We went, we shot and we returned.
Before I talk too much, let’s look at the numbers: 1700 competitors from 70 countries firing about 630 rounds each, some more, some less, equals 1,071,000 rounds fired in a bit over a week, executed as fast as each shooter could under extreme heat. Yes, there were a few disqualifications but no real issues, which shows the quality of the training we all do to compete.
New Zealand had two members who went to work as range officers. Without them we have no match and they work damn hard because while we only shot half days, they had to work the full day. This means they are there early and stay until the end of the day. My sincere thanks to BJ Garvey and Tony Skews.
We all compete by shooting the same stages, the difference is in the style of pistol we choose. For me, the biggest issue was the heat; to say it was hot and muggy was an understatement, even friends from Darwin were bitching about it. We can train for a lot of things but without more cash than I have for trips away, it is what it is.
The number one rule is drink and drink more bottled water. As this match was two years late due to lockdowns, everyone had been looking forward to it and Thailand did an excellent job. Stages were deceptively challenging, long distances, lots of movement, swinging targets that someone on drugs must have made up because I had never seen one that flipped about like they did.
All this brought the best and worst out of us, or it just might have been me. Working as a team is a different game for most of us as normally, it is just for yourself we compete. As a four-person team, the three top scores make up the team’s score, the fourth person’s score being a throw away. There is more talking about the best way to shoot and bouncing ideas back and forth, which helps each of us do our best.
Our people did well and worked together helping each other and we had good results. Two did very well with Ramel Maligro taking second in Classic Senior, over 50, our first medal at an IPSC Worlds. Andre Boiser won the Shoot Off, a side match of the top eight in pistol division, Production Optics. Both these guys were awesome and we are as proud of them as they were with their results.
The closing ceremony started well, then went to hell and back for one of our guys who became violently ill. This ended with a fast trip in an ambulance (the driver should have been on a racetrack), a hospital stay for two days and then he all but walked out so he could return to New Zealand with the rest of us. Time for rest and relax, oops I mean time to get back to the real world and earn my keep again.
