News from 2nd quarter 2009
Leamington Juniors shoot well at Midland Counties
The annual Leamington and Midland Counties tournament was held at our ground over the weekend of 30th and 31st May, with excellent weather only marred by a slightly tricky wind.
Several Leamington senior archers shot one day. Among them were Colin Geenes, Tom Kemp, Brian Tustin and Kathy Folkard, all of whom shot for the victorious Warwickshire team in the county match against Leicestershire on the Sunday.
Several of our juniors shot both days including Isobel Roberts, the only junior shooting the double Bristol 5 for under-9s. Nevertheless she shot new club records of 2290 for the double and 1148 for the single. Sister Bethany Roberts also shot a new club record for the double Bristol 3 with a score of 2120, closely followed by Caitlin McCarthy on 2104. Bethany's 1094 on Sunday was also a new club record for the single Bristol 3. Bethany and Caitlin were first and second in the Warwickshire Junior Championships on Sunday. Also shooting the double was Michael McCarthy. Ben Thompson and Annabel Thompson shot the single round on the Sunday.
Isabel, Bethany and Caitlin were among the 5 Warwiickshire juniors who formed the team on Sunday who comfortably beat the Leicestershire junior team.
Full results are on the Midland Counties page. See also some photos of the shoot.
WMAS Novices shoot at Leamington
The 2009 West Midlands Archery Society Novices shoot was held at our ground on Sunday (10 May). The tourament was open to all novice archers who had joined GNAS since 1 January 2008 and consisted of the Warwick round (4 dozen arrows at each of 60 and 50 yards with shorter distances for juniors. The weather was perfect being warm and dry with almost no wind, so there were some excellent scores. Four Leamington novices were taking part in the competition; Chris Earp, Suzanne Kirkbright and juniors Ben and Annabel Thompson.
Chris shot extremely well, leading the men's recurve category for most of the match, but he was pipped at the post by Meriden's Bob Lowe, who scored 758 to Chris' 752. Interestingly, both were on the same target so the pressure was high. Suzanne, competing in her first ever competition scored 417 in the Ladies recurve.
Our two juniors were also competing in their first tournaments. Ben shot the Short Western (50 and 40 yards) and won the silver medal for under-16 boys with a score of 449 which will have seriously dented his handicap. Annabel shot very consistantly in the Short Junior Western (30 and 20 yards) and won the gold medal for under-13 girls with an excellent score of 670.
Full results are on the WMAS Novices page. See also some photos of the shoot.
Leamington Youngster making mark on National Scene
Henry practicing at Leamington
Leamington youngster, 12 year old Henry Scott, has recently been making his mark on the national junior scene. Following an excellent indoor season in which he won the Junior National Championship for his age group, Henry has started the outdoor season with two significant successes.
For his first open shoot of the outdoor season, Henry travelled up to Warrington for their World Record Status Junior FITA Star. Conditions were good, warm and sunny for most of the day with a slight breeze. Shooting recurve in the U14 Junior Gents category, Henry shot the Metric 3 round of 12 dozen arrows (3 dozen at each of 50, 40, 30 and 20m). He led from the first end, eventually winning the event quite comfortably with a score of 1211, which set a new County and Club record.
Maintaining this top form last week, Henry competed in Kettering Archers’ Record Status FITA, again shooting the Metric 3 round for under 14 gents. The ‘blustery’ conditions were challenging and with stiff competition only 10 points separated the top 3 boys after 50m. Nevertheless Henry shot thoughtfully and used the available time well to pick the best shooting conditions, which meant that he was usually left last on the line. However, showing considerable maturity, he withstood the pressure and stretched his lead to 30 points after the 40m distance. He maintained this lead over 30m and 20m to win with a superb score of 1239, beating his own County and Club records set the previous week at Warrington. Another Warwickshire youngster, Jacob Vick (Meriden) took 2nd place with 1207, and Jon Bull (Targetcraft) was 3rd with 1195.
Henry, who took up archery at the age of 8, is one of a number of promising juniors in the Leamington club who hope to follow in the footsteps of clubmate Naomi Folkard.
Two other Leamington juniors were shooting away this weekend. Caitlin and Michael McCarthy competed at the Bowmen of Glen ground, Caitlin shooting the Bristol III and Michael the Bristol IV. Caitlin took the silver medal with 1042 and Michael scored 837.
Naomi selected for World Games
Three Warwickshire archers have been selected for the field archery team to represent Great Britain at the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in July: Naomi Folkard (Leamington); Chris White (Rugby) and Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers).
The World Games involves 32 non-Olympic sports as varied as canoeing, squash, karate, rugby and field archery. The Games were first held in the USA in 1981. It is anticipated that this year’s event, the eighth, will be the biggest yet, involving 4500 athletes and 99 nations.
