Sporting Clays National Championships
8-9 May 2010

Many of New South Wales and Victoria’s best Sporting Clays shooters converged on the Griffith Field and Game Club on the weekend of May 8 and 9 to contest the 2010 SSAA National Sporting Clays Championships, which was held in conjunction with the Griffith Field and Game Club’s Annual Two-Day Shoot. Shooting in near-perfect weather conditions, the competitors took to the range to break some tough targets that are unique to the Griffith range, perched in bushland atop a rocky outcrop. The Championships comprised 200 world-class targets, with the Riverina Simulated Field Championships held on Saturday and the Riverina Sporting Clays Championships on Sunday.

Two separate Sporting Clays layouts were skillfully set up by local members Frank Tagliapetra, Brian Weeding, Frank DiFiore, Stephen Streat and Darren Macartney from Hay. With an excellent variety of clay targets that were there for the taking, local shooter Doug Osborne was the only competitor to score a perfect 25 in any of the eight stages during the Championships. One of Griffith’s top Sporting Clays shots, Bart Brighenti, outshot the opposition and emerged as the 2010 SSAA National Champion, with an excellent score of 178/200 targets.

Troy Adams and Adrian Emery worked hard to secure a wide range of sponsorship for the Championships, which were generously supported by the SSAA, Waeco Refrigerators, Royal Wolf Containers, Highland Sports, Eley Australia, Casella Wines, A&G Engineering, Michael Dedleft, Stitch Connection, League Designs and Tip Top Bakery. A wide range of prizes were awarded daily as well as sashes, SSAA national medallions, Waeco eskies, Yellow Tail Wine and Eley cartridges for the overall winners.

The two lucky entry prizes were won by Darren Macartney from Hay (Waeco refrigerator) and Roger Kerslake from Moama (100l Waeco esky).

Therese Allen generously organised the tasty catering for the weekend with help from daughters Torren and Bronte and from Michael. This was greatly appreciated by all, particularly on Mother’s Day. Michelle and Jan assisted Warren in the office to keep the shoot administration running smoothly.