ARVIAT - Four members of the Arviat Gun Club travelled to Winnipeg earlier this month to compete in the annual Manitoba Provincial Rifle Association Championship.

The Fullbore meet was held Aug. 1-3 at the St. Charles rifle range with permission of the 17 Wing Winnipeg air-force base.

The four Arviat participants - Ronnie Suluk, Peter Kaludjak, Donnie Baker and Jose Illnik - were selected during a shoot-off in Arviat the previous month.

The Manitoba association was formed in 1872 and is reputed to be one of the oldest sporting associations in Western Canada.

Its annual championship has been running for almost 120 years, and has been held at the 17 Wing range since 1903.

The shooters fire from 300 metres and 500, 600, 900 and 1,000 yards using mainly .308 (7.62 millimetre) calibre rifles.

Manitoba association president John Chapman said the four Arviat shooters fared well, despite a few obvious challenges to overcome.

He said regular members were happy to have the Nunavut shooters compete.

"We weren't too sure what their shooting was going to be like when we realized they were buying commercial hunting ammunition to compete with," said Chapman.

"Ronnie (Suluk) reloads his own, but he didn't have enough, so we lent him some reloading gear to have enough to finish his shooting.

"We knew the other three would be good to about 600 yards, but at 900 and 1,000 yards they'd be suffering a bit."

Chapman said two Arviat shooters were put to a target, with two local members coaching them a bit.

He said once the Arviat shooters got onto the target, the Manitoba members were quite impressed with their efforts.

"They did very well, with Ronnie actually taking a couple of thirds in his class.

"They obviously knew how to shoot, although, as we suspected, they really struggled at 900 and 1,000 yards because they just didn't have the velocity to get there."

A couple of Manitoba members decided to help the Arviat shooters by lending them their rifles.

That act of sportsmanship produced one of the match's lighter moments.

"Donnie (Baker) borrowed the rifle of an RCMP officer and then beat him with his own rifle.

"That was great fun for everybody.

"The Arviat guys listened well and seemed to learn a lot during their visit.

"I hope they continue because they showed a lot of promise, and they were a great group of guys who were a lot of fun to be around."

Suluk said he was happy with how the trip went.

He said they were a little rushed to make the trip, but, once they arrived, it didn't take long to settle in.

"The shooters there were very helpful and made us feel very, very comfortable," said Suluk.

"We would like to go back again next year and take a few others from Arviat."

Suluk said the Arviat Gun Club is now in its third year, although there wasn't much going on last year due to a lack of funding.

He said they were finally able to stage another activity this past Christmas and things took off from there.

"Things are going much better this year because the hamlet gave us two bingo slots to raise funds.

"That helped us with the trip to Winnipeg, and we hope to have a shoot in town here sometime next month.

"We're looking forward to, hopefully, getting our range certified and growing our club from there."