Roseville Rifle Club Australia

3 eager and highly optimistic (some may say silly!) Rosevillians set out on Fri from Sydney at various times to compete in the Lyndhurst 2021 OPM.

They weren’t put off by the atrocious rain conditions forecast for Sydney and the west and were rewarded on Fri evening with slightly overcast but dry conditions with some strong wind gusts. Phill arrived about 5pm at the campsite where Captain Adrian’s Father in-law, Ross, was busy setting up his caravan and tent. Dmitri arrived shortly afterwards.

The modest camp site

Unfortunately Adrian had car troubles before leaving the BIG smoke with a blown heater hose. This was mended in a short time by the friendly mechanic just near where he broke down. This set their journey back a bit and he and his son Lucas (the score card runner for the weekend) arrived at 10.30pm to the happy smiles of Dmitri and Phill who were eagerly waiting for their arrival.

See, no rain!

The next morning after a few rain showers throughout the night, the guys were greeted by a lightly overcast and windy morning, but no rain on the horizon! The first day’s shoot was 2 stages of 15 shots at 500 and 600y. The wind was predominantly from the right with strong gusts and lulls a plenty. Although some great scores were shot by the competitors, some found the variable conditions hard if they weren’t vigilant in watching the flags.

Phill started off with a 74.9 and both Adrian and Dmitri shot 73’s, with 5 and 3 centers respectively.  The BIG boys showed us how it was done with Alex Davies showing his dominance from the first shoot with an impressive 75.13 followed by Commonwealth Games rep Jim Bailey shooting a 75.12!  At 600y the conditions seemed similar, Dmitri pipped Phill with a 72.5 vs 72.4, Adrian found the conditions a bit tougher and shot a 66.7. The Roseville contingent finished the day with Phill 18th, Dmitri 20th and Adrian in 27th spot. Work to be done tomorrow!

The place to be on Sat night is on the range and the Lyndhurst Clubhouse. Many stay back to see the days results and wait eagerly for the Famous Calcutta (an auction of the top 10 TR shooters presented by Master Auctioneer Ben Emms) and the well cooked dinner that is served (and even a Cornetto ice-cream for those that stayed around). The Calcutta lived up to it’s hilarious reputation with Ben quick on his feet with funny puns and stories about the lucky 10, trying to up the bids. Being an auction, if you don’t want to bid you don’t move, but even this didn’t help some surprised bidders from the floor! For the first time the top 10 didn’t have any local shooters in it and most were up and coming Jnr guys, it says something about the talent coming through.

Dmitri developed a theory that ice cream causes the headache the next morning 🙂

The intrepid 3 had an early night, ready for the next day. During the night there was no rain, but the wind was picking up, so much so that Dmitri‘s 5 star hotel (his trusty Ford Station Wagon) was rocking and rolling in the gusts!

So day 2 begins with the Rosevillians needing to pick up some points. Dmitri showed the way at 500y with a fantastic 49.7! Phill couldn’t find the center after deciding to keep the group center on the right of the bullseye due to what he thought were the wind conditions, he scored a 49.1, the only center was when he decided he had to move the group! Captain Adrian recorded a respectful 48.4. The guys were collectively happy with their first range scores, especially because of the very changeable wind conditions. The competitors then moved up the hill to 600y.

Happy runner Lucas

Dmitri again showed the way from the 3 with another great 49, this time with 6 centers. Adrian and Phill both managed 48’s with 3 and zero centers respectively! The organizers decided to keep shooting and not stop for lunch, trying to finish early and help the competitors leave as early as they could to drive back home. The day was won by Jim Bailey, only one point down. The 2nd 600y yards had Dmitri and Phill both scoring 48.3 and Adrian a credible 47.2. These scores from the Roseville 3 did in fact help them to move up the leader board as they wished.

Dmitri was the best of them finishing the day in 7th place only 3 points behind 1st place and 10th in the Grand Ag! Well done Dmitri!

Phill was placed 12th on the day and for the Grand, and Adrian placed 17th on Day 2 and 25th for the Ag, Day 1 scores unfortunately hindered his final results.

The winner was Alex Davies from West Wallsend Club shooting a fantastic score of 297.36 beating his Dad Duncan by a point (I wouldn’t of wanted to be in that car for the trip home!). Next was another father and son combo, Jim and Mitchell Bailey, this time Dad won. There was also one more father and son in the match, Andrew and Nick Sims, they also finished after one another, very rare to see!

This was a fantastic weekend away and congratulations to Lyndhurst Rifle Club and all the people that made it an excellent and very well run event.

The Roseville trio

Results can be found @ https://www.results.nraa.com.au/lyndhurst-rifle-club-open-championships-2021-nsw-results-2/

Phill (aka “The Cool Guy”)