“I am so stoked that all of my hard work and dedication has finally paid off,” she said.
“I came second at the 2018 nationals behind a young lady from Indonesia, so she took the medals but I took the New Zealand title.
“Getting both medals this year is a huge buzz.”
Hawes had a slow start on the first day but found her rhythm once she was warmed up, and put in a solid performance on days two and three.
“I had an inkling that I would be in the running for a spot on the podium but, as we don’t see any of the scores until the prizegiving, it can be hard to tell.”
Ainsworth won his third open division overall title, also taking home a President’s Medal, after a hard-fought battle with Hawes’ partner Manson, last year’s champion.
The two ended 1.4 points apart in a match of more than 1500 points.
Ainsworth shot a solid match, with no misses or penalties in the three days of shooting, and won his fifth shoot in five outings this year.
Manson was intent on retaining his New Zealand title but his pistol broke two days before leaving for Whanganui, and he had to get another to compete.
After some early hiccups trying to make the new pistol run reliably, there was no holding back and he compiled enough points to place second.
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) competition includes shooting on the move, dealing with moving targets and lots of fast, close targets — testing shooters’ ability to adapt.
The 2019 nationals challenged shooters with 18 different stages shot over the three-day period.
“We had to shoot one stage holding on to a rope and shooting with our strong hand only, and then swap hands and shoot with our weak hand only,” Hawes said. “Another had to be started using a disco pose.”
This year’s nationals were a qualifier for the 2020 world IPSC champs in Thailand.
“It was also great practice for the IPSC Australasia Handgun Championship in the Philippines early next month,” Hawes said.
Hawes and Manson have spent the past two years qualifying at matches around New Zealand.
