Roseville Rifle Club Australia

The morning started off misty but with no rain. After the previous days shooting was cancelled due to rain, it was a great relief for the organizers to have a dry start.

Competitors started arriving about 8.30, the final roll up was in excess of 65 which considering the weather was an excellent attendance and more than last year.

The first range, 500m saw some great scores. The winner was Roseville’s own Mark Buchanan with a 50.9 followed closely on count back to Mosman Neutral Bay’s Steve Negus. Then there were 3, 50.8’s. B grade was won with 50.3 by Hornsby RSL’s Alan Bowyer-Tagg.

C grade was won by Roseville’s Alex Marriott with 47.1. F class open won with a score of 96 by Rod Davies from Cessnock

F standard had 3 shooters score 60, Robert Eager, Alan Seaman and Shane Gardam. Military bolt by Bill Laurenson with 41.

There was a short downpour but it didn’t last long and the sun started to peak through a couple of times making it humid.

600m was next on the program and more excellent scores were posted in A Grade. Another 2, 50.9’s were posted this time by Hornsby’s Paul Mitchell and BHP’s Scott Dalwood, followed by 3, 50.8’s. B grade was won by Roseville’s Gary Wootton with a 49.4. C grade 48.3 to Roland Van Soest of Hornsby RSL. F class open by North Sydney’s Ben Ferrara with 96. F standard was won with a 60 by Dennis Smith from Gosford. Military bolt by Doug Reeves from 18th Batt with a 41.1.

We stopped for lunch and gave the markers a chance to recover at about 1.30pm and restarted at 2pm. The marking was exceptional which makes everyone happy.

700m was shot with a a fresher breeze and more mirage, still the scores were very high.

A grade was won by Mark Buchanan with another 50.9 followed closely by another Roseville shooter Phill Hodder, also with 50.9. There were 2 50.8’s.

B grade was won with a terrific score of 50.6 by Hornsby RSL’s Alan Bowyer-Tagg.

C grade 700m was won with an excellent score of 50.4 by Roseville’s Alex Marriott, which was his first ever possible.

F class open was won with 91 by Ben Ferrara.

F standard was won with a 60 by Dennis Smith.

Military bolt by Brian Spicer with 45.

After the top 8 shooters were decided a Masters Match was held at 700m. The winner with a wonderful score of 50.8 was John Kril from Mosman Neutral Bay. A total of 9 A grade shooters didn’t drop a point, 150 out of 150, which just shows the caliber of the shooters present.

The winner on the day in A grade was Mark Buchanan with 150.25, followed closely by Phill Hodder with 150.23 and Ben Emms from Lyndhurst 150.19. The B grade winner was Alan Bowyer-Tagg with 148.12 then Brian Mavin 147.11 and 3rd Garry Wootton with 147.10. C grade was won in style by Alex Marriott 143.10, then Robert Bartlett 140.10 and 3rd Robert Jenkins of Manly 140.7. F class open was won by Ben Ferrara with 281 followed by Rod Davies 271. F standard was won with 178 by Dennis Smith then John Peters from Cessnock was 2nd with 176. Military bolt was won by Bill Laurenson with a fine 128.3 from Brian Spicer 127.

Roseville members Keirin McCamely came 6th with 100.18, and Don McDonald 4th in F class Standard with 175.

I’m sure a great day was had by all, the weather was very kind to us also.

Text and photos – Phill Hodder