Boorowa Gun Club recently held their biggest competition of the year, the Boorowa Gun Club Classic 200.
The annual two day long competition attracts competitors from far and wide, including some of Australia’s best trap shooters. Australian and State representative shooters were in attendance, overall there were 113 competitors registered for the events which was just shy of the 2017 record.
A fourth trap has recently been installed and was up and running for the weekend. This fourth trap was certainly a drawcard for many shooters. The installation of the extra trap and the clubhouse renovations, including new amenities, sets Boorowa Gun Club apart from many of the country and city clubs with aged infrastructure. Both days ran smoothly with the fourth trap enabling the Club to cope well with the large number of squads present over both days.
Many of the competitors were first time visitors to both the Club and the region. Positive feedback was received from many of the visitors, many of whom stated they would be returning in the future and bringing their friends. This word of mouth advertising is a huge bonus to both the Club and the wider community as visitors stay overnight and spend their money with local businesses.
The first event on Saturday was the 25 target Grand Handicap. Four possible were recorded and following a four way shoot off, David Jarvis came away with first place honours. Lachlan Smith came second and Steve Barros came third. With Constantinos Himonitis coming 4th, fifteen shooters scored 24/25 in the handicap so a massive shoot off for 5th place ensued, Glen Evans eventually overcoming all the others in the shoot off to claim 5th place.
Event 2, the 50 target Point Score event was won by Glen Castellaro. Glenn Barton was 1st in AA and Jeff Nash 2nd in AA. A grade was won by Ray Schiller with Giulio Serafin coming 2nd. B grade was won by Josef Schoepfer with Kate Thistleton coming second. C grade was won by Geoffrey Mason with Abdullah Elmir coming second.
Event 3, the 50 target Double Barrel event was won by Ben Woodhouse with a 50/50 in the event and a shoot off score of 171/171. Ben, who was the runner up last year took the line honours this year with some great shooting. First in AA was Tony Arvanitakis and second in AA was Ron Bou-Moussa shooting a great score and earning his 200 break badge. A grade was won by Veli Sirtlan with Trevor Stockton in second place. B grade was won by Max O’Dowd with Alexander Poulos coming second.
The evening dinner put on by the Club and sponsored by Nimbo Station and Tony Cooper included lamb and pork on the spit, dutifully tended to throughout the day by Roger Cooper. An absolutely sumptuous feast and a great way to finish off the day.
Sunday morning started off with a bang at around 9am with the Double Rise event, Kim Nealon and Glenn Barton both shooting the possible 30/30 and going into a shoot off. Kim came out the victor with a shoot off score of 10/10, Glenn settling for 1st in AA. Second place in AA went to Grady Evans. A grade 1st went to Phillip Chryssovelonis with Giulio Serafin coming second. B grade was won by Alexander Poulos with Josef Schoepfer coming second. C grade was won by Brett Gray after a shoot off with George Adamopoulos who came second.
The final event of the weekend was the 45 target Champion of Champions which consisted of 15 targets double barrel, 15 targets single barrel and 15 targets point score, all shot from 18 metres. The overall winner was Ben Woodhouse with a 75/75 in the event plus a further 75/75 in the shoot off to win the event from Glenn Castellaro by one point.
Glenn shot extremely well and came away with first in AA. Matthew Stokes took second in AA. Bob El Kadi was the best of the A graders with a 71/75 and Phillip Chryssovelonis taking second after a shoot off against Steve Barros. Alexander Poulos won B grade with a very respectable 74/75, Constantinos Himonitis taking out second place. C grade was won by Abdullah Elmir who promised he was going to give away skeet in favour of trap shooting after a very enjoyable weekend. George Adamopoulos, shooting very well on Sunday, took second place.
The Overall High Gun for the weekend went to Glenn Barton with a 327/330. AA Grade High Gun Glen Castellaro 324/330. A Grade High Gun shared by Giulio Serafin and Ray Schiller on 303/330. B Grade High Gun Alexander Poulos 290/330. C Grade High Gun Abdullah Elmir 289/330. Ladies High Gun Chloe Evans 289/330, Junior High Gun Darcy Maloney 313/330 and Veterans High Gun Jeff Nash 316/330.
Boorowa Gun Club’s last shoot of the year will be held on Saturday 14 December 2019, commencing at 11am. There will be raffles, hams and chooks to be won and a good serve of Christmas cheer. Don’t forget your Santa hat.
If you are interested in having a try at clay target shooting, the Boorowa Gun Club is open for practice for members and for beginners every Tuesday evening from 5pm till 7pm. Last official Club practice night for 2019 will be Tuesday 10 December. Club practice for 2020 begins on Tuesday 21 January 2020. All ages and abilities 12 years and up, photo ID is required.
