Nelson host Airsoft Nationals

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Pellets flew left right and centre and battlefield chants of ‘Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die’ sung out at last weekend’s Airsoft Sport Nationals.

67 competitors went to war at the Armageddon Paintball Fields on Saturday and 105 stormed Rabbit Island on Sunday for the National competition.
Airsoft is a budding sport that sees teams compete in a weekend of skirmishes and military simulations with pellet firing shotgun, pistol and machine gun replicas.
Unknown by most of the region, Nelson are two-time national Airsoft champions.
Team member and 2016 Airsoft National organiser, Clay Wilhelmus says, “It’s similar to paintball in terms of gaming style but our weapons are one-to-one replicas of the real deal and we fire little 6mm plastic projectiles.”
Nelson were national champions in Auckland last year and Hawkes Bay the year before.
“We’re on a pretty good roll and it’s pretty cool knowing that we’re national champions,” says Clay.
As hosts, Nelson were unable to compete this year but were eyeing up the competition and are gearing up to take back the national title from this year’s winners, the Christchurch Tactical Airsoft Group.
Clay says it was so cool hosting the nationals in Nelson, “It’s been two years of planning but we beat out Christchurch to host the nationals and a big part of that was being able to use Rabbit Island.”
The teams included Hawkes Bay, Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington and Christchurch with several groups playing the part, clothed in replica WW2 uniforms.
“You can see the passion these guys have for it and even though it’s a competition, it’s all about having fun.”
Clay says while the misuse of BB guns has been in the news frequently, Airsoft Sport takes gun laws seriously.
“We’re here for the tactics, for the fun and for the brotherhood, we’re not crazies, we’re not lunatics and we’re not out to kill people.”
For more on the Airsoft Sport Nationals or to see what the sport is about, check out our video on www.nelsonlive.co.nz