2009 World Benchrest Championships
22-29 June 2009

Some 25km to the north-east of Pretoria in South Africa is the Krokodilspruit Rifle Range - the location for the 10th World Benchrest Championships. Some 96 shooters from 16 countries assembled to ‘do battle’ on what was for most, unfamiliar territory. Australia was represented by three four-man teams; these were decided by qualification, which involved a National Championship and another designated event.
The SSAA Australian teams brought plenty of gear and the four practice days were spent fine-tuning the guns and helping teammates get everything sorted. Only one powder was available (Somchem S335), which was locally made and seemed to have a burning rate somewhere between Benchmark Two and Vit 133.
Practice revealed that this range had many tricks for unwary shooters and like many Australian ranges, it has many little mounds and berms required by other disciplines. The Aussie teams had walked the range and placed our wind indicators where we considered they would do the most good.
The opening ceremony consisted of a short speech from the WBSF chairman Graeme Smith, followed by prayers given in Afrikaans and English.

Light Varmint 100
The Championships began on a cold South African morning in what were probably the lightest conditions of the whole shoot. Russian competitor Dmitry Strogonov punched in a .117 group to take the lead. Australia’s Gavin Marshall put down a .101 on the third target and then USA shooter Gene Bukys lowered this to a .099 on the D target. Finland’s Jari Raudaskoski equalled this on the E target, but the aggregate went to the Russian, who had shot with remarkable consistency to record an amazing .1839. Mike Ratigan (USA) was second on .2224 and Wayne Campbell (USA) third on .2259. With four Aussies in the top 10, we were mildly satisfied with the day’s work, but it was obvious some hard work would need to be done.

Heavy Varmint 100
There was hardly a flag moving when we arrived at the range, but this soon changed around the starting time. It was a tougher day at the office and no shooter managed a ‘sub-one’ (1") group. Roland Igle from France shot a .102 to take the small group award. Gene Bukys (USA) put together a very fine .1865 aggregate to take the medal, from Roland Igle on .2142 and Chris Harris (USA) on .2152. The Aussie shooters had a tough day, with only three members in the first 20 placings. We would have to come good at 200 yards!

Light Varmint 200
Thursday morning was cold and wet, but there was some outstanding shooting done and small groups were coming thick and fast - anything more than 0.5" was pretty average actually. Sweden’s Mats Johansson kicked off on the A target with a tidy .285 group. These Scandinavian boys can really shoot, as Juha Soderholm (Fin) managed a .284 on the B target, and no-one managed to beat that one. There was no catching Mats in the aggregate though and his winning aggregate of .2468 was comfortably in front of Larry Costa (USA) on .2624 and Mike Ratigan (USA) on .2735.

Team aggregates so far
For the Light Varmint event, the team placings were calculated and showed that the USA A team was in the lead with an aggregate of .2990. The Australia A team was in second place on .3111, with the USA B team third on .3259. However, in the overall standings, which included the Heavy Varmint 100-yard event, it was USA A in first with AUS A second and the Italian team very close behind. The next day would be crucial and some serious planning was done by the Australia A team on Thursday night. We had come too far to merely defend second place. It was decided that each shooter would shoot aggressively and make sure that they beat the opponent to their left (USA A). We would attack the conditions, rather than pick our way carefully. We had to pick up 30 per cent on every target to achieve victory. Some said we were mad; others reckoned we were just dreaming.

Heavy Varmint 200
The reasonable conditions had left the range and Krokodilspruit turned nasty for the last day. A gusty left to right breeze was ready to grab hold of any loose shots, but nevertheless, some great groups were shot. Mats Johansson started with a nice .436 on the A. After the C target, there was a bit of a buzz that someone had shot ‘a dot’ - it belonged to the jovial Roland Thomsen (one of the people responsible for this shoot) and it came off the measure at .246 and no-one looked like beating that for the afternoon. At the end of the yardage, it was Tony Boyer who won the aggregate comfortably with .2742, from Craig Whittleton (AUS A) on .3140 and Carlo Madinelli (ITA) on .3295.

