Shooting: Joy of competing still draws Stuart

With a gun slung over his left shoulder and a vest dotted with badges, Alistair Stuart looks the part. And he has certainly been around the traps.

For more than 50 years the veteran shooter has been a fixture at the various clay target shooting events around the South Island.

The sprightly 72-year-old joined the Moa Creek Gun Club as a fresh-faced 17-year-old in March, 1955. Yesterday he was competing in the ball trap event at the South Island clay target championships at Waldronville.

He is the first to admit he did not have his best day, but then his eyesight is not what it used to be. He is waiting on cataract surgery which should improve his aim. But, these days, Stuart is just happy to still be shooting and is not so worried about the results.

It has not always been that way, though. During the 1960s and 1970s, Stuart was one of the best shooters in the South Island, if not the country. He represented New Zealand in 1962 and again in 1970.

He had his heart set on representing New Zealand at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch but missed selection.

"It was one of the biggest kicks in the guts I've had in my life," Stuart said.

He had been in marvellous form on the ball trap but a controversial decision by the officials to switch to different ammunition for the final trial in Christchurch proved to be damaging for Stuart.

"The targets are a hell of a lot further away than you think," he explained.

"They go 70-odd metres and you need a bloody good shot to get there. But we had to use these lighter cartridges and none of us had much faith in them. All the scores dropped."

Stuart did not shoot well and, coupled with his decision to make himself unavailable for the world championships in Melbourne before the Games, he was overlooked.

"I couldn't afford to go to Australia at that time. I was married and had a young family and a shearing run of my own, as well. I never got selected and I'm a bit angry about it, because it still hurts."

You might think shooting has not changed much but Stuart has seen plenty. He is still not convinced the switch from black targets to bright orange was the right decision.

"I shoot birds around the orchard and it is always the black ones that fall first," he explained. "Black targets are easier to see."

However, the automated traps have been a good innovation and a big improvement on the older traps, which had to be triggered manually.

Dunedin Clay Target Club president Lindsay Phillips said he was pleased with the strength of the field which includes Commonwealth Games competitor Natalie Rooney, Australian single barrel champion Boston Walker, New Zealand high gun Gavin Searle and world champion shooter Colin Waghorn.

The championships conclude tomorrow.