Sydney Cup
6th July 2008
Incorporating
NSW M.S.D. Grand Prix Round 6 - Rifle
Match Report
MS SOCIETY FUND-RAISER
FOR MS AWARENESS WEEK 1-7 JULY 2008
Held and sponsored by:
AIHPA,
SSAA &
SSAA Sydney
Centrefire Rifle Group
$2,200.00 raised for MS, by Shooters...
THE SYDNEY
CUP GRAND RESULTS
The Sydney Cup for 2008 was
the 6th consecutive running, and was shot under fantastic conditions and spirit.
Numbers were down on previous years, especially the numbers of our regulars away, but 37 shooters still enjoyed the festivities of centrefire rifle shooting across the course firing 90 rounds over multiple distances in multiple positions and styles.
Some of the many shooters...
Especially pleasing was the number of new and long time revisiting shooters. They came back for the tradition of the Sydney Cup, or to see what the tradition of the Sydney Cup was about. Either way, the tradition of the Sydney Cup is alive and well, and we all hope it will continue a long time into the future.
As always, all rifle types are welcome, and all shoot in their own category. We hope every shooter with a centrefire rifle will come to these shoots in the future, as all are welcome. There is certainly nothing elitist about our meets – they are the most inclusive shooting meets around – for any rifle, shooter and proficiency.
Craig Mahoney lead the way as the event directory (ED) as Craig is the coordinator (we call him Captain) of our friendly and open monthly centrefire rifle shoots. We had some sensational help from all our volunteers, the many of them, but none more so than Josh Coughran who showed up bright and early to not fire a shot, but to RO the whole day. Also, and has been the case all year, special thanks to Peter Cuddy who continues to campaign for fair and balanced sporting shooting. Last, but certainly not least, the greater SSAA Sydney Branch for standing behind rifle sport shooting.
We started with the SSAA 3P Core and Rapid Fire B which didn’t really see many shining results, which was surprising considering the conditions of sunshine and glorious temperature (in complete contrast to 2007 freezing cold and 2006 rain, etc). Results from this phase went to the SSAA Sydney Centrefire Rifle Group (SCRG) annual championship, the SSAA 3P Postal, to the grand aggregate of The Sydney Cup and the Ray Halls Shield.
Spec 1, Std Rifle Craig Mahoney 241.24/250
Spec 2, Modified Rifle/Sporter David Waters 249.37/250
Spec 3, Match Rifle Chris Baynes 244.21/250
Spec 5, Optical Rifle Mark Guest 249.35/250
Special mention to Graham Smith who top scored for Std Rifle, hence his first possible score for the National Postal, of 145.15.
Also, special mention to Toni-Ann who shot an amazing 75.09/75 in the 100 string of the 3P Core. Well done, after almost a year of not shooting.
The Ray Halls Shield is a handicap event where shooters self nominate a handicap to finish as close to 250 after the handicap is added. Ray Halls was a tremendous supporter of service rifle, and was a pioneer of SSAA Service Rifle in NSW, running the very first state championships in 1995. The winner of the Ray Halls Shield, for his first time ever was David Waters, who ran the RHS for many years, and never quite got the form right, but on this day, he was firing for this prestigious win.
Lunch followed the 3PRB, thanks to the continued hard voluntary efforts of John Waters, with the now famous Sydney sausage sizzle.
The 2nd part of the day was the AIHPA Vintage Match Course, which is a “little beauty”. All shot at 200, but in various positions and firing sequences that offer the shooter many things, including some self lessons on discipline, and how good preparation will yield good results. Results from this phase went towards the SCRG championships (offering a double bite at the ladder) and the aggregate of The Sydney Cup.
Spec 1, Std Rifle Craig Mahoney 370.04/400
Spec 2, Modified Rifle/Sporter David Waters 394.13/400
Spec 3, Match Rifle Chris Baynes 388.15/400
Spec 5, Optical Rifle Mark Guest 392.09/400
The Sydney Cup, aggregate of phases 1 & 2, were hotly contested across all the specs which was great to see, but this traditional event still brings out the traditional shooter with traditional rifles. It is great to see.
THE SYDNEY CUP, Champions
Spec 1 - Standard Vintage Service Rifle: Craig Mahoney 611.28/650
Spec 2 - Modified Service Rifle: David Waters 643.50/650
Spec 3 - Match Rifle (Iron Sights): Chris Baynes 632.36/650
Spec 5 - Match Rifle (Optical Sights): Mark Guest 641.44/650
Open Spec – Top Junior Shooter: Toni-Ann Waldron 594.21/650
Like previous years, the meet was another great success. We had many new shooters, and good support across all the rifle specs. This year, the Sydney Cup was contested by Spec 1, Combined Spec 2 & 3, and Spec 5. We voted at the post event meeting to increase the trophy count in 2009 to award trophies for Spec 2 and 3 separately, and award trophies for Specs 1A and 5A individually. Next year, more trophies, more prestige, more tradition, and hopefully…more shooters to support this increase.