Sports reports: Rain delays Murray Bridge Rifle Club shoot

This post was contributed by Daniel Irvine of Murray Bridge Rifle Club.

Eleven competitors have braved the weather and turned out to shoot from 800 metres at the Deed Rifle Range in Monarto.

Saturday was nearly lost to rain which, when combined with some essential target maintenance leading up to Murray Bridge Rifle Club’s annual prize shoot, meant that firing didn’t commence until 2.30pm.

Thankfully, with three targets operating, shooters were able to still finish at a reasonable time.

Once the rain cleared, the wind kicked in hard from the right and kept gaining as the afternoon wore on.

Several shooters were still able to produce decent scores, though not generally enough to improve on their past efforts at the same range.

Standout performances for the day came from John Cranwell in F-class who shot a pair of 57s, giving him the off-rifle win in F-open and the F-class handicap win.

Distinguishing himself in target rifle was Rob Paech, scoring a perfect 50 in the first round and a very good 48 in the second.

While his performance was enough to secure the off-rifle win in TR, he fell just short of the handicap prize, nearly two points behind Daniel Irvine, whose improvement in centres helped him to a 91.06 and a handicap score of 110.1.

In other awards David McDonald, despite struggling at times with the wind, was able to top the list of F-standard shooters.

Snipers were claimed by Jazz Irvine in TR with a 19.01 and, in F-standard, Ian Taylor, who also distinguished himself by winning the less appreciated Magpie Award.

In TR that honour went to Andrew Heard on a lucky count out from Daniel Irvine and Gordon Harrison – lucky for them, at least – with each shooter landing two “birds”.

This week the club will travel to Mount Barker to shoot in the first round of the district association championship before returning to Monarto to shoot 400 metres and before the club’s open prize meeting on Easter Saturday.

Murray Bridge News is happy to share news, results or photos from sporting clubs throughout Murray Bridge and the surrounding region, free of charge. Email peri@murraybridge.news or call 0419 827 124.