ECDRA 2019 Open Prize Meeting

The local East Central District Rifle association Inc. annual Easter Monday prize shoot was a great success attracting shooters from all over Victoria and New South Wales.  The shoot tops out a series of competitions that began with the Victorian Queen's prize series, followed by the Ovens and Murray Prize shoot and then the Wangaratta Prize shoot.

Captain Neal Hambridge took the prime responsibility of Range Officer for the first time and was rewarded with many compliments about the shoot from the visitors before they headed home.

The ECDRA prize shoot is regarded as almost a family affair as shooters who only see each other once a year relax for a day of friendly competition.  The good attendance ensured that all three targets were used to their capacity to get the three stages of the shoot over with enough time for the presentations then to get the shooters on their way home before dark.  The travel time is quite an issue with the build up of traffic on the roads over Easter.  

The shoot began with two stages at 500 yards followed by one stage at 600 yards with 10 scoring shots to count at each stage. After the first shooters left the mound it was clear this was going to be a high scoring match as the board rapidly filled with maximum scores of just one or two points down.  As the final stage at 600yds got underway Graeme Kerr said to Rob Chaffe “Have a look at that, 60s everywhere, we have not seen that for a long time”.     He was right and so the match was going to be decided on the numbers of centrals or super centrals, the score you get when your shot lands in a target area half the diameter of the maximum scoring zone. Graeme spoke a little early,  out of nowhere the Violet Town wind picked up and suddenly there were call “where did that wind come from” so the match was really on.

There were eight shooters who had the maximum score at the start of 600 and very soon every one had dropped a point. That is how the shoot finished with those eight just one point down for the whole match. 

Shooters to the mound at 600 yds for the final stage of the ECDRA Easter Monday Prize shoot.  Captain and Range Officer  Neal Hambridge is the one with the fluorescent orange vest in the middle of the picture. Terry Gee the ECDRA prize winner is the shooter that can be seen on the far right.  The limp red flag shows the wind at its lightest and it was this wind that picked up and then dropped again in a few seconds that caught out all the shooters.