#6 Postby willow » Mon Aug 21, 2023 8:48 pm
Made the 9 hour drive back to Sydney last night after recovering somewhat on the final day to finish with my head not necessarily held high, but looking forward all the same. Only the second time I've shot at Belmont (the first was in 2019) so I'm far from an expert at knowing the finer details of the range, but it was tough. Things started off calm enough on Friday morning at 300 yards - the wind was only just starting to pick up when the first F-Open shooters got down and plenty went clean as a result. From that point on though, it just got tougher and tougher, with plenty of shooters dropping points, and depending where you were on the range at any given moment, subject to washing machine like winds, as the pick-ups, drop-offs and quartering changes were frequent.
Day 2 in particular was brutal and really where my Kings fell apart. After a good showing at 600 yards we moved back to 900 and I proceeded to shoot my lowest score in any 2+10 match I've done (51.1). I couldn't make heads or tails of the condition at the time (last shooter down on my target) and was on the wrong side of the flags to really see the pick-ups and drop-offs and subsequently couldn't get a good view of the flags quartering, which seemed to dominate my stage. Only thing I could really do was try and put it behind me and finish strong, which I mostly managed to do, climbing back up to finish 10th after looking like I might be finishing at the rear at one point. Sunday morning was quite tricky too, despite the wind dropping off, the 1000 yard shoot was challenging as the wind went through that stage of "should I blow from right to left or left to right?" Most were caught out by this but it made it all the more challenging and rewarding if you could pick your way through it. I'll take my hat off to Peter Broom too - lovely fellow who just managed to remain consistent over the 3 days and while he lacked the X count of many, he kept it in the 6 ring and deserved his 3rd place finish in F-Open.
The event was well run and things look to be in good shape for the Nationals for those who can make it in October.