SSAA NSW

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 10 5th Pacifi c Regional Championships NSW shooters shine on the world stage NSW shooters were in top form at the 5th Pacifi c Regional Shooting Championships held from 7 to 16 November at the SSAA ACT Shooting Complex in Majura. The four competitions included Rifl e Metallic Silhouette, Benchrest, Scoped Rifl e and Service Rifl e. One of the State's best performers was 19-year-old Adelong shooter, Melissa Dean who dominated the Rifl e Metallic Silhouette individual events. Melissa, a member of SSAA NSW Tumut Branch, took the winner's medal in the Smallbore Heavy Rifl e and Smallbore Light Rifl e events and placed third in the Air Rifl e event. It was a remarkable shooting performance by Melissa who entered the Championships as one of only two individual shooters, the other being South Australian Jordan Jenny Robinson This time, in a competition fi eld of 14 shooters including three New Zealand and three Australian teams of two. Rifl e Metallic Silhouette took place on day four with each shooter getting 80 shots in each section, opening with Smallbore Silhouette Heavy Rifl e where chicken-shaped silhouette targets were set at 40m, pigs at 60m, turkeys at 77m and rams at 100m. For the lighter Air Rifl e outings, the distances were: chickens at 20 yards, pigs 30 yards, turkeys 36 yards and rams 45 yards. Melissa took fi rst place in the Smallbore Heavy Rifl e Individual section with a score of 72, ahead of Australian Dann Suthern on 69 and New Zealand's Nicola Matheson in third on 65. Dean topped the Smallbore Hunting Light Rifl e section on 72, which saw off Australian B teammates Anthony Finn and Chris Dale on 69 and 64 respectively. The Benchrest event took place on days fi ve and six of the Championships where the scene had shifted to a range decorated with fl uttering fl ags. There were 18 Melissa Dean in the Rifl e Metallic Silhouette competition Murray Hicks remains steely in Benchrest Centrefi re

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