I have just got back from New Plymouth, host of the Taranaki Open—a 12 stage IPSC shoot.
I travelled up with one of our new club members, Chris, who is also a range officer and who was due to work through the weekend, helping run the competition.
A bonus of refereeing the event, is they get to shoot before the main competition, in what we call a pre-match. Consequently, I got the chance to watch a lot of people tackle the different stages with a variety of different firearms.
To be fair, I’m a lousy spectator though. I don’t mind watching others if I can have a go in a few minutes, but just watching others with no chance until the next day, sucks, especially when Chris kept ignoring advice I had freely given. How rude—haha, I pointed that out too!
Reading the different courses of fire and determining the best way to shoot and move around the course can be the difference between winning and losing—big time. A bad move can cost serious points and time, both of which are crucial for a good score.
This can take a while to learn and get proficient at, and the habit of thinking out of the box can help here.
Some are just happy to go with the easy way and what looks obvious or what the person before you has done; a bit like follow the leader. Whilst this will get the job done, it is not necessarily the most efficient way and, as I’m basically lazy, I like to cut the running down and take any short cut I can.
The organisers had done a great job at setting up quite challenging courses of fire, with small target zones and plenty of penalty targets too. A hit to one of these gets expensive, which is all part of the challenge. I witnessed some very good shooting, which just shows the good skills of my fellow competitors and sportsmen and women. Pistol shooting is a very inclusive sport, with no discrimination of any kind. All are expected to do their best and follow the safety rules, which have been ingrained into each and every one of us. Training never stops and learning carries on, as we can always get faster or shoot straighter or, for me, I need to do both! No matter how fast I went, Ryan, Lance or Bevan, to name just three, went faster than I did.
This was a very wellrun competition and was appreciated by us all.
