Brooklyn shooter in B Grade is Andrea Tuohy, currently in 9^th position on 379.10, and in C Grade Stephen Thessman is in 4^th position on 378.11.  The lead has also switched in D Grade with Summer O’Dwyer continuing to show improvement and moving into top position with 380.8 while Ollie Tuohy moves to 2^nd place on 377.12, an inner ahead of 3^rd placed Wellington Central shooter Ruby de Silva.  The top two places in the women’s match are currently held by Dianne Grain and Meredith Ackrill, and Jess Fair has a three-point lead in the junior match.  The deadline for Round 5 targets is Sunday 16 August.

The women’s interassociation match was held on Tuesday.  The team score was an improvement on the last two years’ scores.  Full results will be available at the end of the season.  Top shot was Meredith Ackrill with 198.11.

In the interclub match on Wednesday our C Grade team suffered a loss to Wellington Central who recorded a new C Grade interclub record with their phenomenal 383.20.  The B Grade interclub match was very close with Melrose finishing only two points ahead of Brooklyn.  Neil Maddever had a great night, being top shot for both teams, firstly with 96.3 in the C Grade match and then with 95.4 in the B Grade match.

On Saturday the annual B Grade, junior and women’s triangular match was held.  Historically the match has been contested between Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa, hence the term “triangular”, but unfortunately Wairarapa have been unable to field teams for this competition for a number of years.  The junior team lost to Hutt Valley by 9 points, while the women’s match was very close with Hutt Valley finishing only a point ahead of Wellington; however Wellington did record a three-point win in the B Grade section.  Congratulations to Meredith Ackrill, top shot in the women’s match, on her 200.12.  Craig Fair was top shot in the B Grade team with 193.6 closely followed by Callum Osborne with 193.4, and Jess Fair was the highest junior with 193.9.

For full results from the National Indoor Champs, go to http://www.targetshootingnz.co.nz/what-s-new.  Top Brooklyn shooters in each grade were Michael Grain 393.23 (20^th); Evan Little 392.19 (5^th); Craig Fair 384.14 (21^st); Neakiry Kivi 275.08 (23^rd); and Luisa Kristen 283.09 (8^th).  Luisa’s 20-shot card was particularly impressive, setting a new PB of 193.8, an improvement of five points.

Results from Round 3 of the Triple S secondary schools competition should be available later this week.  To view, go to http://www.bsrc.org.nz/index.php/ssc/56-new-zealand-secondary-schools-shooting-championship-sss-champs?showall=&start=1.

Round 1 of the Wellington and Hutt Valley secondary schools match is being held next Sunday afternoon at the Keene Range in Petone from 2–4 pm.  With a considerable amount of club equipment involved in this match, squad 1 of club shooting will begin half an hour later than usual, at 5pm.

Upcoming events:

• Wednesday 5 August, Interassociation D Grade match, 8.00pm.  Team #1: Summer O’Dwyer, Ollie Tuohy.  Team #2: Luisa Kristen, Georgia Karantze, Ben Cox, Phil Cox.  Emergency: Matthew Canlas.
• Thursday 6 August, NDC Semi-final, 7.30pm.Open: Meredith Ackrill, David Grain, Dianne Grain, Michael Grain, Evan Little, Ross Little, Pratik Tailor.  Junior: Jess Fair, Callum Osborne.  Emergencies: Andrea Tuohy, Summer O’Dwyer.  On call: Ollie Tuohy, Luisa Kristen.
• Saturday 8 August, Horowhenua Open Champs, Poroutawhao Range, Levin.
• Sunday 9 August, 2pm, Round 1 Wellington/Hutt Valley secondary schools match.  Marsden: Summer O’Dwyer, Luisa Kristen, Neakiry Kivi, Georgia Karantze, Leilani Fam.  Wellington College: Callum Osborne, Stephen Thessman, Greg Mason, Ben Cox, Nicoli Yamog.  Wellington Girls: Erin Little.
• Sunday 9 August, Eley Challenge secondary schools match, 2x10, shot at club.
• Tuesday 11 August, Titipounamu Match, 8.00pm.  Team: Ross Little, Evan Little, Jess Fair, Dianne Grain.  On call: Andrea Tuohy.
• Saturday 15 August, Interisland Match, Wanganui.  North Island open team: Pratik Tailor, Meredith Ackrill, Evan Little (emergency), Michael Grain (on call).  North Island women’s team: Meredith Ackrill, Jess Fair, Dianne Grain.  North Island junior team: Jess Fair, Ross Little, Stephen Thessman (on call).
• Sunday 16 August, deadline for Round 5 closed champs targets.