SSAA 5-Stand National Championships 2007
11-12 August 2007

The 2007 National 5-Stand Championships were hosted by Little River Sporting Clays at their Eagle Park Range near Geelong, Vic on 11-12 August. Four 5-Stand layouts were in operation with the Championship being 200 targets over two days. LRSC members Peter Hall, John Disher and their team set an excellent variety of targets that provided a challenge to all competitors during the weekend. An additional challenge was the cold, damp conditions that prevailed for most of the time.

The championships proved to to be extremely popular with 100 competitors from Vic, NSW, WA, Qld and New Zealand participating. The strong NZ contingent of 16 shooters led by Ian Swale and Darryl Groundwater were most welcome and provided some stiff competition for the Aussies particularly for the Trans Tasman Trophy.

Eric from Little River Sporting Clays
WA competitors Michelle Phillips & Maurie Holdman	NZ Veteran Richard Foster enjoying the competition

National 5-Stand Champion - 'Sox' Pilipasidis Little River Sporting Clays provided an excellent venue for the Championships with members John and Nancy Disher managing shoot administration, Eddie Magee the office tasks, Peter Hall and others the traps and targets, and the ladies providing some wonderful catering to all throughout the weekend. Winners left with an armful of goodies from the major sponsors: Highland Sports, EXPRESS cartridges and Casella Wines at Griffith and SSAA National Medallions.

The winner of the 2007 National 5-Stand Championship was Socrates (Sox) Pilipasidis with an outstanding score of 190/200.

AA Grade
Brenton Irons	180	Colin Mcpherson	178	Craig McPherson	177
A Grade
Dean Delaney	174	Eddie Magee	172	Darryl Groundwater	171
B Grade
Frank Cefai	164	Ayri Kyprios	163	Vince Panetta	159
C Grade
Phill Irons	148	Rod Walton	146	R. Furqi	138
Veterans
Rod Evans	159	Warwick Cumberland	158	Barry Jane	149
Ladies
Renai Birgan	164	Nancy Disher	127	Amber Scott (Shootoff)	127
Junior (U18)
Robert Hall	160	Bredan Cefai	148	Aaron Little	138
Junior (U15)
Christian Sammutt	109

The SSAA National 5-Stand Shield was won by the Victorian Team with a score of 118 followed by NSW (103) and WA (78).

The Trans Tasman Trophy was won by the Australian Team (Sox Pilipasidis, Colin McPherson, Peter Hall, Craig McPherson and Dean Delaney) with a score of 105. The NZ Team (Brian Deadman, Darryl Groundwater, Geoff Wells, Ray Bishop and Corey Mackeskell) scored 103.

The winning Victorian Team with the National 5-Stand Trophy

The Australian Team - winners of the Trans Tasman Trophy

Throughout the Championships the following competitors won SSAA 5-Stand 25 break awards: Shane O'Brien, Ed Treadwell, Barry Jane, Colin McPherson, Phill Irons, Brenton Irons, Sox Pilipasidis (2) and Greg Wells. This was a very credible achievement given the degree of difficulty of the targets and the weather conditions.

by Warren Brown