Family of hot-shots
Dannevirke family all make NZ championships
Dannevirke family Ruth, Robbie and Stephanie McNair competed this past week at the New Zealand Outdoor National Championships for Smallbore Rifle Shooting at Tokoroa Shooting Sports Complex.
It was an incredible week for Stephanie having never shot outdoors over 50m in a competition before, especially the National Championships.
Starting as a B Grade shooter Stephanie soon excelled on Sunday's grading day Badge Match winning the B Grade and coming fourth in the B grade Aggregate.
After a break on Monday when she did not compete in the three-position competition she began Tuesday in graded matches shooting prone over 50m.
Having only shot outdoors over 50m a few times at the Norsewood Range and used to indoor 20-yard ranges, Stephanie found outside conditions very different with wind, glare and mirage shimmers affecting her aim but she very soon adapted and had a good couple of days shooting 60 shots in an hour each day.
As a result she qualified for the New Zealand Open Junior Drew Team, New Zealand Junior Women's Drew Team, and the New Zealand vs Australia Junior Team.
On Thursday she shot in the Open Women's Match and she qualified for the North Island Open Team. The North Island Open team won over the South Island team by 112 points.
More was to come on Friday when she competed in the International Randle Women's competition. The Randle Women's team competes against any Englishspeaking countries including England, Canada and America — the first time since 1984 that New zealand has put a team in. She qualified for the International Randle Women's Team.That afternoon she shot for the
Randle team, twenty shots over 50m and 20 shots over 100m (never having shot that distance before) and scored 400.33 (out of a possible 400.40) placing third in the team.
The best was still to come on Saturday competing for membership of the New Zealand Slazenger team.
She qualified for the New Zealand Open Slazenger Team along with other shooters who included Oceania and Commonwealth Games Representatives.
Stephanie shot a personal best of 623.0(595) to top score in the New Zealand Open Slazenger Team competition and in the process she broke the New Zealand records for 50m Prone shooting for both Junior and Women.
Back at Palmerston North Girls High School on Monday it all seemed very surreal for Stephanie facing a backlog of work missed as a Year 12 student.
Her school is only just finding out about her achievements over that week.
Success during the week was not just confined to Stephanie however because her mum Ruth shot a personal best and qualified for New Zealand Slazenger Team, and qualified for International Randle Women’s Team — scoring 400.23/400.40 placing her fourth.
Ruth says she and Robbie are very proud of Stephanie who has been behind a rifle for at least six of the years they have been running the Dannevirke Small Bore Rifle Club and has now come up through the ranks to national recognition.
And this in her first attempt at National Outdoor Competition.