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A
star behind the scenes
LYNNE Teale describes herself as a “non-shooter”, yet she is
arguably the most important figure in the local area’s shooting
cricles.
“I have very limited ability on the tracks, so I only shoot enough times each year to retain my firearms license,” Lynne said.
“I soon learnt that I couldn’t hit the clay targets in flight and it didn’t count if I hit them after they had landed.
“Not competing hasn’t appeared to be a drawback for me though because as in any sport a high level of administration activity is always required.”
Lynne’s journey in the sport has stretched over 30 years.
It has seen her fulfill numerous duties at both club, state and national levels.
The long-serving Bega Gun Club secretary and treasurer said she initially joined up for family reasons.
“It all started because it kept us together as a family on weekends,” Lynne said.
“At that time, the club was in its infancy and it was obvious the club was expanding and would need structure and planning to accommodate for the growth.
“Given my previous business experience I stepped in; I felt I could provide what was required.
“The Bega Gun Club is a great club to be involved with mainly because our members have good country attitudes.
“Throughout the years a great deal of our committee’s efforts has also focused on attracting tourism in this area.
“Many people return to Bega year-after-year to compete.
“The success of our club has certainly worked to generate more reasons for people to come to the Valley.”
In the early 1990s, Lynne decided that she had more to give to the sport and was interested in a senior role in the state’s clay shooting administration.
It was then she realised she needed to forge her own identity and volunteering in this area paved the way.
“I attended a couple of zone shooting events and while I was there basically asked to watch the volunteers so I could learn and take that information back with me to benefit Bega,” Lynne said.
“In 1994 I became Bega club’s delegate to represent our zone at the next level and from there I was unanimously nominated to the NSW Clay Target Association’s Executive Committee (NSWCTA).
“Throughout the past years my volunteering assistance became recognised and in demand to organise and assist in Zone, State and National events.
“Some memorable highlights for me have been as the office manager at the successful 1997 and
2006 World Down the Line Championships, participation in the NSW Police Firearms Legislation Review Committee and being awarded Life Membership of the Bega Gun Club.
“During this time I have developed lasting friendships with many people and seen the emergence of people acknowledging the administrative work was equally as important as the shooting itself.
“The recognition I have received, even though just a simple thank you has made it all worthwhile,” Lynne said.
Lynne was NSWCTA president for six years and took on the role of vice-president twice.
She recently retired from the state committee and is set to be recognised for her achievements next month when she is to be inducted into the NSWCTA’s Hall of Fame as a Life Member.
“I feel very humbled and honored that they are inducting me as I will be just the 11th person in 60-odd years to be recognised this way,” Lynne said.
“This will be my biggest achievement since winning the NSW Firearm Safety Awareness Council’s Shooting Sportsman of the Year bronze medal award in 1993.
“On that occasion the gold medal winner was Olympian Michael Diamond, so I was in illustrious company then and I will be again as I am the first women to ever get both.
“But the euphoria for me has been watching others succeed, particularly youngsters.
“Throughout the years I have generated numerous cornerstones that others have built on, such as coaching clinics for new, juniors and lady shooters and open days to promote the safe use of firearms.”
Lynne said being a woman has helped her in the sport.
“I’ve been able to bring in a different view, being a woman, I know that change is inevitable and I’ve been in a position to assist with that,” she said.
“Memberships for female shooters have increased dramatically over the last 10 years throughout the nation which has been great to see.
“Sadly though, women are still the minority in this sport but we have come a long way.
“I’d say that on average only three out of 100 competition shooters are women but they are all very talented.”
Fortunately, the local shooting community is not losing her services and Lynne said Bega Gun Club was heading in the right direction.
“The club has grown at a steady, achievable rate and membership is still growing,” she said.
“We have advocated a lot of sensible, logical approaches.
“I feel we have benefited greatly by bringing zone, state and national links to Bega.
“It is my hope that I can still be of benefit to our club and zone for another few years yet and in the meantime, I will be looking for someone else’s involvement to take over my role.”
