Secunda cop perseveres in Bloemfontein weather to win Free State Combat Rifle Provincial Championship
The shooting conditions were extremely difficult for every competitor. It was not easy to shoot as accurately as possible. The shooters’ scopes, spotting scopes and glasses fogged up
SECUNDA – Extreme wind, heavy rain and flash floods did not deter Secunda’s Protea marksman, W/O Louwrens van Schaik, from excelling at the Free State Combat Rifle Championships on Friday, 15 February.
The competition was held at the Genl. De Wet shooting range in Bloemfontein.
Members from the police, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the Air Force, the Correctional Services and the Private Combat Rifle Association (PCRA) from different provinces competed in the championship.
The selected New Zealand touring team comprising of Protea marksmen, who were selected at the national championships last year, also took part in this competition.
Van Schaik is a member of the touring team.
He said it was raining heavily throughout the day and with wind blowing up to 11km/hour.
“Locals measured the rainfall to be about 90mm on Friday when we were taking part in the individual matches,” explained Van Schaik.
“It was impossible to determine the wind speed from merely looking at the flags posted next to the range at the different distances (100m, 200m and 300m red flags) as these were drenched by the rain.
“The shooting conditions were extremely difficult for every competitor.
“It was not easy to shoot as accurately as possible.
“The shooters’ scopes, spotting scopes and glasses fogged up,” said Van Schaik.
He told the newspaper that when they walked to and from the shooting butts, the shooters were walking in ankle deep water throughout the day.
“We were lying in the water when shooting on the shooting point.”
Van Schaik persevered and kept his focus throughout the day and did not allow the extreme weather to affect him.
He came third and received a bronze medal in the X-class (shooting with optic sights) in Match 1 (100m Snap in the standing position).
This match consisted of 10 exposures of the target in which the marksmen had three seconds to fire a shot as accurately as possible.
Van Schaik won Match 3 (200m sustained fire in sitting position) and received a gold medal in the X-class.
This match consisted of shooting 10 shots as accurately as possible at the target in 90 seconds in the sitting position.
He obtained second place and silver medal in Match 9 (300m snap in prone position) in which the marksman shot as accurately as possible at 10 exposures of three seconds each.
Van Schaik won gold medals and prizes for his first places for the Overall Total of X Class, the Overall Total of all classes (X Class, A Class and B Class), as the Free State Combat provincial winner of 2019 and as the winner among the police contestants.
Van Schaik achieved an average score of 40.6 counted out of 50.
