Today was the day of the Protea match. The second of our three team matches involving two sighters and ten counting shots at 300, 600, 800 and 900 metres. This prompted a slightly later start, 9am, and the General De Wet rifle range was filled with the sounds of Shakira and the Lion King as the team did their morning stretches and prepared for a long day of competition.

The wind was unlike anything we had seen earlier this week, with a strong headwind present at 300m that would last for much of the day. A strong performance ensued by the team, creating a slender lead going into 600.

At this distance, the variation needed to the sights to correct for the rapidly changing headwind grew and despite a few hiccups, the team held some solid groups putting us in contention for long range.

As the wind grew towards midday it started swinging around from the right hand side of the range, beyond which is a vast expanse of open ground over which it can pick up immense speed. We worked exceptionally well as a team here and gained a few points on the Australians, closing their lead to two points going into 900.

With largely gusting winds, a number of waits called and tactical firing, the scores were in, placing us 3rd, 7 points behind the USA, who narrowly lost out to Australia by 1 point.

Reflecting on what went well and not so well, the team headed back to the hotel to wind down before team members headed out to various eateries for dinner.

A massive thank you to our reserves, Luca and Toby C, and Henry, Toby L and George for assisting the team so well on the day.

Stay tuned for individual placings of team members in the State President’s 3rd Stage tomorrow…