STOLEN FROM SHOALHAVEN
CLAY TARGET CLUB
Custom Trailers Built for Traps
2 x Acorn 300 4 x Acorn 65 on Trailers
Acorn 65 Trap
Acorn 300 Trap
Over the Christmas break Shoalhaven Clay Target Club was broken into. Thieves got into our storage containers and took 6 of the Club Traps (2 x Acorn 300 4 x Acorn 65) and one of our members traps (Materelli Rabbit). The traps are all built onto custom trailers shown above.
NSW State Skeet Carnival 2009
You can usually tell a good shoot!
No complaints about the targets, no trap break downs, great
weather (for the first two days and then it was a bit ordinary),
affordable noms, a good return of money back to shooters, 92
shooters with a good mix of the grades, good catering and four
state titles up for grabs.
This was the NSWCTA Skeet carnival held at the National Shooting
Ground in Wagga over three days in August, and the scene was set
for some excellent shooting by all who attended. Several members
of the NSWCTA executive: President Paul Watchorn along with Les
Aberley, Peter Haley, Fred Rapley, Bob Blake and Michael
Kruger-Davis, rolled up their sleeves and got in to run the
shoot. Sponsorship was secured from Gunsmoke in
Whilst it was expected that Frank Auditore would run the office
and the shoot via his brilliant shoot program, this was not to
happen. So this shoot was run the old way: by hand. Whilst it
might have been a little slower when nominating and squad sheets
had to be hand written, once the first wave was out shooting the
job got easier and there were no hiccups from then on.
There were several other people who need to be mentioned because
their input made the shoot the success it was: Kathleen Dawe,
our State Secretary, had never experienced a state carnival
before, so this was a good initiation before the state trap
carnival in October. Trina Watchorn and Sandra Haley worked flat
out processing the squad sheets, getting the scores entered on
the board and preparing the shoot-off sheets. Ken Douglas also
needs a mention because he stepped in and did a range of
‘gopher’ jobs, those little jobs that take time and cause great
concern if they are not done.
A tireless job, that is an absolute necessity, was performed by
Elaine Reed and her daughter Donna, who kept the shooters well
fed with a range of fair and even some home-made cakes and
muffins.
I would be surprised if anyone didn’t enjoy the shoot and I
would be even more surprised to learn that this was the sum
total of skeet shooters in the state. So let’s get behind this
carnival for next year, if you are a skeet shooter come along,
and if you’re worried about competing at a state carnival
because you feel you’re not good enough: don’t worry. There is a
chance that you could take home a handicap prize or a B or C
grade medal and a prize. The biggest gain will be that because
you have experience in a bigger shoot, you will be able to
perform better when you back at your home club. If you’re mainly
a trap or sporting shooter, then you are also most welcome: the
cross discipline training will improve your shooting and you may
take home a prize. It happened this year. If you have any ideas
on how the NSWCTA can promote the skeet carnival better, then
drop the Association a line: we would value your ideas.
So in beautiful weather, the shoot got off to a good start, and
it wasn’t long before there were some scores on the board,
several in red. A full list of the results follow.
On Friday we started with
Event 1 the
50 target 20 Gauge
Championship, we had 69 competitors, of which were 5 ladies,
3 juniors, 2 sub-juniors, 14 veterans, the rest open. The
overall Champion in this event was Paul Johnston of Melbourne
VIC with 137/137, 1st in AA was Adrian Cussens of
Barnsdale VIC with 113/114, 2nd in AA was Peter Vella
with 85/86, 1st in A went to Shane O’Brien from
Kalgoolie 136/137, 2nd in A went to Locky Irons with
72/74, 1st in B was Doug Blewitt from Cooma NSW with
52/54, 2nd in B was John Dyas with 51/54, 1st
in C was Alison Farish of Benalla VIC with 60/64, 2nd
in C was Trevor O’Connell with 59/64, Veteran Award went to John
Guberina from NSWGC with 50/50, Junior Award went to David
Douglas with 44/50, Sub-Junior Award went to Chris Barber of
CPCTC with 34/54, Ladies Award went to Alison Farish.
Friday afternoon we stepped into
Event 2 the
50 target State Skeet
Handicap. We had 85 competitors in this event, 1st
went to Stephen Bell of CPCTC with 174/180, 2nd went
to David Douglas from NLMCTC with 173/180, 3rd to
David Pope from Wangaratta with 124/129, 4th to
Michael Kruger-Davis from Narrandera with 77/80 and 5th
went to Peter McWilliam from Griffith with 63/68.
