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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc., 8th August 2020, 800 yards N Rutherford Memorial Trophy, 900 yards T W Willman Cup.

          Last Saturday Bathurst Rifle Club had an early start to the day enabling competition from 800 yards for the N Rutherford Memorial Trophy then after lunch from 900 yards for the T W Willman Cup. This was also the final round of the K Harvey Trophy which was contested over all ranges during the last six weeks. Due to the light rain that appeared to be coming through the 900 yards competition was started straight after the completion of 800 and all had finished in time for a late lunch well before mid-afternoon. The sometimes steady but often unpredictable breeze became reasonably strong at times as it swung from either side of a north westerly direction and after some dampening of the flags became more difficult to handle.

          At 800 yards. Target Rifle shooters Gordon Shepherd and Graeme Bright both started off without dropping a point in the first stage but Shepherd held on to top spot claiming a double possible for the range with Bright accumulating eleven centre bulls but narrowly dropping a point to a gust of wind on his last shot. Ron Gibson struggled to keep his elevation in check during both stages unfortunately as only a few shots were lost to the wind.

          F Class shooters found the conditions a bit harder with Geoff Willis just staying ahead with the loss of two points in each stage to have a one point lead over Graham Willis with eight super centres and Jeff Eppleston with six super centres. Phil Mahon had a slow start with some shots lost high and wide to finish another four points down and one point ahead of new shooter Auskir Berryman who has sorted out some more equipment issues and seen a great improvement over previous weeks with much tighter grouping of shots to show his potential. Nick Webster also suffered loss of points to unexplained mostly high shots with possibly only one point lost to the wind during his second stage.

          Winner of the N Rutherford Memorial Trophy is Gordon Shepherd (100) with runner up Geoff Willis (100).

Scores:
G Shepherd 100.7 (1.75) 100,
G S Willis 116.8 (4) 100,
G Bright 99.11 (0.25) 99.25,
J Eppleston 115.6 (2.5) 98.33,
G P Willis 115.8 (2.25) 98.08,
P Mahon 111.6 (5.25) 97.75,
N Webster 109.7 (5.75) 96.58,
R Gibson 80.3 (7.5) 87.5,
A Berryman 110.5.

          At 900 yards. The level of difficulty increases with distance and the effect of the weather and it was reflected in the scores. Graeme Bright showed his current form again only losing three points for the more difficult range narrowly dropping a point on his last shot in the first stage and two more close ones in his second stage with Gordon Shepherd unable to keep up the pressure losing too many points to the conditions. Ron Gibson appeared to tame the vertical shots somewhat at the distance but also suffered more points lost to the changing wind.

          Scores for the F Class shooters were lower and less consistent at the longer range although Jeff Eppleston dropped only one point in his second stage to gain top individual stage and top score for the 900 yard range staying three points ahead of Geoff Willis who lost momentum late in the second stage. Nick Webster followed one point away with more consistent scoring than earlier to finish one point ahead of Graham Willis who had troubles early in the first stage with too many wayward shots. Next was Phil Mahon who had a great start for the range in his first stage but the vertical problems during his second stage were a costly loss of points. Auskir Berryman started the range with a bigger grouping of shots than earlier in the day but again showed what he is capable of with a much improved score later on. Also many thanks to Auskir for bringing along the awnings which I am sure made it much more enjoyable for all shooters at the 900 yard range.

          Winner of the T W Willman Trophy is Jeff Eppleston (100) with runner up Geoff Willis (100). The K Harvey Trophy was won by Geoff Willis (597.25) with runner up Jeff Eppleston (595.25). Next week we will be at 500 yards for the second round of the Gilmour Cup.

Scores:
J Eppleston 116.6 (4) 100,
G S Willis 113.3 (6.25) 100,
N Webster 112.4 (9) 100,
P Mahon 109.3 (9.25) 100,
R Gibson 90.6 (9) 99,
B Wright 109.2 (7.75) 98.58,
G Bright 97.6 (1.5) 98.5,
G P Willis 111.3 (5) 97.5,
G Shepherd 91.8 (5.25) 96.25,
A Berryman 103.3.

by Geoff Willis

All scores/plots can be found Here.