Wellington Smallbore Rifle Association

Simon Grant Memorial cups for top Wellington shooter:
D grade - Max Parsons
C grade - Max Parsons
B grade - Hester du Plessis
A grade - Anna Shum Pearce
M grade - Rob Taylor

Ada Kinsey trophy for Top Wellington Woman shooter - Pippa Taylor

Bill Kinsey trophy for Top Wellington Veteran - David Grain

Place getters for Wellington:
D grade - 2nd Annabelle Parker, 1st Max Parsons
C grade - 3rd Nate Exton, 2nd Kevin Williams, 1st Max Parsons
B grade - 3rd Barry Johnstone, 2nd Finn Ashby, 1st Hester du Plessis
A grade - 3rd place David Grain, 2nd place, Anna Shum Pearce
M grade - 3rd place Pippa Taylor, 2nd place Rob Taylor

And we're off! Wellington Open 2026 is underway and the temperature in the range is above zero. I'd go so far as to say, well above zero. And there's tea and coffee available to warm you up afterwards.
Scores are live here:

2026 Welly Open Champs - TV Scores

We shot the Interassociation Open and B grade matches today. Each is a 5 person team shooting 1x20 shot match.
We're not going to share the scores until after scores have to be submitted (end of August) but suffice to say I think we'll be keeping the selectors on. Team scores in both grades were pretty good and there were some top notch individual scores too.
Thanks to Deane Kennedy for supplying birthday cake in absentia. Happy birthday Deane!
Thanks also to Dave Rew for stepping up to run this match when Deane realised it was his birthday. It's not like it happens every year.

The North vs South teams have been announced for August in Auckland, and we’re thrilled to see so many Wellington shooters on the roster.
A massive congratulations to everyone selected — your hard work, consistency, and grit shine through.

Celebrating our Wellington representatives:
Bex Baines — Open & Women

Meredith Ackrill — Open & Women

Neil Kinsey — Open, Men & Veterans

Pippa Taylor — Open, Women & Juniors

Rob Taylor — Open & Men

Anaci du Plessis — Women

Anna Shum-Pearce — Women

Gabi Hemsley — Women & Juniors

Hester du Plessis — Women & Juniors (and Open Emergency)

Max Parsons — On call for Juniors

Emma Dagger — On call for Juniors

From Open to Juniors, from Veterans to emergency call-ups — Wellington is proudly and strongly represented. Let’s go team.

We’re looking forward to hosting the Wellington Open Champs next weekend — come along, take part, and enjoy a great* day on the range.

And to all our former shooters: swing by! Whether you hung up your gear last year, last decade or last century, you’re absolutely welcome to drop in, catch up, and check out what’s happening at the WSRA.

Everyone’s welcome. Come be part of it.

*Individual results may vary.

Thanks to everyone who came to the working bee today - David, Edwin, Meredith, Russell, Barry, Alun, Anna, Mark, Bex and Deane. After a bit of trial and error we found an efficient way to clean the silt from the floor - hose, scrub then wet vac. Did that twice and the floor's looking sparkling for next weekend.
While the inside crew were doing that the outside crew got to work around the back of the range with a shovel and buckets. They made good progress digging out the dirt that's fallen off the bank over the years. Hopefully this will mean the next downpour can drain away rather than ending up in the range again. Didn't get any photos of that sorry.
Meanwhile our small painting crew filled holes in the butts and the hall, sealed and painted some patches and sealed the rest ready for the right paint to be acquired. Again, no photos.
All around a good effort from those involved. Thanks to Meredith for the soup that kept us going.
See everyone next weekend at the Wellington Open.

WSRA Working Bee – Tomorrow from 10:00am.
A reminder that we have a working bee at the range tomorrow, starting at 10:00am, to help get the range looking its best ahead of the Wellington Open next weekend.

Our main tasks are to:
- Clear the remaining silt from the range floor
- Dig out around the back of the range to help prevent future flooding during heavy rain

If we have enough people, we'll also tidy up the driveway.

Please bring:
Spades
Shovels
Stiff brooms

If anyone has access to another wet vac, we could definitely put it to good use.

The more volunteers we have, the quicker the job will be. If you can spare a couple hours, come along and help us get the range ready for a great Open weekend.

Thanks everyone!

The final ranking list is out and it is looking good for Wellington shooters!

We shot round 3 of Interclub tonight.
In the C grade the Brooklyn juniors beat the more experienced Wellington Central team, 378.10 vs 371.6. Bonus points and congrats to Filly for her 99.4.
Ngaio Rifle Club had a narrow win over Wellington Central, 387.11 to 384.15. Bonus points to Gerard O'Flynn for his 99.7, and to Anaci du Plessis for her 99.6.
In one half of the Open we had a close match between Brooklyn and Ngaio, with Brooklyn taking the win. In the other half Wellingtib Central had a comprehensive win over South Wellington Smallbore Rifle Club. Bonus points to Pippa Taylor for a 200.16.
At the halfway point in the competition Brooklyn is leading Wellington Central in the C grade, 12 points to 7. Ngaio is romping ahead in the B grade with 14 points, and Brooklyn has the lead half way through the Open.

Well folks, here are the results from the Whanganui Open shot yesterday and today at the Okoia Range. That's the same range where Wellington has won the last two Rees Scroll competitions so we should do good there, right?
The D graders held up their end of the bargain and Max Parsons winning and Emma Dagger runner-up (both Ngaio Rifle Club )
Anaci du Plessis came 2nd in B grade.
And that was it for graded placings for Wellington shooters.
Rob Taylor and Pippa Taylor shot in the final, and Rob came 2nd in that.
This was the last qualifying shoot for the North Island teams to shoot against the South Island in Auckland in August. We're looking forward to the teams being named in the next week or two.