Neville Crawford has stood in the firing line and escaped unscathed. The novice shooter - who fired a gun competitively for the first time only 12 months ago - is the bolter in the New Zealand team that is preparing to go barrel-to-barrel with Australia next week for clay target shooting's prestigious Glenn Cup.
Crawford emerged from a rigorous national selection process shaken but intact, although the 53-year-old Tauranga builder admits the pressure of the sudden-death national trial almost toppled him.
Crawford qualified through the season for the five-strong North Island clay target team before a shoot-off at the national championships 10 days ago sifted the contenders.
"The selection, firstly to make the North Island team, was pretty tight but I made it, then had to do well at a one-off selection trial at the nationals (in Hamilton) to find the top five for the Glenn Cup," Crawford said.
"I've only been shooting for a year and wasn't used to that sort of pressure.
"It was probably more nerve-wracking at the North Islands - once I'd made that team I didn't really shoot well. It took me the rest of the week to calm down down and get my nerves back under control."
Crawford waltzed into the New Zealand team, bagging 25 targets without a miss for a perfect 75 points at the nationals, where he was part of a successful Tauranga foray, with shooters bringing home 11 titles.
The wins were spread from 15-year-old Kane Bennett, who won all three C grade titles (single rise, single barrel and point score), to 82-year-old super veteran Charles Hartley, who took the double rise, triples, points score and high gun.
"That's the neat thing about shooting - you can have teenagers shooting alongside the likes of Charles and Murray Havill, who've both been shooting for years and have been very successful at it."
"Our schoolboy shooters (mainly from Tauranga Boys' College) are up there with the best in the country."
Tauranga's Alan Vickers scored a near-flawless 299 from 300 (missing just one target from 100 with his first shot) for the Makintosh Cup, involving the top 20 shooters from the nationals who move into a special shoot-off.
Scores are collated and sent to London, where they are ranked alongside other Commonwealth contenders to find the winning nation.
Crawford's trigger finger is itching to get into the Glenn Cup, which is being held in conjunction with the week-long Australian clay target nationals starting on Saturday.
A former charter boat skipper, he picked up a gun competitively 12 months ago when his boat was sold. He attributes his quick success to good hand/eye co-ordination, aided by having his ailing eyes corrected by laser treatment two years ago.
"I had terrible eyesight before then and wearing glasses wouldn't have been much chop shooting in the rain."
He is considering a change when he gets home to skeet shooting which, unlike clay target, is a Commonwealth and Olympic Games discipline.
Crawford has battled other obstacles getting to Perth - namely cutting through red tape to get his guns into Australia.
"There's a mountain of paperwork that has had to be filled out to get permits and export/import licences and then we found out a week ago the process had changed and we needed to apply for a new kind of export licence," he said.
"It's been a bit of an unwanted distraction but it'll be worth it if we go over and kick the Aussies' butts."
's national championship results: Kane Bennett: 1 C grade single rise, 1 C grade single barrel, 1 C grade points score, second qualifier junior Mackintosh team. Alan Vickers: Topscored Mackintosh teams 299 out of a possible 300.
Murray Havill: 1 Super veterans single rise, 1 Super veterans minis.
Charles Hartley: 1 Super veteran double rise, 1 Super veteran triples, 1 Super veteran point score, 3 A grade point score, 1 Super veteran High Gun 359 out of a possible 380, qualified for veteran Mackintosh team.
Keith Livingstone: High overall Winchester Trophy, 2 AA grade triples. Grant Castles: 2 AA grade single rise (371 targets).
Grant and Mathew Castles: 1 single rise family trophy 115 out of 115.
Neville Crawford: qualified for Glenn Cup to be shot against Australia in Perth next week.
Paul Schmidt: qualified for veteran Mackintosh team.
Danny Greaney: 1 veterans single rise.
Aussies in shooter's sights
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