Selection for the GB field archery team was based on a total of 3 best scores, with a maximum of one carried over from the second part of 2008 and including one designated ‘difficult’ course. Competition has been keen for the team which comprises 2 recurves, 2 compounds and 1 barebow for both ladies and gents, but the three Warwickshire archers earned their places convincingly..
Both White (compound) and Folkard (recurve) have won all their qualifying events. Because of a shoulder injury which has kept her out of competition for 3 months and from which she is still recovering, Folkard has done well to qualify. She is steadily increasing the draw weight of her bow. Although it is still well below the weight she used in the Beijing Olympics, because the maximum distance to be shot in field archery is less, she is well able to compete.
Leamington Men Do It Again at Redhill
Twelve Leamington archers competed on Bank Holiday Monday (4 May) in the open American tournament hosted by Redhill Archers at Wythall. The rounds shot were the American (30 arrows at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards) and a mini American (at 40, 30 and 20 yards) for the juniors. Rain was not forecast but we had a few showers on a rather cold day with quite a tailwind. Nevertheless over 100 archers shot on 30 targets.
After a closely fought match with the lead changing several times the Men's recurve event was won by Tom Kemp with 764, closely followed by Brian Tustin on 756 and Pete Hunnisett on 752. Each was presented with a rather smart engraved glass tankard and Tom took the men's trophy.
In the ladies recurve event Angela Cave won the medal for the top 1st class archer.
Also shooting the full American were two of our juniors, Bethany Roberts who came 2nd with 616, and Caitlin McCarthy who was 3rd with 562. Both were presented with engraved tumblers.
Also shooting from Leamington were Paul Roberts, Denis Folkard, Chris Earp and Fi Kemp in the American and Michael McCarthy and Isobel Roberts in the mini American.
Full results are on the Local Tournament results page.
Leamington Men Do Well At Stratford
Fourteen Leamington archers competed on Sunday (26 April) in the 26th annual Shakespeare shoot at Stratford. The rounds shot were the Albion (3 dozen at each of 80, 60 and 50 yards) and the Windsor (at 60, 50 and 40 yards) with shorter distances for the juniors. Although rain was forecast the weather stayed dry with just a somewhat variable headwind to contend with.
Brian Tustin shot 874 in the Albion to take the Men's Recurve trophy with Tom Kemp (830) and Pete Hunnisett (829) taking silver and bronze. Dawn Leide, shooting compound in the Albion gained second place with a score of 888.
In the Windsor David D'Souza took first place in the Gent's Recurve with 781. The Ladies' Recurve was won by Angela Cave with 751 followed by Fi Kemp on 709. 12-year-old Bethany Roberts decided to have a go at the Windsor and shot an excellent 713, which would have gained her second place in the Ladies' competition.
Two of our other juniors also shot, Caitlin McCarthy scoring 738 in the Short Windsor (50, 40 and 30 yards) and Michael McCarthy 516 in the Junior Windsor (40, 30 and 20 yards).
Full results are on the Local Tournament results page.
Win for Naomi at First Target Shoot
Leamington archer Naomi Folkard returned to target archery last week with a FITA 70 tournament at Long Mynd to take the ladies’ recurve award.
A three month lay off after a shoulder operation at the end of last year meant that Naomi is still working back up to full strength, slowly increasing the draw weight of her bow. She has recently stepped this up to 30 lbs so that she can now just make the longest ladies’ distance in target archery, 70 metres.
The event at Long Mynd, involving two rounds each of 6 dozen arrows over 70 metres, with the results based on the highest single round, was well attended by top international archers. A breeze kept the recurve scores down, but Naomi managed 612 and 627, her second score of the day taking first place. Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) with the experience of five Olympics behind her was only a few points behind with 620. Another GB international Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) was third with 594 and Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) was fourth.
A second Warwickshire archer, Chris White from Rugby, who is currently in top form, won the men’s compound event with an excellent 709, only two points outside the national record. Andy Rikunenko who shoots for Redditch, but who regularly practises at the Leamington club where he is also a member, took fourth place with 691.
Another Field Win for Naomi
Leamington Olympic archer Naomi Folkard, steadily working her way back into competition after a three month break for a shoulder operation, last week put in a good performance to win the Dearne Valley and Northern Counties Field Championships, near Doncaster.
The event over two days comprised two 24 target FITA rounds with unmarked distances on the first day and marked distances on the second. Folkard, still shooting a bow of relatively light draw weight, led the recurve ladies throughout the competitiion. 338 for the unmarked course and 332 for the marked gave her a combined total of 670, placing her ahead of fellow international field archers Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 619 and Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) 613. Jackie Wilkinson (Maryport) was fourth with 604.
