Wellington Provincial Championship

2024 Wellington Provincial Championships – Full scoreboard can be found here

The Wellington Provincial Championships was held at Hutt Valley Clay Target Club over the weekend of 20-21 April.  The weather held, despite the rain showers happening around the hills on Sunday and a few spits felt on the grounds.  The grounds were looking great and with no rain to speak of for some time, the front camping paddock was just the place for those that came to camp.

Saturday started with skeet, yes I know, we were the only ones that said we wanted to keep the skeet and not do Handicap by Distance.  Karl Lapwood won the fight for HOA against Darryl Remnant who had to settle for 1^st A Grade.  2^nd A Grade and Vet went to Eric Dais, and 3^rd A was Phill Bazalo.  B Grade: 1^st Dave Copetti; 2^nd Shane Ward; 3^rd Jamie Cane.  C Grade: 1^st Peter Evans; 2^nd Doreen Sanderson; 3^rd Patrick Scott.  Lady: Millie-Jane McIlraith; Junior: James Sullivan.

The competition for two person teams in the Skeet was on!  Three teams took equal billing on 74: Peter Borrie and Eric Dais; Darryl Remnant and John Harkness; and Mike Dasler and Grant Wareham.

Next on the programme was 10 pair Double Rise.  Well done Roger Bidois with the only possible to take HOA and Vet.  AA Grade: 1^st and Junior was James Sullivan; 2^nd Bill Dunn; 3^rd Darryl Remnant.  A Grade: 1^st Richard France; 2^nd Peter Evans; 3^rd Peter Borrie.  B Grade: 1^st Brian Smith; 2^nd Shane Ward; 3^rd Jamie Cane.  C Grade: 1^st Ian Gallagher; 2^nd Jacob Mathers; 3^rd Bronwyn Bawden.  Lady: Angela Rigby.

Testing the eyesight of everyone, minis are next, pesky little things!  With 10 possibles, Jon Beddis won the shoot off to take HOA.  AA Grade: 1^st Bill Dunn; 2^nd James Sullivan; 3^rd Daniel Niblett.  A Grade: 1^st Quentin Mathers; 2^nd and Vet Stuart Bell; 3^rd Grant Wareham.  B Grade: 1^st Vic Smith; 2^nd Brian Smith; 3^rd Sage Crous.  C Grade: 1^st, Lady and Junior on a possible, Bronwyn Bawden; 2^nd Ian Gallagher; 3^rd Dave Kershaw.

Last on the card for Saturday was the single rise with 13 possibles on the board.  HOA and Vet went to Roger Bidois.  AA Grade: 1^st Jon Beddis; 2^nd and Junior James Sullivan; 3^rd Daniel Niblett.  A Grade: 1^st and Lady Yvonne Ker; 2^nd Millie-Jane McIlraith; 3^rd Peter Evans.  B Grade: 1^st Brian Smith (ruled off to A Grade in time for Sunday!); 2^nd Paddy Borthwick; 3^rd Hunter Rigby.  C Grade: 1^st Ian Gallagher; 2^nd Alan Markham; 3^rd Dave Kershaw.

Sunday started with Triples.  The only possible was shot by Kelvin Ellison to take out HOA and Vet, and miss the shoot off with 49 being a very popular score.  AA Grade: 1^st and Junior James Sullivan; 2^nd Todd Jacobs; 3^rd Steve Mason.  A Grade: 1^st Chris Hurring; 2^nd Ray Russell; 3^rd Lauri Coppins.  B Grade: 1^st Mike Dasler; 2^nd Phill Bazalo; 3^rd Andrew Prescott.  C Grade: 1^st Jacob Mathers; 2^nd Alan Markham; 3^rd Ian Gallagher.  Lady: Yvonne Ker.

The Points Score had three possibles; one each in AA, A and B.  Jon Beddis won the fight to take HOA, his 100^th Provincial HOA, congratulations Jon.  AA Grade: 1^st and Junior James Sullivan; 2^nd and Lady Maddie France; 3^rd Jeff Niblett.  A Grade: 1^st Richard France; 2^nd Dave Copetti; 3^rd Karl Andrews.  B Grade: 1^st and Vet Jamie Cane; 2^nd Vic Smith; 3^rd Andrew Prescott.  C Grade: 1^st Jacob Mathers; 2^nd Bronwyn Bawden; 3^rd Ian Gallagher.

There were four club teams competing over the Points Score.  Hawkes Bay 1 and Hawkes Bay 2 came out on top with 294 after taking into account the top four scores from each team.  On count back, Hawkes Bay 2 came out on top thanks to Richard France shooting the possible.  Jeff Nibblet, Peter Evans, Steve Mason, and Quentin Mathers were in the team with Richard.

And rounding out the weekend of a well run event, the Single Barrel had two possibles.  Karl Lapwood was victorious to take the HOA.  AA Grade: 1^st Jon Beddis; 2^nd and Junior Maddie France; 3^rd James Sullivan.  A Grade: 1^st and Vet with the other possible, Laurie Coppins; 2^nd Dave Copetti; 3^rd Bill Luxton.  B Grade: 1^st Jamie Cane; 2^nd Ross Sullivan; 3^rd Shane Ward.  C Grade: 1^st Ian Gallagher; 2^nd Jacob Mathers; 3^rd Bronwyn Bawden.  Lady: Angela Rigby.

Special thanks to Roger Bidois and Darryl Remnant for their help over the weekend.  Barry, our new Club Captain hasn’t had the privilege of running a Provincials before and had another commitment on the Sunday so Roger and Darryl supported Barry, showing him the ropes on Saturday and Roger took on Club Captain on Sunday; pushing everyone along so that we didn’t get caught in the forecast rain.  Turns out the rain didn’t arrive until later.