Well, the Nationals have been run and won, and now it is time for some reflection.

For a long time it has been my dream to run another Benchrest Nationals in South Australia - its been a long time (1998) since the last one.
Unfortunately, due to rules and interpretations by people it has not been possible. However, with the advent of a new Executive is SA and the potential of Monarto, the plan was hatched back in 2012 and has come to fruition.

Arrangements were made with Peter Van Meurs to hire the Victorian backer system, as this was crucial to my plans. The system worked flawlessly during the 2016 event, with Peter 'mothering' it when required.

Staffing a Nationals can be a problem, as volunteers cannot always be found and after all, people do like to go away at Easter. With this in mind I hired the best in the country for the crucial jobs:

. Bob Barry - IMHO the best Chief RO in the country
. Carolyn Jamieson - the best target crew chief that I know
and of course Max Coady and Dave Billinghurst to attended to the scoring, labeling and preparation of targets.

The target crew was made up of people from Scouts SA, and they quickly caught on to how to change targets, etc.

For feeding the masses, who else but Kathy Tobler and the family who kept the food coming and provided spectacular $10 dinners at night. They did too good a job, and had to do frantic re supply runs to Murray Bridge as the customers just kept on coming.

There were of course volunteers from Adelaide Target Shooters Club, and Garry Wood from Para. They all pitched in and did what needed to be done, before, during and after the event.

On the final night after the last presentation, I had planned to make a little speech, but the emotion of it all got to me. What I wanted to say was that it was a time of sadness and joy. Sad that it was all over, but joy in that it ran like clockwork. I did not hear any complaints from shooters during the event. In planning and running this event, I wanted to give something back to a sport that has given me so much pleasure and joy since 1976. I have met some of the best people that I know through benchrest.

Will there be another Nationals at Monarto? Depends on the rotation and situation here.

I say a very sincere "Thank You" to all the shooters who made the trip to Monarto - I trust you enjoyed your trip and will come again.

Brendan Atkinson