Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 15th June 2013 F A Wilde Trophy 600yards

Saturdays’ final round of the F A Wilde trophy was poorly attended with several regulars travelling in search of warmer climes and there was little in the way of hot scores to warm the locals except for one stage of brilliance by Dennis Lavelle.

With a breeze which didn’t seem to know from which direction it should approach the range the challenge for shooters was which directional flag should be believed. In the first stage no one came to grips with the conditions although Graeme Bright seemed to be on top of it until two inner fours landed on his scorecard at the end of a fairly tight shoot.

Everyone else, including the F-class shooters fell foul of the fickle wind and surprisingly elevation was a major problem, which could hardly be attributed to the wind. Gordon Shepherd 45.02, John Coghill 44.01, and Lavelle 43.01 all struggled to hold a group, Lavelle particularly, with two magpie threes’ spoiling his stage.

Telescopes did little to help Geoff Willis and Brad Aitcheson who both had trouble keeping their group inside the bullseye ring and several outside shots brought them undone. Their second stages were little better although Aitcheson at one point threatened to usurp the experienced Willis, falling just three points short of a major upset.

The second stage was a cakewalk for Bright who despite an early double inner four repeated his first stage to take the Cock of the Walk very comfortably. Shepherd and Coghill didn’t come to grips with the conditions and played no part in the competition.

The second stage by Lavelle was the talking point in a day of little note. With no inkling of any great feat about to be performed Lavelle slowly and deliberately laid on a high centre count possible, unusually and out of character, stopping at times to wait and survey the foibles of the wind. In a masterly display of full bore target shooting his 50.05 was an exercise in patience and concentration which won him the B grade COW.

Bright won the F A Wilde trophy by 1 ½ points ahead of Shepherd. The next trophy in consideration is the C R Kelly Cup beginning on Saturday 22nd at 700 yards

Scores:
D Lavelle 93.06 (7 ¼) 100
G Bright 96.06 (2 ¼) 98 ¼
J Coghill 89.01 (9) 98
G Shepherd 90.02 (6) 96
B Aitcheson (F) 101.1 (10) 92 ½
G S Willis (F) 104.2 (2 ½) 88 ¾