Light Varmint Grand Aggregate				Heavy Varmint Grand Aggregate
Mike Ratigan	USA	.2480		Tony Boyer	USA	.2890
Gene Bukys	USA	.2675		Carlo Madinelli	ITA	.2903
Tony Boyer	USA	.2827		Gene Bukys	USA	.2921
Mats Johansson	SWE	.2862		Brendan Atkinson	AUS	.2925
Brendan Atkinson	AUS	.2896		Paul Sullivan	AUS	.2977
George Carter	CAN	.2929		Chris Harris	USA	.3027
Barry Warwick	AUS	.2943		Jaco Kruger	RSA	.3138
Wayne Campbell	USA	.2981		Mats Johansson	SWE	.3184
Carlo Madinelli	ITA	.2988		George Carter	CAN	.3205
Rob Carnell	AUS	.3025		Micke Edlund	SWE	.3222

Heavy Varmint Team Aggregate
With all of the A team in the top 14, Australia A won the Heavy Varmint team aggregate with .3128, from USA A on .3378 and the Italian team on .3451.

Australia wins gold!
There was only one medal that we had come to South Africa to win, regardless of which Aussie team did it. The results were calculated and in one of the most emotional scenes witnessed at a major shoot, the Australia A team were declared winners, from the USA A and Italian teams. There was laughter, handshakes, cheering and yes, there were tears, as the relief of trying since 1991 to win this thing caused an outpouring of feelings not usually seen on a shooting range. Special mention must also be given to the Australian C team, who came back from seventh place at the start of the day to finish in fourth spot overall - a good result!
Australia A	Sullivan, Whittleton, Atkinson, Elliott	.3119
USA A	Adams, Boyer, Bukys, Campbell	.3184
Italy	Andrea, Madinelli, Quaglino, Fontanella	.3380
Australia C	Bailey, Beavis, Carnell, Warwick	.3469
South Africa A	Barnard, Thomsen, Kruger, Van Zilj	.3478

2-Gun Aggregate top 10
Although the Championships is primarily a team event, recognition is given to individual results over the two classes:
Gene Bukys	USA	.2798
Tony Boyer	USA	.2858
Brendan Atkinson	AUS	.2910
Carlo Madinelli	ITA	.2945
Mats Johansson	SWE	.3023
Mike Ratigan	USA	.3026
George Carter	CAN	.3067
Wayne Campbell	USA	.3120
Paul Sullivan	AUS	.3138
Chris Harris	USA	.3158
Other Aussies in the top 20 included Craig Whittleton (11th), Rob Carnell (13th), Barry Warwick (14th), Stuart Elliott (15th) and David Kerr (17th).

300-yard match
It is traditional for the host range to put on an ‘individual’ shoot after the main game and in South Africa it was five targets of five-shot groups at 300 yards. There were some problems in seeing bullet holes at this range, as well as the windy conditions, but it was an enjoyable day, with no pressure on the shooters.
The smallest group of the day was shot by Ian Owen from New Zealand and his .469 is a new World Record for WBC competition at this yardage. The aggregate was won by Wayne Campbell (USA), from Don Nielson (USA) second and Gene Bukys (USA) third. Michael Heubner (AUS) managed a fourth place in this event.

Conclusions
This was an extremely well run shoot - one of the best actually. Many people worked hard behind the scenes in the lead-up and in the execution. People such as Roland Thomsen (who also competed), range master Andries Duplessis, assistant Nick Schoonwinkel and of course Terry Harrison who directed the shoot and remained unruffled no matter what happened. Special mention must be given to Annie Elliott, the Australian team manager, who was called in at the last moment to assist with the scoring, as well as keep an eye on our 12 shooters.
From an Australian point of view, history was created at Krokodilspruit and those who were there will never forget it. Dankie, Suid Afrika!