THE Mount Gambier Gun Club has reaped rewards at the recent World Down the Line (DTL) Clay Target Shooting Championships in Wagga Wagga NSW, with veteran of the sport Max Medhurst competing in the 13th annual event.
Medhurst competed in the Super Veterans team event, which saw him shoot alongside two fellow Australians against competitors from across the globe.
Noorat Gun Club’s Gary Hayden and Melbourne shooter Fred Heinze made up Medhurst’s three-man team, with the trio performing well enough to take out the 2018 title.
Medhurst said he was proud of his achievement and stated it was a team effort which saw them finish on top of the class.
“I thought we had a pretty good team, the other guys are very good shots themselves,” he said.
“We were lucky enough to win the Super Veterans, so I was pleased with that.
“Individually I didn’t do too much, but we were just lucky enough the three of us come together and won the team shoot
“Gary Hayden won the individual Super Veterans world title, so it was good to have him in the team.”
With the teams selected at last year’s national titles, Medhurst performed well enough to be chosen for the squad.
Medhurst remains humble despite his impressive accomplishment, which saw he and his team compete against the world’s best Super Veterans, with the class consisting of marksmen aged 64 years and over.
Not only did he take out the team world title, but he also finished among the best in the individual competition.
“Individually I was in the top 10 of the Super Veterans, so I was happy with that,” Medhurst said.
“I think there was about 100 Super Veterans from all over the world.
“All up there were about 800 competitors at the world titles, so quite a few.”
To add the silver lining from a national point of view, Australia topped the field in all of the team events, with the home-ground advantage proving too much for the international squads.
“All the Australian teams won, which was a good result for the Australian Clay Target Association,” Medhurst said.
Now aged 66, Medhurst has been shooting for about 40 years and was no stranger going into this year’s world titles.
“I’ve been in three world titles in the teams,” he said.
“I was in the Open team once, the Veterans’ team and now the Super Veterans.
“I’ve won two gold medals and a silver in those three teams.”
Along with this, Medhurst also has an abundance of individual achievements, the most impressive of which saw him ranked seventh in the world titles.
“At one time I was seventh in the world at the world titles,” he said.
“I also won the national single barrel title, that was a few years ago now and I have been runner-up in two other national titles.”
He was also part of the South Australian Veterans state team in the national titles last year, which saw him compete against teams from across the nation.
Having always shot at a recreational level from a young age, Medhurst first got into competitive shooting after watching his uncle’s achievements, which sparked the interest to take it a step further and now also sees him well-decorated in the sport.
“I’ve sort of always shot game and my uncle was a very good shot at the Mount Gambier Gun Club,” he said.
“I took a bit of notice of the trophies and stuff he was winning and thought yeah, I’d love to do something like that.”
