29th Crookhorn Shoot, Sunday 4th November 2007

The Mountbatten Centre at Alexandra Park, Portsmouth was the impressive venue for Forest of Bere Bowmen's 29th Crookhorn shoot last Sunday.

Well-known as a friendly but highly competitive competition, the Crookhorn is also possibly the largest Portsmouth shoot on the South Coast. Four Arundown members had squeezed into the target lists by the skin of their fletchings some three weeks before the closing date, albeit for the first session which necessitated a 6.30 am start for some. Immediately after the session it was agreed that shooting at such an hour represented a less than agreeable start to the Sabbath. It was further resolved that in 2008 the entry forms (for the third session) would be submitted soon after Easter.

Despite the early start, John Nolan recovered from a poor first dozen arrows to post a score of 480. And, despite being less than fresh from their exploits the previous day at the Middlesex County Clout Championship, Russell French and Rod Brown managed to readjust their sights and score 520 and 511 respectively.

Like John, both Russ and Rod scored more heavily towards the end of the round. This may or may not have had something to do with the performance of Pip Tucknott for, after three dozen arrows, the Young Archer of Angmering was leading the Arundown challenge.

"He's beating me by two points!" muttered a rather disgusted Russ.

"And I'm behind you!" said a worried-looking Rod.

"Tread on his arrows!" I advised and left them to it.

To their credit neither found the need to resort to such tactics but, in any case, Pip had a spare set of arrows in his bag. He finally recorded a new personal best competition score of 507, an improvement of 15 over his second session score at the Meridian Junior Open in October.

Due to absentees, the opportunity arose to take part in the next session. Russ and Rod gracefully declined and repaired to the cafeteria, leaving John and Pip to shoot a second round.

Both started brightly, but the early start eventually took its toll and their scoring dipped towards the end of the round. John recorded a final score of 479, while Pip signed for 498 and a double round score of 1005, a new Arundown junior record.

Full results from the competition will be posted on the Forest of Bere Bowmen website soon. There may be a small delay as the club's Records Officer Keith Mills (who many of us know as a judge from the last Sussex County Championships) was rushed into hospital last week. The latest news is that Keith is over the worst. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Our thanks go to Forest of Bere Bowmen and the organiser, Daph Leaworthy, for taking some trouble to accommodate Arundown's archers this year. The Crookhorn's reputation as a friendly tournament is well-deserved and it is most definitely an occasion that's worth attending.