Shania Harrison-Lee is part of Target Shooting Mid Canterbury’s open team and will captain the junior team at this weekend’s competition. Photo suppplied.South Island target shooting supremacy is set to go on the line in Oamaru this weekend.

And after coming so close to coming out on top last year, those who make up the Target Shooting Mid Canterbury teams are likely to be some of the most determined shooters on the range.

Saturday’s event is the pinnacle event on the southern target shooting calendar – the Andrews and Faulkner Shield match.

An event administered by the South Island Target Shooting Association, it’s an annual teams shoot which is hosted in different venues each year, with this year’s hosts being North Otago and East Otago at the Waitaki Rec Centre in Oamaru, while next year’s hosts will be Mid Canterbury.

Target Shooting Mid Canterbury will have a 10-person open team, plus two emergencies – all of whom compete – as well as a five-person junior team, plus one emergency.

The order of events is one 20 shot and one ten shot match, per competitor, and only one person from each team shoots in each round, meaning scores see-saw as they are updated all day.

Last year, Target Shooting Mid Canterbury finished as runners-up to Marlborough in the open match (by three points) and third in the junior match, and this year both teams are keen to do better.

This year’s open team is Steve McArthur (captain), Shania Harrison-Lee, Sandy Bennett, Nick Stewart, Nina McKenzie, TJ Stewart, Emma Smith, Colin Taylor, Bill Rankin, Bryan Hunter, Keith Bonnington, and Andrew McKenzie, while the junior (under-21) team is Shania Harrison-Lee (captain), Emma Smith, Charlotte McKenzie, Amelia Swan, Jack McIntosh and Jacob Kilworth.

TSMC president Nina McKenzie said it had been an immensely difficult selection process as a number of members put forward very strong reasons for selection, and both teams include debutantes at this level of competition, and some experienced campaigners.

She said both teams have exciting potential.

Nearly 20 associations are likely to be represented on Saturday, everywhere from Southland through to Nelson and Marlborough.

That means potentially around 200 competitors will be present and the level of competition will be the best the South Island has to offer.

It will include individuals of all ages and levels, right up to those who have represented New Zealand at elite international fixtures.

“In our sport, men and women compete equally and age is irrelevant – with the exception of under age specific teams – which makes for excellent competition,” McKenzie said.

The North Island hold a similar match earlier in the year and the winning team from this, and the winning team from the Andrews and Faulkner match subsequently go head-to-head in a postal competition to decide the winner of the Candyman Cup, as New Zealand Association Champions.

This match heads the annual North v South match in mid-August, where South Island teams and North Island teams compete, shoulder-to-shoulder in junior, veteran, women’s, men’s, and open matches.

They also double as New Zealand selection matches for competition the following day.

That event is hosted by Hutt Valley in Wellington this year and many of the shooters taking part over this weekend will also travel and compete in that.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 26 July 2019