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Bathurst Rifle Club 9th January 2010 The Gilmour Cup

          Competition for the 100-year old Gilmour Cup commenced under the best weather conditions experienced this season, and scores certainly took a leap forward. The quest for the elusive first season possible was finally settled late in the day when Steve Williams shot a very handy 50.06. Coupled with his near possible 49.05 first stage, Williams easily won the days Cock of the Walk and gained an early break on the field in the Club Championship race.

          Graeme Bright and Ron Gibson equaled Williams' first stage but could not go on with the job and tailed away with second stages of 48.02 and 45.03 respectively. Gordon Shepherd, John Coghill and Dennis Lavelle benefited from the milder conditions all shooting 48.02 first stages, but as the wind picked up they also fell by the wayside.

          Tim Robinson took time to come to grips with the new barrel on the club rifle but a 46.03 following a disappointing 40.02 was encouraging. Jan Sibera also turned his day around with a second stage 46.03 after shooting 40.02 courtesy of a double magpie, inner four first stage finish. Keith Redding added to his collection of magpies and outers as he continues his struggle with sighting.    

          A large willy-willy swirled across the range mid afternoon and shooters, all and sundry, claimed it had been the cause of their wayward shots. Doubtful as many of those claims were, Geoff Wills had a legitimate gripe as he had to stop shooting to watch the whirl wind whip across the ground just 100 metres in front of him. Displaying admirable resolve Willis shot 58 and 56 winning the F class COW with 114/120.

          Jeff Eppleston just missed the first season possible with a first shot bullseye but then proceeded to fill his scorecard with centre bulls. The increasing wind gusts however brought about his downfall as he faded to a 52/60 second stage. Graham Willis continued his progress with scores of 50 and 54, and has now entered enough scores to qualify for a handicap. Andrew Trevillion is not progressing as he would like and scores of 47 and 53 were disappointing.  

          Visitors John Clapham from Blackheath, and Doug Jeffries from Tarana, tried out in the F class discipline with varying results. Clapham who regularly shoots bench rest adapted quickly and showed the regulars how it's done with stages of 57 and 58. Jeffries tried out two small calibre hunting rifles, but the calibers and distance were against him.         

SCORES:

S Williams 99.11 (1 ½) 100

R Gibson 94.08 (9) 100

Geoff Willis 114 (8 ½) 100

D Lavelle 93.03 (7 ¼) 100

J Eppleston 111 (9 ¼) 100

T Robinson 86.05 (14) 100

G Bright 97.07 (3) 100

G Shepherd 94.05 (5 ¾) 99 ¾

J Coghill 91.02 (7 ¾) 98 ¾

Graham Willis 104 (12 ¼) 97

A Trevillion 100 (16) 96 ¾

J Sibera 87.05 (8 ¾) 95 ¾

K Redding 73.01 (20) 93

J Clapham 115/120

D Jeffries 63/120

*The Gilmour Cup was presented by R L Gilmour esq. at the 1910 Bathurst Boer War Memorial unveiling. The large, ornately crafted, silver plated, cup was presented to the rifle shooting movement for open competition over 300 yards, 500 yards and 600 yards. The cup was won, first by Peak Hill rifle club in 1910, followed by Hargraves RC, Orange RC, Randwick RC and then Bathurst RC in 1914. Competition went into recess during WW1 and recommenced in 1924 when Bathurst RC won again. After a third win the Cup became the property of the Bathurst RC and competition ceased until the trophy was reborn in 1958 as a club handicap trophy. 

The cup can be seen standing beside the historic Daily Mail Cup in the famous photograph, regularly shown in The Western Advocate, at the unveiling of the Anglo Boer War Memorial in 1910.