FORMER Black Springs resident Nick Harvey has won a gold medal for Bulgaria at the World Down The Line (DTL) Clay Target Shooting Championships in Ireland. Nick shot a perfect 136/136 score in the 50 target double barrel event to take the medal. It was the first gold medal won by Bulgaria at the world DTL championships.
The world titles are held every two years. This year they attracted 680 contestants from 27 countries shooting for 14 gold, silver and bronze medals, over nine consecutive days at Esker in Ireland.
Ireland turned on the weather, with torrential rain and gale- force wind for the nine days of the event, making it the hardest conditions this event has been shot under in its 16-year history.
Other Aussies to win gold were Arturo Del-Ben of the NSW Gun Club and Geoff Moore from Roma in Queensland.
Also representing Bulgaria was a first timer to this type of shooting , Olympian , Dimitar Genov. Although he had never shot DTL before he was placed at 40. The duo will represent Bulgaria at the end of September in Serbia, this time shooting Olympic Trench at which Dimitar is ranked about 20th in the world.
Nick is originally from Hill End and lived at Black Springs for many years. He is a member of the Bathurst Gun Club and the son of Sporting Shooter magazine writer Nick Harvey, also of Hill End. The next world DTL championships will be held in Capetown, South Africa in 2010.
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