Rogers memorial shoot a resounding success at Echuca

“He was one of our founding fathers,” Echuca Clay Target Club president Nicholas Dean said.

“He was involved with the gun club all his life; he was a life member, had been on the committee for years, and the family were all local.

“Fifty or 60 years he was involved with the club.”

The event attracted a healthy number of squads, as well as a “who’s who” of shooting talent who came from far and wide.

“At a normal monthly club shoot, you would expect somewhere around eight or 10 squads,” Dean said.

“We had 22 squads turn up on Sunday — 120-plus shooters. Matt Stokes, Steve Atkins were in, just to name a couple.

“Back in the day, Barry’s son Mark was a very good shot, he’s got Australian titles to his name.

“Barry used to travel around, and he would take a lot of the young blokes with him.

“You would have Mark, Rowan Penn, Steve Atkins all sitting in the car going to national events.

“Hence the reason we had so many good shooters there — they wanted to come pay their respects to Barry.”

Fittingly, the club had a local winner in the double barrel event.

“One of our local members came out triumphant in the double barrel — young Alex Gobbo which was great to see,” Dean said.