2008 Harry Madden Memorial Shoot
8-9 November 2008
Light Varmint winner Brendan Atkinson, with Tony
Titheridge, left, and Stuart Elliott, right.
Heavy Varmint winner Phil Jones, with Paul
Sullivan, left, and Craig Whittleton, right.
Two-Gun winner Brendan Atkinson, with Stuart
Elliott, left, and Phil Jones, right.
The Harry Madden Perpetual Shield was presented
to Paul Sullivan as the winner of the 200-yard
Heavy Varmint Aggregate.
The Top 10 in the Two-Gun Aggregate had all the
usual suspects, plus a couple of Kiwis. The 2008 Harry Madden Memorial Shoot was held at the SSAA Belmont Range in conjunction with the Pacific Regional Shooting Championships. Australian and New Zealand teams did battle among a throng of keen Aussie Benchresters.
The ‘Harry’ has been contested every year since 1976 and ranks in the top-five shoots for Benchrest in Australia. Numbers were capped at 60 entries this year and the Friday practice revealed that the cream of Australia’s Benchrest shooters were there to test their ability. There was another very important aspect to this shoot, as it was the final qualifier for places in the Australian Benchrest Team to go to South Africa in 2009 for the World Benchrest Championship.
The shoot began on Saturday morning with Light Varmint and right from the first relay, the small groups came thick and fast. Peter Hodges punched down a .160 to set the pace on the A target, but Rob Carnell lowered this with a tidy .125 on the C target, which no-one bettered. The yardage win went to Peter Hodges with an outstanding .2018, from Stuart Elliott second and Steve Smith third.
The longer yardage proved frustrating for many, but tiny groups were the order of the day. Roger Paddon put down a tidy .297 on the A target just to show us how to do it and no-one managed to better that during the afternoon. All of the smallest groups in the relays were less than 0.5" - very tough competition. In the battle for the Aggregate, Brendan Atkinson cleared out from the field to win it with a .3336 from Stuart Elliott and Ray Edwards. In the battle for the Light Varmint win, Brendan Atkinson came out on top with a .3006 Aggregate, with Stuart Elliott second and New Zealand’s Tony Titheridge in third place.
Sunday was Heavy Varmint day and thankfully, it was a little cooler and much less humid. Interestingly, this had some effect on the ‘tune’ of some rifles and small adjustments in load were required. Craig Whittleton stamped his authority on the 100-yard Aggregate with a stunning .119 on the first target - no-one beat that during the morning, although some came close. All of the smallest groups in the relays were less than 0.2", such is the standard of the competition these days. Craig won the Aggregate with a .2252, from Phil Jones and Roger Marshall.
The final Aggregate at 200 yards saw some outstanding shooting and the biggest group to win an individual relay was a .370! The best group was an excellent .258, shot by Peter Fleming. Paul Sullivan shot with determination to take the Aggregate with a .2497, from Bill Jupp and Brendan Atkinson. Paul received the Harry Madden Shield for his efforts, which was presented by Neville Madden.
It was a good battle for the Grand Aggregate in Heavy Varmint, but Phil Jones was a happy winner on .2540 from Paul Sullivan and Craig Whittleton. Check the scores below to see how close it was.
The Harry Madden Memorial Trophy for the Two-Gun winner went to Brendan Atkinson, with Stuart Elliott second and Phil Jones third.
| Light Varmint | ||
| Brendan Atkinson | SA | .3006 |
| Stuart Elliott | Qld | .3071 |
| Tony Titheridge | NZ | .3615 |
| Phil Jones | Qld | .3680 |
| David Kerr | WA | .3684 |
| Ray Edwards | WA | .3744 |
| Paul Sullivan | Qld | .3844 |
| Gavin Marshall | Qld | .3877 |
| Ian Owen | NZ | .3891 |
| Craig Whittleton | WA | .3990 |
| Heavy Varmint | ||
| Phil Jones | Qld | .2540 |
| Paul Sullivan | Qld | .2543 |
| Craig Whittleton | WA | .2549 |
| Bill Jupp | NSW | .2638 |
| Barry Warwick | NSW | .2733 |
| Ian Owen | NZ | .2840 |
| Brendan Atkinson | NZ | .2840 |
| Ray Beavis | NSW | .2875 |
| Peter Hodges | SA | .2921 |
| Michael Huebner | VIC | .2929 |
| Two-Gun Aggregate | ||
| Brendan Atkinson | SA | .2923 |
| Stuart Elliott | Qld | .3083 |
| Phil Jones | Qld | .3110 |
| Paul Sullivan | Qld | .3193 |
| Crag Whittleton | WA | .3269 |
| Tony Titheridge | NZ | .3346 |
| David Kerr | WA | .3350 |
| Ian Owen | NZ | .3365 |
| Bill Jupp | NSW | .3480 |
| Gavin Marshall | Qld | .3502 |