Ray “Jumbo” Brown, and brother-and sister duo, David and Jessica Robb have proved local shooters are among the best in Australia.
Jumbo from Boggabilla and David from Bungunya competed in the State Clay Target Shooting Championships at the Gem Fields Gun Club near Emerald last week.
“I had a few goals. I wanted to shoot a possible in an event. I did that and was pretty happy but to win the overall championship was more than I expected,” he said.
“I’d also like to congratulate Jumbo on his great effort.”
The experienced Jumbo has proven his class over many years and he did that again winning the A grade overall “high gun” event, shooting 360 points out of a possible 375.
He also proved he has a “jumbo-sized” sense of humor when he e-mailed a mate to tell of his victories, signing it “an elite athlete”.
But as the saying goes, action speaks louder than words, and Jumbo backed his up when it mattered most.
He came second in A grade double-rise (two targets at once) shooting 54-60.
He was third in the A grade single-barrel, shooting 58-61.
He made the 15-man State Shoulder-to-Shoulder team.
That team then shot 50 targets with the score to be used in national competition against other states.
Jumbo managed the equal best score shooting 150-150 points.
That got him picked in the five-man Queensland squad which competes in the National Titles in Roma during March and April 2009.
Jumbo is now calling himself an “elite athlete”.
David was equally as impressive.
He began as a junior with the Tarawera Club seven years ago and hasn’t looked back.
He has previously won State titles as a junior.
He now has a senior trophy to add to the collection, winning the overall state double-barrel championship.
In all he shot 290 targets out of 290 targets to win.
He then took out the AA grade single-barrel championship.
He also made the 15-man Shoulder-to-Shoulder team.
David was also a member of the winning western zone team in the inter-zone team shoot.
It was a family affair.
David’s sister Jessica, 18, was the runner-up in the women’s double-barrel championship.
Dad Tony was there, but “left it to the kids to wave the flag”. At least that’s his story. Jumbo and David will be showing off their “elite” form at the fourth-Sunday monthly shoot at Texas.