MANSFIELD Clay Target Club (MCTC) member Lloyd Parks following in the steps of his namesake and great grandfather has quietly climbed the grades for the past 12 months since taking up an interest in shooting.

Starting in C Grade in June 2023, Lloyd climbed to AA within nine months.

Lloyd has had some fabulous results over this time.

Among Lloyd's highlights was competing at Victorian Championships at Echuca in November 2023 with a shoot off for the Point Score to win that class and the overall C Grade for the weekend.

This moved Lloyd up to B Grade after only five months competing.

In January this year he took out the Queensland ISSF Shotgun Commonwealth National Championships winning the B Grade Trap shoot Championships.

One of Lloyd's biggest highlights was winning his first 50/50 badge which he acquired at the Warrnambool Seaside Classic in the Double Barrel Championships in February this year winning the class for A Grade, which means he did not drop a shot.

This competition was run over three days with Lloyd having great success in all events he entered.

Lloyd and fellow MCTC member John Winters competed in the handicap and both ended up in the shoot off with a second and third respectively.

Recently Lloyd has had some mixed results in AA due to a lack of time to train and compete, but headed to the Melbourne Gun Club on last Saturday to win the Open 50 target Double Barrel event and the 50 target Continental A Grade.

Lloyd also headed to Euroa Clay Target Club last Sunday winning along with seven others the 10 target DB, the 50 target Don Barns Memorial P/S Championships Open Event, placing second in the 30 target Double Barrel Graded Trophy event in A Grade and winning the Overall A Grade High Gun.

He is extremely pleased with the weekends results.

Lloyd enjoys shooting a variety of events from Double Barrel, Single Barrel, Trap, Universal Trap, Point Score, Handicap, Medley and Trench.

Lloyd has competed in Victoria, Queensland and NSW and is looking forward to other state visits.

While he has been enjoying the competitions and success so far, he hopes to eventually travel overseas to compete.

He hopes to achieve success abroad like his great cousin Wayne Parks who had fantastic success in trap shooting winning World Championships.

Lloyd is also following in the footsteps as the great grandson of Lloyd A Parks who was one of the original founders of the MCTC.

His grandfather Lloyd H Parks continues to be a keen supporter and the family business Parkseeds has been an avid sponsor of the club over many years.

Lloyd proudly continues the tradition of the family membership of the club.

Club days run every third Sunday or weekend at the grounds on Pikes Road, Mansfield.

For for all those wanting to join the club it is always open to new members of qualifying ages.

Please contact the club directly.