Competitors have been looking ahead to today with some trepidation – since the weekend, various weather forecasts have suggested that today would be wet (and tomorrow wetter, with serious storm warnings for other areas in Victoria and further afield). To that end, an early start – 8.30 rather than the more leisurely 9 am of recent days – was scheduled. Competitors arrived to a cloudy but dry morning, keen to get as much shooting done before the arrival of rain. Even with the early start, wind conditions were pretty similar to those of recent days, albeit steadier, and with the handicap (or benefit) of no discernible mirage to assist or confuse.
Shooting at 1000 yards was swift, and completed by mid-morning without any signs of rain (other than increasingly ominous clouds); there were twelve scores of 75. Former GB escapee turned Australian Paul Monaghan top-scored (75.13v), with four members of the GB team taking the following places all with 75.12v – Fiona Day, Fergus Flanagan, Mike Judge and Jon Sweet.
1100 yards again saw twelve scores of 75, with Fergus Flanagan taking first place, followed by Paul Monaghan and Derek Lowe, all with 9 v-bulls. Most shooters stayed largely dry at 1100 yards suffering no more than the odd spot of rain, but some shooting towards the end were less lucky.
The organisers wisely and kindly decided that shooters would be sheltered by gazebos at 1200 yards. This didn’t seem particularly necessary at the start of shooting, but proved invaluable as the rain set in in earnest by mid-afternoon. John Lindsay top-scored with 75.9v, with three other competitors making 75 with fewer v-bulls.
Overall Day 3 was another strong day for the GB Match Rifle Team with eight team members in the top ten places on the day. First and second were John Lindsay and Fergus Flanagan, neither of whom dropped a point, to score 225.28v and 225.27v, respectively (and believed to be only the second and third scores of 225 achieved in Australian Match Rifle history); Fiona Day was third on 224.26v. The full results of day 3 can be found here.
Three days in – and with only one 20 shot shoot at 1200 yards left in the schedule – nine of the top ten places are held by GBMRT members. It’s close at the top with only one point separating each of the top three places: John Lindsay on 668.71v, Ashley Abrahams on 667.56v, and Julian Peck on 666.63v (out of 675.135v). Full results can be found here.
Today also saw the conclusion of the 1000 yards and 1100 yards aggregates. Paul Monaghan was top at 1000x with 224.32v, closely followed by Gary Alexander on 224.28v and four others on 224.26v. Ashley Abrahams topped 1100 yards with 224.15v, with a three point lead over second and third-placed John Lindsay and Jon Sweet, both on 221.23v.
After persistently heavy rain through the rest of the afternoon, there seems to be some relative early evening respite with the rain lightening, but the forecast for tomorrow looks ominous…
Putting thoughts of tomorrow aside and managing the weather as best we could it was the GB team’s turn to host the Australian team. Si and Fi once again were head chefs extraordinaire and with the help of various sous chefs produced a veritable feast of canapés, BBQ and puddings enough to feed the 5,000. A very jolly if slightly damp time was had by all and of course we couldn’t miss out on the daily presentation of Trem’s Trinket which this time allowed audience participation.