On Saturday we held
Event 3 the 100
target State Skeet Championship, we had 92 shooters in this
event, made up of 7 ladies, 2 sub-junior, 3 juniors and 13
veterans. Overall went to Paul Johnston from Melbourne VIC with
100/100, 1st in AA was Martin Perry of WA with
121/122, 2nd in AA went to
G Clarke with 120/122, 1st in A went to Reg
Coombes of SA with 98/100, 2nd in A went to R
Nicholson with 97/100, 1st in B went to David Douglas
from NLMCTC with 98/100, 2nd in B went to Frank
Hedley with 97/100, 1st in C went to Alison Farish of
Benalla VIC with 93/100, 2nd in C went to Jack
Cunningham with 92/100, Veterans Award went to John Guberina
with 99/100, Junior Award went to David Douglas, Sub-Junior
Award went to Ross Tourgelis from CPCTC with 83/100, Ladies went
to Alison Farish.
Sunday brought on the rain and started with
Event 4 the
20 target NSWCTA Skeet
Championship, 85 competitors in this event 5 ladies, 2
sub-juniors, 3 juniors, 12 veterans. Overall went out to Gill
Farish from Wangaratta VIC with 127/127, 1st in AA
went to John Guberina with 126/127, 2nd in AA went to
Paul Johnston with 89/90, 1st in A went to Jeff
Martin of Bathurst with 64/65, 2nd in A went to David
Cunningham with 56/57, 1st in B went to Michael
Kruger-Davis with 63/64, 2nd in B went to David
Douglas with 49/50, 1st in C went to Chris barker
with 45-50, 2nd in C went to Jack Cunningham with
52/58, Veterans Award went to John Guberina, Junior to David
Douglas with 49/50, Sub-Junior Award went to Chris Barber with
45/50, Ladies went to Leonie Johnston with 52/58.
Event 5
the 25 pair State Doubles
Championship was held Sunday afternoon with 82 Competitors.
Overall went to Julian Lucchitti from NSWGC with 68/70, 1st
in AA went to Peter Vella with 67/70, 2nd in AA went
to N Mahouf with 54/58, 1st in A went to John Cassin
with 47/50, 2nd in A went to Jeff Martin with 50/54,
1st in B went to Justin Hayden from Melbourne VIC
with 48/50, 2nd in B went to David Douglas with
46/50, 1st in C went to Nic Tourgelis with 47/50, 2nd
in C went to Peter Dent with 46/50, Veterans Award went to John
Guberina with 47/50, Juniors Award went to David Douglas with
46/50, Sub-Juniors Award went to Ross Tourgelis, Ladies Award
went to Leonie Johnston with 43/56.
High Guns went to AA Grade Julian Lucchitti with a score of 245,
A Grade Jeff Martin with a score of 241, B Grade David Douglas
with a score of 241, C Grade Stephen Bell with a score of 231,
Women’s High Gun went to Alison Farish with a score of 227,
Veterans High Gun went to John Guberina with a score of 244,
Junior High Gun went to Joshua Bell with a score of 231,
Sub-Junior High Gun went to Chris Barber with a score of 194.
The Overall Carnival High Gun went to Paul Johnston with a score
of 295/300.
Teams representing their Zones were;
Central Zone – Peter Vella, Doug Moorby, Jeff Martin. Total
score = 142
Northern Zone – Nick Dodd, John Cassin, Derek Wyllie. Total
score = 136
Riverina Zone – David Coleman, Hugh Fairfield-Smith, Peter
Reekman. Total score = 133
Southern Zone – Adrian Lucchitti, Julian Lucchitti, Michael
Maloney. Total score = 147
Western Zone – Shane Bennett, Frank Hedley, Andrew McManus.
Total score = 124.
Making Southern Zone the winning Zone for 2009.
State Skeet Teams selected to represent NSW at the Nationals
will be;
Open – J Lucchitti, J Guberina, D
Ladies – L Wojtowyez,
Juniors – J Bell, B Brummer, C Barber, reserve R Tougelis.
