After a very well organised team dinner last night in Petone, following which a few of the team socialised in Wellington and others in Trentham, it was a day off for the team today. Therefore many enjoyed a bit of a lie-in, some early physio sessions and a bit more R&R. Some of the team went into Wellington to view the Terracotta Warriors on show at the Te Papa museum, others went to the beach and most enjoyed a leisurely lunch as well – mentally preparing for the start of the World Individual Long Range Championships that begin tomorrow afternoon at 800x.
On the range, the GB Veteran and U25 teams were having their World Championship matches and the U21s had another international match. Our constantly working armourer Tom Rylands was on hand to assist the U25s all day as manager.
The course of fire for both matches is 2&10 at 300x, 600x, 900x and 1000x, with the U25 and U21 teams consisting of 5 shooters on 1 target, and the veterans 10 shooters on 2 targets. Three of our team in Nigel Ball, Simon Belither and our captain David Calvert were brought in to shoot for the Vets team as well.
Once again the Australians were incredibly strong in all three age groups, highlighting the challenge we will have for the Palma Match at the end of the tour. Both the veterans and U25s put up a brave fight in their matches, with the U25s only 3 points back going into the final distance at 1000x. A close fought 1000x shoot unfortunately saw the Aussies read the conditions and shoot that little bit better, with them coming out on top by 10 points from GB.
The veterans won the 1000 yard range, with top scorer Chris Fitzpatrick outshooting all his peers with 198.18, but they unfortunately lost by the slender margin of 8 points to Australia also. The Aussies made it a clean sweep for the matches by winning the U21 international match as well. Full results can be found here: https://www.lrwc2019.nz/results-2/ In the results section, details of the Overseas Club teams match show how well the four South African teams performed yesterday, as well as the two Australian clubs. We may have won, but next weekend promises to be tough.
The evening had the team return from their R&R activities, prepare the rest of their individual ammunition, have a chilled evening and prepare for the individual competitions tomorrow.
