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About 40 air rifle and pistol shooters competed at match

Shooters from all over the province and beyond test their skills against one another at the 2013 Alberta Handgun Association (AHA)
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Morgan Wereley took aim during the 2013 Alberta Handgun Association Memorial Match in Sylvan Lake Saturday.

Shooters from all over the province and beyond test their skills against one another at the 2013 Alberta Handgun Association (AHA) Memorial Match in Sylvan Lake.

Held at the community centre over three days beginning last Friday, it offered participants from a wide age range the chance to put their air rifle and air pistol training to work.

Sylvan Lake resident Arno Baron, who is an AHA provincial pistol coach, couldn’t be happier with the way things ran, and spoke highly of Sylvan Lake’s ability to host such events.

“The (community centre) is excellent. Everybody liked it,” he said. “Everything was just topnotch, and the staff at the community centre, they’re great. Very helpful.”

Baron said participation was down slightly from last year, but he blamed that on poor winter travel conditions. With competitors from as far away as Saskatchewan, weather is a factor that needs to be considered in evaluating the participation rate.

Nonetheless, about 40 air rifle and air pistol shooters took part, firing their best shots on Saturday in an attempt to advance to Sunday’s finals.

Shooters stand ten metres away from a black-dot target and aim to hit the centre.

Males fire 60 shots in 75 minutes, while females fire 40 shots in 55 minutes — all at the end of a 15-minute preparation period.

Four acoustic microphones in the targets score each shot to an accuracy of within one-tenth of a millimetre.

Baron said other events will likely take place in Sylvan Lake in the near future, possibly as soon as January.

As far as venues go, he’s happy to see the community centre used again.

“Everything (about it) is good,” he said. “It’s a nice, warm place, easy to find, the lighting is good.”

Good venues aren’t the only thing this area has to offer, he added.

“The calibre of shooters here in our area is just phenomenal.”

Results from the match weren’t available at press time.