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

Photo Erin TaskerCollege A may be the youngest team in the Mid Canterbury Netball premier one competition, but their latest win means that they are officially the team to beat.

They came away with a 37-32 win from their top-of-the-table clash with United A at the EA Networks Centre on Thursday night, and as a result moved to an outright lead on the points table at the mid-point of the third and final championship round.

With just two games remaining before finals, the young College side were now three from three in the final round, while United A, Hampstead A and defending champions Celtic A had two wins each.

Methven A and Mt Somers were without a win, with Mt Somers suffering the heaviest defeat of the latest round, beaten 41-15 by Celtic A on Thursday night.

Methven A’s disappointing run in the back half of the season also continued, with Hampstead A handing them a 32-23 defeat.

Meanwhile, in premier two, Southern A notched up another big win, downing Hampstead B 51-25, while the night’s other two games were closer affairs. Celtic B beat Methven B 24-19, while Ashburton College B downed Celtic C 28-22.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 25 July 2019

Ashburton’s Veronica Wall is part of the New Zealand team taking part in the Under-23 Rowing World Championships in America this week. Photo Igor MeijerAshburton rower Veronica Wall’s latest bid for world glory is about to get under way in the USA.

Wall and the rest of New Zealand’s under-23 rowing team are in Sarasota-Bradenton, in Florida, for the 2019 World Rowing Under-23 Championships which will get under way on Wednesday (US time) and run through until July 28.

It’s a massive regatta, with nearly 700 rowers from a total of 53 nations taking part, with Wall set to line up in the women’s quad event.

Wall, who rows out of both the Ashburton Rowing Club and the Southern RPC, will join Kathryn Glen (Avon Rowing Club, Southern RPC), Katie Lush (Waikato Rowing Club, Waikato RPC) and Laura Glen (Avon Rowing Club, Southern RPC) to form the women’s quad, which is coached by Matt Cameron.

The regatta is taking place on Florida’s West Coast, just one hour south of Tampa and two hours from Orlando, at Nathan Benderson Park, a community park which provides public access to a picturesque lake.

It was the venue that hosted a spectacular and successful 2017 World Rowing Championships, which was attended by 921 athletes from 68 countries.

The biggest team lining up for a shot at glory at this latest regatta on the lake is, not surprisingly the home team, the United States.

They have an entry in all 22 boat classes, while Germany have boats in 21, followed by Great Britain with 14 boats entered.

New Zealand’s team includes Jack Lopas and Ollie Maclean in the men’s double scull, two rowers who are actually based in the USA.

For Wall, the regatta will be her first shot at under-23 world titles, but she is no stranger to competing on the world stage, having competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships in the past.

This year’s World Rowing Junior Championships are being held in Japan from August 7 to 11, with the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria from August 25 to September 1.

For anyone wanting to keep up with the progress of Wall and her team mates, live video streaming will be available on  www.worldrowing.com.

Live audio commentary and the live race tracker will also be available for all races on the website.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 24 July 2019