Mr Cocks was an invited guest at the final day of the International Biathlon Union-International Olympic Committee (IBU-IOC) Oceania Development Camp, held during the past week at cross-country ski area Snow Farm on the Pisa Range, near Wanaka.
Snow Farm is the national centre for biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting and is a growing sport in New Zealand.
To sample the sport for himself, cross-country novice Mr Cocks - far more familiar with downhill skiing - clipped on skis and competently navigated the short course leading to Snow Farm's shooting range.
There, he watched the young training camp participants display their talents as they transitioned between skiing and shooting and back again, before top New Zealand biathlete Olivia Thomson (17), of Wanaka, offered the deputy mayor some rifle-handling pointers.
''It reminds me of my navy days,'' Mr Cocks said from his prone position on the shooting mat, while firing several rounds and, eventually, hitting all the targets.
''He managed to shoot all five in the end, but we won't tell you how many bullets he took to do it,'' Biathlon New Zealand executive committee chairman John Burridge said, in a good-humoured summing-up of their guest's performance at the range.
The IBU-IOC Oceania Development Camp takes place every couple of years in either Australia or New Zealand and is funded by the sport's governing body, the IBU.
It is run by IBU expert Ubaldo Prucker, of Italy.
This year, young up-and-coming biathletes from New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Italy took part, along with two Swedish female biathletes, aged 19 and 20, who are in New Zealand with their coach on a new IBU-sponsored biathlon exchange scheme.
The Wanaka Biathlon Club will host its annual biathlon training camp and secondary school cross-country and biathlon championships at Snow Farm next week.
