The Cobar Weekly has called upon a local Clay Target shooter (Mister Target) to select Cobar’s Greatest Clay Target team and, with so much local talent on offer, he’s gone back through the Australian history records to select his squad.
The six shooters in this squad have
been selected based on their achievements recorded by the Australian Clay Target
Association (ACTA).
At the top of the list is Arthur ‘Pud’ Burgess who was inducted into the ACTA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Pud competed in the sport from 1937 until 2013 and shot all around the world.
In his sporting career, he won 12 National titles and finished on the podium 23 times.
Pud competed for Australia in International Olympic Trap Teams in World Moving Targets in Switzerland (1974), France (1977) and Italy (1979).
He was part of the Australian Trap Team who placed equal 4th in international competition in England in 1982 and he was also part of the Australian team that competed in Scotland in 1985.
Pud attended 37 National Trap Championships and qualified for the Australian Mackintosh team 27 times. (The Mackintosh team is made up of the top five shooters at National competitions.)
He won the Mackintosh Team High Gun title three times, shot perfect scores of 300/300 targets five times and achieved a score of 299/300, also five times at National events.
From the 23 known scores, he averaged just under 297/300 at each event.
Pud won numerous National titles including the Champion of Champions in 1966 and 1982 (and was runner-up in 1964 and third in 1976 and 1983).
He won the National Double Barrel title in 1968, was runner-up on two occasions and third on two others.
He won the Single Barrel title three years and was second on three other attempts.
Pud won the Australian National High Gun three times, won the Australia trench title in 1976 and 1978 (and was runner-up in 1977).
In 1991 he also claimed the New Zealand National Single Barrel title.
Second pick in the Cobar team is another ACTA National Hall of Fame inductee, Arthur Turner.
Arthur was also inducted to the NSW State Hall of Fame and has achieved more than any other clay target shooter nation-wide.
He has won eight National titles, a massive 35 State titles, competed in 18 Mackintosh Teams, brought home three gold medals as part of Australian teams at World Championships and finished 4th in World Championships on two other occasions.
The third member of Cobar’s Greatest Clay Target Shooters team is Robert Thompson who has also achieved great success.
Thompson is currently at the top of his game and is to be inducted into the NSW Hall of Fame later this year.
Three times Thompson has earned a spot with the NSW State ISU Trap Olympic teams and has been a member five times in Down The Line Trap Mackintosh Teams, has qualified 14 times for State teams, won eight NSW State Titles and two Australian Titles.
In 2014, Rob set an Australian Trap Longest Break 15 metres record with a score of 904 and in the same year also had the Longest Personal Break of 939.
Last year he achieved the sport’s Grand Slam recording 50 single targets off 25metres, 25 pair Double Rise and 400 targets 15metres in one event.
The No 4 shooter in the Squad is the Cobar Clay Target Club’s current president, Bryan Manns.
Bryan has been a member of two Australian teams, one of which finished second in International competition.
He has also been selected in seven NSW State teams and earned spots in 16 Western Zone teams and achieved selection in a number of Mackintosh Teams throughout his career.
He has six NSW State Titles to his name and in 2006 finished in 6th place at the World Championships in Wagga Wagga where he achieved his 650 break badge in double barrel (he had to shoot 684 targets to achieve it).
Wayde Hawkins gets the No 5 spot in the Cobar Squad.
Wayde was the National Champion of Champions in 2008 and then again in 2014 and was the runner-up in 2016.
In 2003 he was the NSW Double Barrel Championship winner and the runner-up in the Single Barrel Championships in 2012.
Wayde has competed in five Australian Open Mackintosh teams and in 1999 was part of the Australian Glenn Cup team.
Competing with the Cobar Clay Target Club team at Nationals, he’s won the Alan Brown National Club Championship four times.
Rounding out the team is the quickest marksman of the side, Doug Osborne.
Doug earned spots in the Australian National Team four times, was part of State teams over six years, has won a National Skeet High Gun title, and was runner-up on two occasions for the Australian Overall High Gun title.
Doug earned a spot in the clay target history books as just the 6th shooter nationwide to shoot 100 targets straight.
Adelaide, SA.
