Boorowa Gun Club recently hosted the inaugural Australian ATA Championship.
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The championship event was the very first, full two-day ATA event to be run in Australia.
A 400 target, two-day competition is unusual in Australia and it attracted competitors from most parts of the east coast as well as participants from just over the water in New Zealand.
Many Australian shooters have travelled to both the US and Canada in the past couple of decades to compete in regional championships as well as many grands.
Some of these shooters got together in the last year or two to make an "American Style" shoot a reality in Australia.
Well known shooters who promoted and sponsored the event and also liaised with the ATA to make sure it was run correctly as a legitimate event were Justin Smith, Frazer Roberts, Gary Watson, Dan Power and Ron Thomassen from New Zealand.
These five friends conspired to bring the shoot about and bring the ATA "Down Under".
Not all shooters have the means or opportunity to travel abroad to experience this style of shoot and see how it is done.
There was definitely a lot of interest within the Australian Trap Shooting community and the event was oversubscribed within days of being announced.
A great program was proposed, 400 targets over two days.
But could it be done?
Most Aussie shoots are a maximum of 150 targets per day with the squads moving through in waves rather than a continuous stream as with the US style.
For the organisers the question of whether or not the events could be completed on time weighed heavily.
Opting for an early start and a capped number of shooters was in retrospect the right decision to make, with the shoot running smoothly from beginning to end.
After the official welcome, the first event of the day got under way on time at 9am.
The 200 Target Singles event was shot in two visits to the layouts.
Jarrod Mudford from New Zealand took out the overall win with an event score of 198/200 and 75/75 in the shoot off.
Matt Stokes was first in AA with 198/200 in the event and a shoot off score of 74/75.
Mack Pouwhare also from New Zealand won A Grade with a 193/200 event score.
B Grade was won by Robert Haggert with a score of 184 and a shoot off score of 23/25. GC grade was won by Jodie Dunn with a score of 178.
Event two, the 100 target Handicap Single barrel, was held on Sunday morning again commencing at 9am.
There were two shooters tied on 91/100.
Mack Pouwhare and Grady Evans had to shoot off to decide the winner with Mack winning and taking the overall win.
Grady Evans took second place and Matt Schiller came third on 90/100, Joe Camilleri took fourth with 89/100 and Steve Schiller came fifth with 88/100.
Event 3, the 100 pair Doubles, was won by Steve Atkins with a 98/100.
Matt Patmore won AA after a shoot off against Matt Schiller as both had tied on 97/100.
A Grade was won by Daryl Weal with a 94/100.
B Grade was won by Louis Galea with 92/100 and Keith Beddie won C Grade with a 92/100.
The overall High Gun for the weekend was won by Matt Schiller with a total score of 381/400.
The organisers sincerely thank all the referees, scorers, trappers, canteen and office staff who made the day run smoothly.