National Rifle Championships 2022

THE KING'S PRIZE

The King's Prize

Steve Negus is chaired for the very first NRAA King's Prize

Juniors to super veterans, new shooters to world champions shared the mound over the last 5 days and competed for the sweetest prize of all: the very first NRAA KING’S PRIZE.

Steve Negus (TRA), Reilly Pitt (TRB), Craig Ryan (TRC), Henk Doggen (FSA), Darryl Patti (FSB), Frog Lowe (F OPEN) and Josef Ekkerd (FTR) have their names etched in history!

Our QRA shooters excelled winning TRB, TRC, FSA, FSB, F OPEN & FTR. We are so proud of all who competed.

Weather certainly wasn’t kind. 70 shots were taken in the President’s Match and only 65 in the King’s Prize.

The NRAA King’s started with a minute’s silence and a ‘Final Shot’ for HM QEII! It was a powerful moment as Ben Emms sent that last shot down the Duncan Range to break the silence.

The King’s Prize winners:

TRA – Steve Negus 325.46, Ben Emms 325.38, James Corbett 324.40
TRB – Reilly Pitt 317.30, Dom Whalan 317.24, Brett Stephens 315.29
TRC – Craig Ryan 299.11, Warwick Thomas 290.21, Phil Janowicz 285.13
FSA – Henk Doggen 389.36, Al Griffiths 385.31, Andrew McKillop 383.39
FSB – Darryl Patti 379.23, John Preece 374.21, Dick Blocksidge 371.19
F OPEN – Frog Lowe 388.40, Brett Bunyan 387.37, Jenni Hausler 387.36
FTR – Josef Ekkerd 382.30, Frans Knox 381.30, Rodger Hannemann 381.29

GRAND AGG WINNERS

TRA – James Corbett, Kim O’Loghlen, Andrew Sims
TRB – Dom Whalan, Brett Stephens, Owen Miller
TRC – Craig Ryan, Brett Kettle, Warwick Thomas
FSA – Henk Doggen, Andrew McKillop, Mia Lowe
FSB – Darryl Patti, John Preece, Brian Dermody
F OPEN – Frog Lowe, Brett Bunyan, Stuart Braund
FTR – Frans Knox, Tim Lawrence, John Stevens

CONGRATULATIONS:

Steve Negus, Reilly Pitt, Craig Ryan, Henk Doggen, Darryl Patti, Frog Lowe and Josef Ekkerd

Check out all the results over the 2 days of competition

Target Rifle

The ultimate winner, Steve Negus sent his first shot of this historic event onto the wrong target. We found out, he’s human afterall. Yes, that was a miss!

But in a true champion’s way, he pulled it together for a winning 50.9 at 300 yards. Ben Emms, James Corbett, Jim Bailey, Mitch Bailey and Ash Bidgood all managed to stay clean and set the stage for what was going to be a tight finish with so many ranges not shot.

The 500 yards was cancelled and 2x 15 shot matches at 600 yards completed day 1 of the Kings. Steve found himself at the top with three other shooters who’d all stayed ‘clean’: Ben, James and Jim Bailey.

The second day saw only two ranges shot after rain dealys: 15 shots at 900 yards and 10 shots at 1000 yards. Steve and Ben were the only two to remain clean and separated on centre count.

With the third and final day completely washed out, Steve became the NRAA’s first King’s Prize Champion to be chaired.

Target Rifle B / C

Reilly Pitt and Dom Whalan certainly gave themselves the best chances of winning the King’s in TRB with both finishing on day 1 with 196 (only separated on centres). Day 2 again saw them finish the day with the same scores with Reilly edging ahead on centres. With day 3 cancelled, our QRA junior, Reilly Pitt saw himself on top of the group with Dom Whalan and Brett Stephens taking second and third.

Target Rifle C saw Craig Ryan continue his stellar form from Natives and President’s to nudge out Warwick Thomas and Phil Janowicz. He showed he won’t be in C Grade too long!

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F Classes - F Standard, F Open, F/TR

F Standard A & B

The ‘battle’ lines were drawn in FSA between Henk Doggen and Andrew McKillop however, Goondiwindi shooter Al Griffiths certainly showed great form while his fellow club shooter and QRA junior Mia Lowe filled the Top 4!

Henk set the stage from the 300 with a great 60.8 at 300 yards however Mia showed true class in the first 600 yards with a 90.12 (only beaten by seasoned veteran Mahlon Reid with a 90.13). NSW junio Byron La Fontaine pushed through in the second 600 to nudge out veteran Bob Pedersen and Henk Doggen.

The stage was certainly set for a great finish but the weather had other ideas. Day 2 saw Henk finish having only dropped a point: Al Griffiths in second, Andrew McKillop in third and Mia Lowe in fourth.

FSB saw Darryl Patti continue his masterclass winning all but 2 ranges. He battled back after a slow start at the 300 yards with 2x possibles at the 600 yards. John Preece who was second at the QRA Queen’s cemented his second place while super-veteran Dick Blockside rounded out the three. He certainly left the range with a smile after a brilliant 58.2 at the last 1000 yards.

F Open

As always it’s a tough gig in F Open with centres being the only separator on most occasions.

Jenni Hausler started proceedings at the 300 yards with a magnificent 60.10! With the rain settling in during the 600 yard shoots, Dave Boreham put in a great shoot to take the first with a 90.14. That 6 was 1mm outside the ring! Brett Bunyan followed that with a 90.13 in the second!

Day 2 started with only 2 people clean: Dave Boreham and Dave Reddan. However, the 2 longs were about to change that.

Frog Lowe, the SA FS Queen’s winner once again proved consistency wins the major events. Having not even placed at any of the ranges, he finally got the 1000 yards and the Championship! Brett Bunyan and Jenni Hausler took the minor placings.

FTR

We have some of the best FTR shooters in the country who call the QRA home and they were ready for a great competition.

Josef Ekkerd set the stage for his mighty win at the 300 yards and cemented it at the 900! His consistency across the King’s saw him a single point in front at the end of the day. Close Rival Frans Knox took out second while Rodger Hannemann roundeed out the three: both only a single point behind.

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The Queensland Rifle Association fosters target rifle shooting and firearms training through our clubs. Different classes of rifle shooting are conducted by our Clubs under the Standard Shooting Rules (SSRs) of the National Rifle Association of Australia (NRAA).

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Belmont Shooting Complex