John Hastie (19 March 1938 – 4 October 2021) was a New Zealand

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

and

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

. He competed at two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, and won the Ballinger Belt in 1982.

Biography

Born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

on 19 March 1938, Hastie grew up shooting rabbits on a

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

sheep station. In 1966, he began long-range target shooting at the Okawa Rifle Club, where he was mentored by Maurie Gordon. Hastie competed for New Zealand in full-bore rifle shooting at the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

. On both occasions he finished 19th in the open full-bore individual events, and in 1982 he was sixth, with

John Whiteman John Whiteman (born 1934) is an architect; and former Director of the Glasgow School of Art. He was director from 1990 to 1991. Life Whiteman was born in England. He is a registered architect and planner in both England and the United States. ...

, in the open full-bore pairs. Hastie was New Zealand shooting team manager at both the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...

. In 1982, Hastie won the Ballinger Belt at the New Zealand rifle shooting championships, representing the Okawa Rifle Club. Between 1976 and 2007, Hastie was a member of many New Zealand teams at the Palma Match team events and world long-range championships, either a shooter, coach or gunsmith. With Tony Halberg, he built the rifles that the New Zealand team used to place third at the 1999 world championship at

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

. Hastie was a life member of the Hawke's Bay Rifle Club and the National Rifle Association of New Zealand. He died in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 4 October 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastie, John 1938 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Hastings, New Zealand New Zealand male sport shooters Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand Shooters at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 1982 Commonwealth Games New Zealand sports coaches Gunsmiths