Written by Goondiwindi Rifle Club
What a huge weekend it was celebrating our 50th Anniversary Prize Shoot. Thank you to everyone who travelled to Gundy to help us celebrate for the weekend.
A special mention to Allan and Chris Dods, who were in the process of travelling home to Western Australia, they found out about our prize shoot when they arrived in Tamworth. They then turned around and came back to Gundy, to shoot the weekend. We hope that you both had a fabulous weekend with us and are now travelling home safely.
Also to Pete, our range officer for weekend and his wife Carol from Geelong, thank you Pete for spending the weekend with us as our range officer.
The weekend started on Friday with our annual Sweepstakes event on the 700m mound, with 52 competitors taking to the mound.
There was a bit of a breeze, the flags told the story, which you can seen in reel that we posted Friday.
Thank you Josh Mettan for coming out for the afternoon with your drone and camera to film competitors arriving and the start of the sweepstakes.
Friday ended with dinner, thank you Daphne, Missy and Carolyn, for putting on such a feast, it was delicious! And we know a few people even went back for seconds.
Saturday morning started with bacon and egg muffins with avocado for those who wanted it, along with coffee and tea to warm everyone up by the fire, it was a chilly 5 degrees to get us started, thank you Alan and Donny, who were our breakfast cooks on the bbq, for the weekend, with Missy, Carolyn and Lesley making sure that there was enough of everything for everyone.
Saturday saw 87 competitors taking to the first of the double 500m, with a welcome speech from our captain Frog.
By the end of the first 500, it had slowly started to warm up along with the breeze picking up, sending the flags in different directions and of course the “dreaded” Gundy mirage, as many were calling it, started to appear.
The double 500 and 600m saw the leader board change many times, as the wind picked up and dropped off, along with, what many were saying, near impossible to see the targets through the mirage.
Michelle was running around taking pictures with her trusty camera, in between shooting herself, as always Michelle you captured the weekend perfectly!
Josh was also on the mound filming the competitors shooting and flying his drone over the range capturing some great footage from above.
We even had a visit from the local police, who were driving past the range, saw the red flag at the gate, along with all the cars and decided to pop in for a look and watch the first shooters down on the first of the double 600.
Whilst everyone was shooting Saturday, Frog, who didn’t shoot all weekend, with his trusty offsider’s Mick and Murray, was busy prepping and cooking the 2 pigs for dinner on the spit, along with the vegetables in the camp ovens.
Thank you Frog for all the amazing food you cooked for everyone.
We celebrated our 50th Anniversary Saturday night, starting with presentations for the winners of ranges, daily aggregates and the sweepstakes from Friday, followed by speeches, stories and memories from past members and the cutting of the cake under the marquee.
Dinner Saturday night, the 2 pigs and their crackling, lamb, chicken with roast vegetables and gravy, thank you Daphne Missy Lesley Natalie Frog Mick Murray and all our members who helped serve dinner for everyone. There wasn’t much left over for gravy rolls for lunch on Sunday.
Belmont Shooting Complex
Sunday morning, Father’s Day, was slightly warmer, Alan and Donny were both busy cooking breakfast on the bbq, a few of our younger shooters however needing a gentle reminder it was in fact Father’s Day lol. Shooting started on the 300m mound just after 8am, Donny gave a morning speech along with a few reminders, with 84 shooters taking to the mound to start the first of the final 3 rangers for the weekend.
Like Saturday the flags were telling the story again, along with mirage. By the time we moved to the 500m range the wind had picked up with a few dust devils going across the range.
It also saw the temperature rise, turning Sunday into a lovely “summers” day, with shooters looking for shade under either our shaded area, under the umbrella over the score board on the range or bringing out their own umbrellas to stay out of the sun.
The 600 and final range for the weekend, with what seemed to be the fastest range shot, with once again the leader board changing and showing who our winners were for the weekend. Kat, Ben and Alan were busy writing up the final scores on our on range score board to make sure there wasn’t any shoot offs needed, with a few shooters hanging back to see the final results and congratulating those who had won.
A very special thank you to JJ Ellis, who spent weekend on her trusty bike, taking everyone’s score cards from each of the ranges once they had been written on the score board to the office. Where Carolyn and Cassie were uploading them into the system and onto the NRAA website for everyone. Thank you ladies for double checking each and every score card over the weekend. Luckily there were only a few cards that needed to be double checked.
Sunday afternoon after all the shooting was finished, everyone made their way back to either their campsites to pack up before presentation or to the club house for a bbq lunch and drinks.
The final presentation for the weekend, with Range, Aggregate, Grand Aggregate, Veterans, Tyro, Under 25’s, Ladies and our raffle winners were presented with their medals and trophies, along with speeches and jokes made about the friendly competition over the weekend from the grand aggregate winners.
A special thank you to Tina Hickmott, for donating the 2 beautiful baskets, full to the brim of goodies for our weekend raffle and for helping in the kitchen also, thank you Tina.
Those who stayed Sunday night settled in for a relaxing evening with dinner followed by desert and a few drinks around the bar. Thank you everyone for such a fabulous weekend celebrating our 50th Anniversary at our range.
To our members, who over the weekend, were behind the scenes making sure everything ran smoothly. Pud, who had also given up the weekend of shooting to make sure all targets and tablets were working for each range, and Russell with the help from Donny and Jamie as our ETs on the mounds. Gary Bob Murray and Greg setting up our targets and making sure everything ran smoothly with all the changes of ranges. Pete for making sure the bar ran smoothly and everyone had a drink.
Until we see you all again around the upcoming shoots, and if not hopefully we’ll see you all again next year!
Belmont Shooting Complex