Although Naomi is primarily a target archer, she is hoping to be selected for the British field archery teams taking part in the World Games in July in Taipei and the European Field Championships to be held in France in August. For the former selection will be based on the aggregate of an archer’s best three scores, one from last year and two from this year (up to 10th May). The score from Dearne Valley gave Naomi her third score and puts her well ahead of the other recurve ladies, but her place is not yet secure as she will be doing no more field shoots before the cut off date.
Scores at County Trials Auger Well for Coming Season
Leamington archers were among those who made a good start to the season yesterday (5 April) with the county’s pre-season FITA competition at Meriden Archery Club. There was a good turnout to shoot the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds over 4 distances, and in excellent conditions there were some good scores. Six clubs were represented: Bowflights (Birmingham), Leamington, Meriden, Solihull, Stratford and Sutton Coldfield. Unfortunately some of the county’s top archers were unavailable.
Philippa Lowe (Meriden) led the way in the ladies’ recurve competition. With 1217, she was well ahead of Helen Markland (Meriden) 1121, and Wendy Baird (Meriden) 1115. Newcomer Karen Atkins (Bowflights) with 1086 showed considerable promise.
In the men’s recurve competition Lee Williams (Meriden) put in a good 1213. Brian Tustin (Leamington), in second place with 1187 just missed out on a master bowman score. Craig Bowley (Meriden) was third with 1175. James Folkard (Leamington), a former junior national squad member, picking up his recurve bow after a substantial break from serious competition, was fourth with a creditable 1162. Newcomer Chris Earp (Leamington), who only completed a beginners’ course in September, produced a very good 1047 to finish 11th.
John Robbins (Meriden) was well ahead in the men’s compound section with an excellent 1381. Clubmates Garry Fowler, Brett Walker and Paul Taylor followed him with 1351, 1350 and 1344 respectively. There was little competition in the ladies’ compound section, but Janette Ross (Meriden) was easy winner with a good 1306.
There was also a men’s longbow event, which was won by Mark Alley (Solihull) 367, followed very closely by Stuart Tongue (Solihull) 364.
A number of juniors shot the appropriate metric round for their age. The highest scoring boy was 12 year old Henry Scott (Leamington) 1141. Steve Chetwynd (Meriden) was second with 1090. Thirteen year old Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) topped the girls’ ranks with 1112 and Amy Walton (Bowflights) was second with 966.
The first county match of the year will be on 17th May against Cheshire and Lancashire.
Folkard Returns to Competition after Shoulder Op
Leamington’s two time Olympic archer, Naomi Folkard, after surgery on her shoulder at the end of 2008, last weekend started to ease her way back into competitive archery. She made her mark by breaking two national records.
Folkard unable to shoot for 3 months, following surgery to rectify a long standing shoulder injury, is now shooting a very lightweight bow (26 lbs drawweight compared to the 40/42lbs drawweight she normally has in international competition). She returned to competition last weekend in Essex, at the Panther Bowhunters’ 2 day Field Archery tournament of FITA mixed rounds. Shooting just 6 dozen arrows each day, over a maximum distance of just 60 metres was well suited to Folkard’s current position.
The competition each day on a heavily wooded course, involved shooting 3 arrows at 24 targets, twelve at unmarked distances and twelve at marked. In the circumstances, which included using hastily borrowed equipment, Folkard put in an amazingly good performance. On day 1 she shot 360 adding 19 points to the existing national record. Although she could only manage 336 on the second day, it gave her a total score for the combined rounds of 696, breaking the existing national record of 678. This gave her first place in the competition, ahead of Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) second on 621 and Jackie Wilkinson (Maryport) third on 607. Folkard also beat all the recurve men shooting last weekend, including a number of top internationals, and this now puts her in a good position for selection for the European Field Championships later this year.
Also shooting last weekend was top Warwickshire compound archer, Chris White (Rugby). He likewise showed his quality by finishing top of his class. 415 on Day 1 and 412 on day 2 gave him a combined total of 827, just short of the national record, currently standing at 829. Tom Duncan (Birstall) was second with 680 and Pete Frost (Birstall) third with 674.
Outdoor season opens with a Field Shoot
Brian watches as Chris shoots between the trees
We thought we would start the new outdoor season with a fun field shoot so on Saturday some of us spent a couple of hours setting out a field course consisting of 14 targets placed around our field at unmarked distances with animal faces on. On Sunday members could shoot the course as many times as they liked, although it turned out there was a large mini-rugby event on at the OL's so we were asked not to use three of the targets.
Unfortunately, the turnout on the day was rather poor (where were you all, you missed a treat!!) but those who did turn up thouroghly enjoyed this rare opportunity to shoot a field course, and on such a lovely day too.
