5-Stand National Championships
13-14 June 2009

Nathan Stuart at the 2009 5-Stand National
Championships.


Junior Under 18 Champion Jacob McKenzie.




5-Stand National Champion Peter Hall.


Veteran Champion Frank Searles. The 2009 5-Stand National Championships were conducted on June 13 and 14 at the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club, which again proved to be an excellent venue for a major National Championship. Three excellent 5-Stand layouts had been prepared by club members Kevin Raymond, Frank Searles, Graham Hayes and other locals who spent considerable time ensuring all traps and equipment were working flawlessly. The club successfully trialled several of the new modified Canterbury 5-Stand controllers, which the New Zealand company had recently modified to enable the controllers to operate the layouts according to SSAA 5-Stand rules. The fourth layout was provided by SSAA (NSW) Shotgun trailer with trailer manager Greg Allen and Darren Macartney setting and operating an excellent layout to complement the other three.

The Championships were well supported with 62 competitors from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia attending, as well as two each from New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Another dozen competitors attended to shoot on a daily basis.

With 100 targets each day, competitors were presented with an excellent variety of challenging targets worthy of a national event. Conditions were overcast on Saturday, but improved on Sunday with perfect shooting conditions resulting in nine rounds with a perfect 25 score.

Generous sponsorship was provided by Milperra Marketing with their excellent EXPRESS Cartridges. Casella Wines at Griffith donated plenty of their famous Yellow Tail wine and all winners received SSAA national medallions and assorted SSAA Merchandise. A popular prize was a swag donated by SSAA Merchandise and this was won by Newcastle competitor Michael McCallum.

For their contributions to the successful Championships, all competitors expressed their appreciation to Newcastle/Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club and particularly to Sally, who assisted in the office, and to Lorraine, who provided some excellent catering over the weekend.

At the conclusion of shooting on Saturday the National Shotgun AGM was held. Warren Brown was reelected as Shotgun National Discipline Chairman with Kerry Bryant Vice Chairman. The main items of business included planning shoots in 2010, electronic controllers and a wide discussion about possible amendments to the current Shotgun rule book.

After more than 14,000 clays had been thrown over the weekend and a number of shoot-offs, the results were:

2009 Sporting Clays National Champion: Peter Hall (Melbourne) 184/200

Overall High Gun: Darryl Groundwater (NZ) 185/200

AA grade: Josh Sweeny (Newcastle) 178, Paul McGowan (Port Hedland) 175, Bruce Scott (Papua) 172

A grade: Andrew Garvie (Newcastle) 177, Grant Powell (Sydney) 177 (shoot-off), Dean Delaney (Newcastle) 176

B grade: Reno Morganti (Sydney) 165, Harry Webster (Sydney) 157, Athol Page (Tamworth) 153

C grade: Nathan Stuart (Newcastle) 148, Jamie Hayes (Walcha) 136, Robert McDonald (Brisbane) 135

Veterans: Frank Searles (Newcastle) 171, Roger Kersale (Moama) 158, Doug Brenton (Sydney) 156

Ladies: Amy Buys (Gosford) 149, Amber Scott (Papua) 143, Lyndall Groundwater (NZ) 141

Juniors Under 18: Jacob Mackenzie (Mudgee) 174, David Douglas (Nelson Plains) 150

Juniors Under 15: Matt Pryce (Newcastle) 123

The following competitors shot perfect rounds of 25 targets: Bruce Scott, Peter Hall, Grant Powell, Darryl Groundwater (2), Michael McDonald (2) Jacob McKenzie and Josh Sweeny. Furthermore, the National 5-Stand Teams Shield was narrowly won by the NSW Team of Greg Allen, Jacob McKenzie, David Brenton, Grant Powell, Warren Brown with 794 points.

After having won competition points at their State Titles and the National Championships and some grade shoot-offs, the following competitors were named as provisional members of the SSAA Australian Shotgun Teams to compete at the New Zealand 5-Stand Championships at the Waikato Gun Club in Hamilton in September next year.
Open Team: Peter Hall, Paul McGowan, Grant Powell, Jacob McKenzie, Kevin Raymond
A grade: Michael McDonald
B grade: Reno Morganti
C grade: David Douglas
Lady: Amy Buy
Veteran: Doug Brenton