National Queens 2008 Winner!

At the National Championships held at Belmont Rifle Range between 18 and 22 June 2008, Mark Buchanan shot brilliantly to win the National Queens Prize. This gives Mark his 10th Queens Number 1 badge, and his first victory in a National Queens.

Mark also came 4th in the President’s Match, the lead up shoot, with a score of 349.48/350 and 4th in the Grand Championship with a score of 919.105. Mark showed he meant business on Day 1 of the Queens by scoring 50.9, 50.9, 50.6 and 50.7 at 300, 500, 600 and 700 yards respectively to take out the Day 1 Aggregate with a score of 200.31.

On Day 2 Mark shot 50.6, 50.5, 50.8 and 49.3 at 600, 700, 800 and 900 yards respectively to place him 4th in the Day 2 Aggregate with 199.22, but still leading the Queens by 1 point from Colin Cole with a score of 399.53.

Only a heavy rain squall at 900 yards caused Mark to drop a point at 900 yards in conditions which would have proved disastrous for most other shooters. Mark’s faithful club mates, Keirin and Tim, did not witness this shoot, as they were keeping dry in the comfort of Mark’s Toureg, while he did battle with the elements and later gave some friendly advice to his scorers!

Day 3 saw finer conditions, but the wind could still be tricky and many shooters came to grief at 1000 yards.

Unfazed, Mark shot 50.3 at 900 yards and then a brilliant 50.5 at 1000 yards to give him an unbeatable score of 499.61 to win the Queens by 2 clear points.

Mark’s aggregate in the Presidents Match and the Queens, of 848.109/850, actually gave him the highest score on the range at the conclusion of those matches, however, there was on more hurdle to overcome in order to claim the Grand Championship in the form of the Royal Kaltenberg shoot, a 2×15 shot match at 1000 yards shot Bisley style.

Unfortunately, a couple of odd shots appeared and Mark finished with 70.3, leaving the brilliant Geoffrey Grenfell, who scored 74.10, to take out the Grand Aggregate with a score of 921.122 to Mark’s 918.112.

Keirin McCamley, Lachlan Martin and Tim Walter also attended the meeting.

Keirin’s best day was Day 2 of the Queens when he scored 199.16 to finish 8th in the Daily Aggregate.

Locke shot the Queens only and fired numerous personal bests, including a brilliant 50.6, 50.8, 48.7, 50.6 on Day 2 to win the B Grade Daily Aggregate with a score of 198.27. Locke finished 3rd in the B Grade Queens with a score of 485.48 which was 5 points behind first, but with the highest centre count by 12!

Tim’s best day was Day 1 of the Queens when he scored 198.18 to finish 31st in the Daily Aggregate. Tim wound his last shot out at 1000 yards to leave Keirin on 481.40 in the Queens to Tim’s 480.32, which means Locke is better than both of us!

Overall, a good time was had by all, capped off by Mark being chaired for his emphatic win in the Queens.

Tim Walter.

Leave a Reply

*