The four-day event had Black tough out turbulent Trentham winds in the country’s capital to finish on top with an aggregate score of 553.043, seeing off a raft of local and international talent.
Black’s mettle was put to the test during the competition’s shoot-out, where he would exit the mount following a successful 15-shot final from 900 yards out.
“To win was pretty special, considering it is a very hard and merciless range,” Black said.
“It is a very windy range; I would regard it as one of the hardest in the world.
“You need an ounce of luck to win, but I don’t think you get that sort of luck over three (and a half) days.”
Black had the Belt in his sights from the off with consistent shooting early in the piece and approached the final day with a six-point buffer over the next trailing competitor and kept his foot on the pedal to emerge a champion.
However, despite displaying a well-drilled performance to claim victory, Black admitted his preparation schedule was interrupted through outside influences in the lead up to the event.
“I probably didn’t practice as much as I should have, at least on my home range,” he said.
“I am a farmer and we have just come through the harvest, so I didn’t have a lot of spare time to get out and shoot.
“For a while there was a total fire ban in effect meaning a lot of ranges were closed, which stopped me from fine-tuning ahead of New Zealand.”
Not one to rest on his laurels, Black has been back at it at his home range of Shepparton-Nathalia, and has his sights set on Brisbane where he will compete for national glory with the state side later this year.
