With a steady hand and a sharp eye, rifle shooters from The Armidale School are focussing on success at inter-school championships over the coming week where they will compete in a range of full bore disciplines.
For three days this week, a squad of 16 shooters have been at a training camp at Spring Ridge Rife Range under the eye of coaches Mark Morton and Queensland representative Rob Bondfield.
“The conditions were perfect for shooting, and every day the shooters fired at three hundred, five hundred and six hundred metre ranges as well as gaining some ‘snap’ practice. The camp went well, thanks to the generosity and support of Spring Ridge Rifle Club and Spring Ridge Country Club,” TAS Shooting MIC Mr David Lawrence said.
Tomorrow (Saturday 15 July) they will have their first test, competing in the Fiona Reynolds All Schools championship at the Anzac Rifle Range at Malabar consisting of the best 10 scoring shots in one stage over 500m and two at 600m.
Leading the TAS contingent will be Year 12 students, shooting captain Tom Southwell of Bingara and Sam Cannington of Narrabri who was last year selected into the Combined AAGPS team.
On Tuesday the action moves to the Hornsby Rifle Range for the annual AAGPS championships against The King’s School, Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore), Sydney Boys’ High School, Scots College, Sydney Grammar School and Newington College.
The first event will be the Rawson Cup competition, shot at a 500m and 600m stage, and later in the day, the National Rifle Association Shield, a deliberate shoot over 600m. The following day will be the Buchanan Shield over 300m, which has both deliberate and ‘snap’ style event in which shooters have five seconds to aim and fire at targets that are raised and lowered.
“There is some good depth across the team with many shooters having competed at this level before, so they are looking forward to the competition,” Mr Lawrence said.
