GBRT : South Africa 2012

Holiday time is definitely over, with the start of the first day’s shooting in Bloem and the Free State Championships. The day dawned bright and clear, and with every promise of barbecuing shooters later in the day. Wagons rolled at an uncharacteristically early (for the last week at least) 8am for a supposed start of shooting at 9:15. However, since we arrived at the same time as the butt markers, most of whom hadn't marked (or potentially seen) a target before, it did take some time for the shooting to commence.

When we did eventually get going at 300 metres, it was to some particularly challenging with conditions, fishtailing from behind the range, and contributing at least in part to lower scores than people were expecting.

The tricky wind conditions continued throughout the day, at 600, 800 and 900, and at the longer ranges tested the wind reading ability of all concerned, although some people were definitely more on top of it than others (Jon and DC, to no surprise from everyone else).

And so, at the close of the day, everyone retired to the bar to drown their sorrows, or more likely, just cool down a bit by filling themselves with cold beer. The prize giving followed, in which Jon Underwood was victorious in the overall Free State Championship, and a number of other team members were well placed - see the scores section of the website for details.

Dinner for the evening was a Braai on the range (although thankfully for all concerned, given the level of sweating that had occurred there was an opportunity to shower and change beforehand) where once again, Gareth proved his prowess at eating twice as much as everyone else by having two entire meals.

Back to the lodge and early to bed after a particularly challenging first day on the range.

Quote of the day goes to Steve for "I'm sure Lauren would be good around the house for something..." Got some ideas have you Steve?