Visiting shooters came to compete in the Pistol NT Championships from as far away as New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Darwin and Alice Springs, with one gentleman, Peter Anderson, returning after more than a 20-year absence from the NT.

Whilst the cooler and blustery windy conditions saw the scores down a bit on expectations, the competitors warmed to the occasion and several grade breaks were recorded.

Congratulations to Terry Hobbs (Tennant Creek) C to B in Black Powder 25m and D to C in Men’s Air, Tony Chalker (Palmerston) D to C in Service Unrestricted, Zeb Strawbridge (Alice Springs) D to C in 25m Rapid-fire, and Yvonne Foster (Palmerston) C to B in 25m Standard.

Competitors praised the Tennant Creek Pistol Club for the excellent meals and presentation dinner, and all the workers who made the event run smoothly as well as admiring the standard of the range facility.

A few locals took the opportunity to come out and see some of the events with the favourites being Service match, Rapid-fire and the spectacular Black Powder as the match nearly finished in the dark and spectators saw a metre or more of flame coming from the barrels as shot were fired.

The NT Pistol champions are:

WA1500: John Nosworthy (Alice Springs).

Black Powder 25m: Colin Farquharson (Palmerston).

Black Powder 50m: Ray Andrews (Alice Springs).

Service 25 Yards: John Nosworthy (Alice Springs).

Service Unrestricted: John Nosworthy (Alice Springs).

Service Pistol: John Nosworthy (Alice Springs).

Junior Women’s 10m Air Pistol: Yvonne Foster (Palmerston).

Junior 10m Men’s Air Pistol: Zeb Strawbridge (Alice Springs).

Junior 25m Sport: Yvonne Foster (Palmerston).

Women’s 10m Air Pistol: Jo Hutchison (Palmerston).

25m Women’s Sport: Yvonne Foster (Palmerston).

10m Men’s Air Pistol: Jim Cruise (Tennant Creek).

25m Centre-fire Pistol: Jim Cruise (Tennant Creek).

50 Metre Pistol: Jim Cruise (Tennant Creek).

25m Rapid-fire Pistol: Stevan Strawbridge (Alice Springs).

25m Standard Pistol: Yvonne Foster (Palmerston).

The 11-match Iron Man Trophy went to Stevan Strawbridge from Alice Springs, the Women’s ISSF three-match aggregate to Yvonne Foster, Men’s ISSF five-match aggregate to Stevan Strawbridge (Alice Springs), four-match Services aggregate John Nosworthy (Alice Springs), and Black Powder aggregate Stevan Strawbridge (Alice Springs).