St Arnaud Open Prize meeting 2018
Marty Kelly and Terry Gee made the long drive out to St Arnaud this Queens Birthday Long Weekend and Brian Houlihan drove even further out to Mildura to test there skills in competition. Marty Kelly won the F class Target Rifle on both days and hence also won the Grand aggregate at the No 2 District Rifle Association Prize shoot. Terry Gee was Shooting in F Open and shot very consistently but not quite back to his old form yet. Watch this space as the way he is shooting he is a competitor to watch.
Brian Houlihan took the opportunity to travel to Mildura for a small bore North West Championship shot over 20 and 50 metres. Brian scored a fourth in B Grade 598.45 over 20m and was ranked 17th overall a great Shoot. Sunday proved to be a difficult day for Brian shooting over 50m he shot 583.11 and scored a fourth in C grade.
At St Arnaud the clear winters days were accompanied by subtle wind that winds its way down the range cut out of the box iron bark forests and makes it very hard to read. This was not Marty or Terry’s issues as they soon had its measure their lost points were mainly in elevation. 60s were the order of the day and both managed 60.7 only 0.3 off a perfect score at different stages through the match. Marty was a clear winner in F Target Rifle with a total score of 355.31 made up of 178.17 day 1 and 177.14 on day 2. Five points down over 6 stages is a great effort. Terry is getting back to his old form with 3rd overall with 351.25, 10th place on day 1 with 173.10 then he showed the field what he was capable of with 178.15 for day 2 .
Both shooters performed very well upholding the outstanding record our Mountain Marksmen have established across the state and Nationally, where Marty is now ranked 6th in FT/R.