TAREE Wingham Clay Target Gun Club’s 21st Flying Fox Carnival was held in perfect weather for shooting that gave shooters no excuses for a poor performance.
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Shooters from all over NSW and even Victoria contested the event with a large contingent from Sydney. However, the city shooters were no match for the the country marksmen. Seven shooters classed as ‘elite’ to show how highly this carnival is regarded. Elite shooters are defined as being in AA-grade, with a maximum handicap and generally they have either represented Australia or NSW. With up to $10,000 in cash and prizes there was plenty of incentive for people to attend.
The first championship event was the 25 target single barrel. This is traditionally a difficult event, with targets travelling around 70km at an unknown angle. Ben Rumbel of Guyra, son of ex-local and Olympian Terry Rumbel, made it look easy with a perfect 25/25, the only shooter to do so. Local Kerry Bourke claimed a win in C-grade with 21/25.
The second championship was the 50 target double barrel event which is usually a war of attrition with shooters expecting to shoot 100s of targets without missing to claim victory. There were 13 shooters who shot 50/50 with a shoot-off required to determine a winner. Eventual winner was Romeo Spagnolo of Coffs Harbour who claimed his first major championship by edging out Tamworth’s Brad Henshall the heavy favourite.
Highlight was the performance of Fletcher Richardson, 12, of Guyra in his third competition. Fletcher shot 48/50 and won the C-grade championship and beat shooters many years his senior.
The second day started with a 50 target handicap event.
Winners included a father and son duo of Scott and Steve Wallis from Port Macquarie with Scott claiming family bragging rights by beating his father. Scott shot from 21m to win he will now compete on 22m.
The final event was the main event was the Flying Fox 50 where a shoot-off was required to determine the winner. Continuing his hot form Ben Rumbel fired a perfect 100/100, a feat matched by Kim Nealon of Yamba, with both eager to add the Flying Fox to their list of championships. The exciting shoot-off continued until Rumbel missed a target and handed victory to Nealon with a perfect score of 160/160.
Overall high guns went to Kim Nealon, AA-grade to Ben Rumbel, A-grade Romeo Spagnolo, B-grade Tom Mihas with local club president Allan Mudford claiming the C-grade high gun title.
