Aiming is the name of the game
by Vincent Ciccarello
Brenton
Bellchambers can’t abide the shooting of animals. Instead, he prefers to
shoot holes in paper. And very precisely, at that.
Brenton Bellchambers, senior occupational health, safety and welfare consultant, last month won the Queens Prize and Grand Championship from a field of some 160 competitors at the 114th South Australian Rifle Shooting Championships.
First conducted in 1879, the prize is the premier shooting event in South Australia and is open to target shooters from across the Commonwealth.
For Bellchambers, it is the culmination of 33 years of success in a sport introduced to him by his grandfather.
"Over the time I’ve been shooting, I’ve won 15 open championships, I’ve been in two state teams, won six other Queen’s Badges, and five club championships. But this is the pinnacle of achievement for any target shooter," he says.
For 51 Saturdays a year ("I have Christmas off"), Bellchambers spends the afternoon at his Mt Barker Rifle Club, lying unsupported on his stomach, gazing along a gun barrel aiming to hit a flimsy bit of paper that could be flapping in the breeze 800 metres away.
"This is a very precise sport," he says. "Psychology is a big aspect of our sport, the ability to stay focused. And reading changes in wind conditions is a big part of our sport because we shoot over such long distances."
Finances have so far prevented Bellchambers from putting up his hand to compete at the Commonwealth Games level. But that might change after this latest triumph.
"As a result of this competition, I could get a couple of sponsorship deals, possibly from a US barrel maker and maybe a projectile manufacturer," he says, adding he is still coming to grips with having his photo appear in advertisements in shooting magazines here and the US.
But competition is only one reason Bellchambers is attracted to the sport.
"I find it a great stress relief. When you’re doing this, you’re not thinking of anything else," he says. "And I love the social side of it. I’ve got friends all over Australia from my sport. "We’ve got labourers, doctors, lawyers, people from all walks of life and all ages."
Target shooting seems set to continue in the family. Oliver and Tommy, Bellchambers’ 11 and 12-year-old grandsons, have long been showing off their grandfather’s prizes at school show-and-tell.
"Oliver is muttering about wanting to have a go after this win," Bellchambers says, pointing out he’s actually old enough to start.
"The beauty of our sport is that, regardless of age or gender, everybody competes on an equal footing," he says. "Believe it or not, this form of competition is the oldest sport in Australia. And we’ve never injured anybody."
Spoken like a true OHSW specialist.