Orana locals squared off against shooters across Australia over the weekend in the Brewarrina Clay Target Club Barwon and District Championships. 

Almost 60 shooters from towns including Bourke, Cobar, Dubbo, Bendigo in Victoria and Geraldton in Western Australia tackled overcast conditions during the two-day comp from 4 May. 

In clay target shooting, shooters hit disks flung from the ‘trap,’ which sits at least 15 metres away from the shooting line.

Brewarrina AA Dallas Codrington and son, B-grader Alex, shot a clean 30 out of 30 targets in the point score alongside Coonamble A-grader Jason Peters. The three went into a runoff shoot.

Cobar AA Robert Thompson shot first in his grade for the high gun with 286 out of 300 points on Sunday. He also shot a perfect score to win the 50-target double barrel the day before.

Bourke’s Aaron Marsh won the 15-pair double rise with 29 out of 30 points.

Brewarrina’s Noel Cooper (C-grade), Alex Codrington (juniors) and Helen Overton (ladies) also won the high gun for their categories.

Jason Peters from Coonamble took home the A Grade prize.

Coonamble’s Jason Peters said it was “pretty hard shooting.”

“I wear special glasses for shooting with different colours to pick up more light,” Jason explained. 

“The sun would come out for a little bit, then you’d go change your glasses to another colour and then it’d be overcast.”

Longtime Brewarrina Clay Target Club members Max (left) and Colin Betts (right) with President Dallas Codrington. Image: Supplied

Dallas, who is also the President of the Brewarrina Clay Target Club, said conditions improved on Sunday. 

“Saturday was tough enough with clouds and a bit of wind to contend with. Sunday was lovely conditions, bright and sunny day,” Dallas said. 

His club also celebrated longtime members, brother Colin and Max Betts. Colin has been with the club for 50 years, Max 60. 

“That’s a pretty amazing feat these days. You don’t sort of see that very often,” Dallas said. 

“They’ve both held the position of President. Col’ was President for nearly 20 years, so they’ve been around a long time, them boys.”