Monday morning saw the team awake before sunrise to make it to Hamilton Rifle Club for a 10am start. A good breakfast was provided in the motel, although one team member was left confused about where to get a coffee, and even more confused when directed to hot water and instant sachets.
The team all arrived at Hamilton Rifle Club, a lovely range on the outskirts of the town with 4 electronic targets. After some technical delays with targets syncing up, and some non-technical delays caused by journalists from the local paper first stopping their car in front of the firing point, and then getting stuck in the mud whilst manouvering, it was time for our illustrious Captain to fire the opening shot on the range as part of a time honoured club tradition. The first time this was completed was in 1907, which was also the last time a GB Rifle Team visited until now. The club still holds onto the fired case from that shot over a century ago and now has a second one to join it. Hopefully it’s not another 100 years before the next shot by a GB Captain.
All gathered around watching closely as el capitan set up his kit and carefully checked his sights and settings. He took his time checking the wind (more on that later) and, with his first shot, scored a lovely V Bull just slightly below the waterline. However, it did appear on the target adjacent to the one he was aiming at. He may insist that electronic target wires were crossed and there may be some semblance (just a smidge) of truth to that, but as far as all watching were concerned, he scored a miss and was summarily presented with the “Miss-stick”, a wonderful Australian trophy awarded to the shooter with the most recent shot scoring 0 (a miss or cross shot), much to the delight of everyone around. Nick was then interviewed at some length by the Hamilton Spectator, with an article and photos expected later this week.
Following this amusement, GBMRT spread themselves amongst the targets and were joined by the Australians as we all took turns trying to figure out what the wind was doing. Quite a lot it turned out, with an angling wind coming in from the right of an indeterminate strength and flags that proved decidedly deceptive – none of the early shooters went clean, with Ashley Abrahams dropping his first point of the tour after 58 consecutive Bulls and Vs. It was left to John Lindsay and Nick Tremlett to salvage British pride, scoring the only possible out of all the morning shooters with 50.3v and 50.7v respectively. The Australians shooting alongside us provided much entertainment and good challenge, with the Miss-stick rapidly changing hands to the visible delight of the Captain.
A great BBQ lunch kindly put on by Hamilton Rifle Club allowed us to test a key component of our pre-tour training in the heat of real competition – that of the power of the lunchtime nap. Four members volunteered to partake in this sleep experiment under highly scientific conditions. Half of the sample showed improvement in their afternoon scores. One maintained their performance and one declined. Results are inconclusive and further testing is required. It was noted there was a correlation between first in the lunch queue and first to fall asleep.
The afternoon saw the winds picking up and the ICFRA targets proved a good challenge for all. Multiple shooters scored a magpie (score of 3) with their first sighters as the wind proved deceptively strong, with sudden pockets catching out the unwary. Nevertheless, as members of the GB team got to grips with the range, the numbers of possible (50 ex 50) scored rapidly increased, no doubt to the relief of team management. The 3rd shoot of the day was 10 shots with no sighters. With the front of a rain storm clearly visible and approaching at pace, there was a noticeable increase in the pace of firing. Some shooters took the approaching rain front seriously, completing their shoot in approximately 3 minutes when the time allowed is 17 minutes. John Lindsay shot an excellent 50.9v to win the day with a 149.17v, beating Ashley Abrahams 149.11v and Si Whitby 148.11v. Full results can be found here.
By the end of the day, 10 people had taken custody of the Miss-Stick, with 8 being Australians (including 3 generations of the Kelly family), bookended by GB Shooters (the captain and David Lindsay, the current incumbent). Gary Alexander did not score a miss, but having been napping when the call was made for the photo, felt he was “missing out” and joined anyway, never wanting to miss out on a photo op! David won the stick for, in his words, shooting exactly at the target he aimed at (if only it had been his). This performance also won him the team “award” for most memorable performance on the day.
Along with the scores from today, Hamilton also hosted the awarding of the aggregate scores of the Shipwreck Coast Challenge after day 2 and day 3. Ashley Abrahams won the 2 day aggregate (Bacchus Marsh and Warrnambool) with a score of 250.34v (ex 250.50v), beating Peter Maher (249.31v) and Jon Sweet (249.30v). The 3 day aggregate was also won by Ashley Abrahams, with a score of 399.45v (ex.400.80v), with John Lindsay (395.48v) and Jon Sweet (395.42v) close behind. Julian Peck and Joe Melbourne won the GB/Oz randomly drawn pairs competition.
The day wrapped up with a delightful dinner put on by The Hamilton Rifle Club and their patient partners, with a Pavlova for dessert being a highlight. Thanks to our wonderful hosts.
With intense rain and wind forecast for the final range at Maryborough on Wednesday, there is all to play for with the Shipwreck Coast Challenge on the line.