News from 4th quarter of 2008
Leamington Juniors show their class at the National Indoor Championships
Henry, Bethany, Caitlin,
Michael & Isobel
The GNAS hosted the 37th Junior National Championships last weekend (6th-7th December) at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall. Five Leamington Juniors entered their relevant age groups, all shooting the Portsmouth Round of 5-doz arrows at 20 yards on a small 60cm target. It was a great day for Leamington, with four of them winning medals (three of which were Gold).
Leamington's rising junior star 12-year old Henry Scott won one of the most competitive categories, the Junior Gents U-14 Recurve, in a nail biting finale which saw the top three separated by just a single point, Henry taking the Gold Medal and JIC Section 5 Trophy with a score of 546 - out of a possible 600 - with 24 tens (inner golds) from James Howell - Rayleigh Town also on 546 but with 22 tens and Frankie Keenan - Links Archers on 545. Jacob Vick from Meriden also shot well to finish 4th on 534.
In the Junior Ladies U-13 Recurve category, both Caitlin McCarthy and Bethany Roberts were competing (mainly against each other) and both were suffering from illness, Caitlin with a headache as a result of a shoulder knot which was treated with ice throughout the shoot and Bethany with a virus caught from father Paul. After four of the five dozen, it looked like both girls would finish in the medals and decide the 2nd and 3rd placings between them, but unfortunately Bethany really struggled during the last dozen to finish on a commendable 504 in 4th place, with Cailin taking the silver on 507 with 11 tens from Kirsty Skivington (Sellafield AC) also on 507 but with 7 tens.
Catlin and Bethany's younger siblings, Michael McCarthy and Isobel Roberts both won their categories, Michael winning the Junior Gents U-9 Recurve scoring 299, and Isobel winning the Junior Ladies U-9 Recurve with a score of 260.
Leamington Success at Redditch - 30 November 2008
A small contingent of archers from Leamington travelled to Redditch on Sunday for the annual Tony Greenwell Memorial Shoot, and came back with a number of medals. They also narrowly missed out on retaining the team trophy which they won last year.
The shoot was well attended, mainly by West Midlands archers, and some excellent scores were shot for the Stafford round, which consists of 6 dozen arrows at 30 metres.
The men’s recurve category was dominated by Mike Lewis from Saints and Sinners (the Kidderminster club) and Leamington’s Brian Tustin and James Scott, all of whom led at different times during the shoot. In the end, it was Tustin who emerged on top with 669 points out of a total of 720, Lewis was close behind in second place with 667, thanks to a cracking last dozen of 117 (dropping only 3 points) and Scott was third with 665. Leamington’s junior star Henry Scott also shot well, scoring 614 to finish 3rd in the junior category. The juniors were not divided into their age groups, so Henry at 12 was competing against boys up to the age of 17, and he finished in third place, just 2 points behind the second and 9 behind the winner.
Naomi Tops UK Rankings Again
Leamington's Naomi Folkard has topped the UK ladies' recurve rankings this year for the eighth time. The rankings are compiled on the basis of archers’ best scores in 3 FITA rounds, 2 FITA 70 rounds and 2 Olympic Round Matches. Naomi finished well ahead of the rest of the field with a score of 5512.
Andy Rikunenko, whose main club is Redditch but who is also a member of Leamington, was 6th in the men's compound rankings, won for the 10th year running by Chris White of Rugby Bowmen.
Naomi and Chris both started archery at a very young age and have been shooting for GB since they were juniors. Both are also all-round archers competing internationally in outdoor target, indoor target and field archery.
Success at Regional Inter-Counties Shoot - 12 October 2008
Leamington archers were among those representing Warwickshire last weekend shooting at the West Midlands Regional Inter-counties match hosted by Shropshire at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre. Each of the five counties, Hereford, Stafford, Shropshire, Warwick and Worcester, were allowed to field up to 24 archers in total, with the best in each discipline making the teams: 5 men and 3 ladies in the recurve team; 2 men and 1 lady in the compound team and 1 man and 1 lady in the longbow team. All archers shot the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds, 3 dozen at each of 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies. Weather conditions were good encouraging high scores.
Warwickshire won the recurve match, the team comprising Lee Williams (Meriden) 1257, Brian Tustin (Leamington) 1196, Craig Bowley (Meriden) 1180, Phil King (Warwick University) 1120, James Scott (Leamington) 1120, Leah Innocent (Coventry) 1192, Helen Markland (Meriden) 1141 and Wendy Baird (Meriden) 1128. Warwickshire’s combined score of 9334 put them ahead of Worcestershire 9021, Shropshire 8822, Staffordshire 8583 and Herefordshire (without a full team) 2035.
Warwickshire’s compounds with 3953 had to settle for second place behind Worcestershire who amassed 4039 points. The Warwickshire team comprised John Robbins (Meriden) 1351, Brett Walker (Meriden) 1334 and Dawn Leide (Leamington) 1268. Staffordshire came third with 3885, Shropshire fourth with 2556 and Hereford fifth with 1147.
Dawn Leide was among the archers who gained an individual award.
Full results are on the Warwickshire County site
Folkard wins Coventry, Solihull & Warwickshire Sports Award
Leamington archer, Naomi Folkard, was presented with the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Sportswoman of the Year Award last week at the Awards Ceremony at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. 25 year old Folkard who has now been shooting continuously at international level for 9 years has had yet another successful year winning individual medals in three archery disciplines, indoor target, outdoor target and field. As a member of the GB ladies Olympic Team in Beijing she narrowly missed out on a bronze medal. This is the second time that Folkard has been presented with the award.
The other nominations in the Sportswoman of the Year category were Kelly Sibley, the table tennis star from Leamington Spa, and Vicky Barr, the Rugby and Northampton 4x400metres relay runner who also competed in Beijing.
Folkard, is sponsored by Leamington-based companies solicitors Wright Hassall and estate agent Hawkesford. She is coached by Barry and June Farndon in Coventry, but in the coming year will again be shooting for Royal Leamington Spa Archery Society.