Veterans – F Marcellino, R Petts, D Blewitt, reserve H
Fairfield-Smith
The Two Man Team event winners were – Paul Johnston and Gil
Farish with 387/400.
The Three Member Club Team event winners were – Mal Briggs,
Brendon Pearson, Locky Irons of Melbourne with 437/450.
Continental Carnival 2009
Held in Moree
On the weekend of the 30th & 31st of May saw 84 shooters from across
NSW, QLD,ACT & Vic travel to Moree Clay Target Club for the 2009 NSW
Continental Championship. Shooters arrived at the grounds on
Saturday morning to be met by great conditions, fresh hot coffee and
a shooting complex that any club would be proud of. With recent rain
and the hard work of club members the grounds looked great with the
6 layouts ready, traps full & set it wasn't long before the first
squads were on the layouts and shooting. Event 1 was a 25 target DB
eye opener CD with only a handful of shooters shooting the possible.
Event 2 Pioneer NSWCTA 50 target Single Barrel
Overall: Peter Fitzalan 52/54 AA: Doug Makim 51/54
2nd Vic Hyde 50/53. A: Stuart Boydell 48/51
2nd Viv Moore 47/51 B: Justin Turner 47/50 2nd
Billy Griffiths 46/51
C: Gerald McLnnes 43/50
2nd Frank O’Neill 41/50 OA
LAD Viv Moore JUN: Billy Griffiths VET: Peter Fitzalan.
Event 3 was the Hardi Aust NSWCTA 50 target DB. Only 3 shooters shot
the possible so a shoot off was on with Brian Kneipp coming out on
top. Things got interesting when the NSW Western Zone president went
out to shoot off against
the QLD Western Zone president to settle A grade it was more then
just state verses state after a very closely watched shoot off the
QLD crowd were happy to see there zone & state president take the
win. There was also a shoot off to settle B grade with Dimity
Boydell getting up over Hayden Johnson. OA: Brain Kneipp 112/112 AA:
1st Charles Tattam 111/112 2nd John Kent 56/57 A: Bill Allan 98/100
2nd Stuart Boydell 97/100 B: Dimity Boydell 51/52 2nd Hayden Johnson
50/52 C: Robert Brown 44/50 2nd Will Cameron 43/50 OA LAD: Dimity
Boydell JUN: Hayden Johnson VET: John Kent
Sunday started off cold and got colder as it went.
Event 4 was a 25 target DB CD with only 6 shooting the
possible. With no shoot offs event 5 was under way which was the CRT
NSWCTA 50 target Point Score. When the shooting was done and the
scores in, John Sleightholme took overall with a 148/150 AA: 1st
Murray Johnson 147/150 & 2nd Paul Tattam 141/153, A: 1st Peter Ewart
142/150 2nd Trina Watchhorne 137/150 B: 1st Roger Carrigan 140/150
2nd Billy Griffiths 138/150 C: 1st David Quirk 132/150 2nd Ray
Christie 125150OA: LAD Helen Overton JUN Billy Griffiths VET John
Kent.
After a big baked dinner for lunch shooting got under way with
Event 6 a 30 target Medley. Overall/AA was Geoff Moore with a 50/50
AA: 2nd Cliff Overton 73/75
A: Peter Ewart 49/50 2nd Viv Moore 48/50 B: Bruce Ping Kee 47/50 2nd
Justin Turner 70/75 C: Grahame Armour 48/50 2nd Frank O’Neil 57/75
OA: LAD: Helen Overton JUN: Billy Griffiths VET: Peter Fitzalan.
A big thanks go’s to all the shooter who attended the shoot, the
people who ran the office to keep the shoot rolling along, the
sponsor, the rural fire men who did the trapping and a specials
thanks to Michal & Suzanne for the food we had for the weekend. Hope
to see you all back at Moree again.
High Gun Winners
O/A Geoff Moore (Surat)
AA Murray Johnson
(Moree)
A: Peter Ewart
(Roma)
B Billie
Griffiths (Kempsey)
C David Quirk
(Moree)
Vets John Kent
(Inverell)
Ladies Helen
Overton (Brewarrina)
Juniors Billie Griffiths (Kempsey)