November Postal League Results

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the postal league last Sunday. Our first match was against Bowmen of Chesterfield A and the results are in, with us winning 2732 to 2672. Our scores were split as follows:

Russell French : 558
Simon Beach : 554
Rod Brown : 543
Will Martin : 541
Graham Brown : 536

Don't forget the next shoot on 20th December!

November Portsmouth Tournament

The final scores can be viewed from the Tournaments Page. The Results Sheet should be sent out around the middle of the week.
A big 'Thank-You' to everyone who took part in the shoot and helped with the set-up. The shoot kept well ahead of time all day, helped we think by the new bosses which somehow meant the faces didn't get so shredded, and fewer needed to be replaced - and that's not because the standard of shooting was down, there were some good scores - and a few tragedies. Phil Adams had two arrows destroyed by Gary Kinghorn, even though they were only putting one arrow each on each of the three faces. And Will Martin came without his shooting contacts and was trying to shoot at something that looked like Neapolitan candy-floss, which knocked a good sixty points of his expectations. Hope the rest of you all had a good time, and look forward to seeing you in February.
Just so you know, there are already a lot of entries for the Worcester shoot, many more that we usually have at this point, so don't leave it too late.

The hall was full to capacity in all Sessions, with 22 targets and 44 Archers per Session...

And for once, identical bosses and stands for everyone...

 

 Ouch!

Gary's Robin Hood Shot...

 

 Archers wall-to-wall...

 

And finally - the Home Team.

Liz, Marc and Simon in their Club Colours...

Local Newspapers - Piece on Liz at Bradford

The Worthing Herald and Littlehampton Gazette Newspapers carried a short article on Liz's and Graham's achievements at the UK National Clout Championships in their issues at the end of October.
Click Here to see the Article

Summer Selby 2009 Results

Arundown A won Division 9 with 15 points. Medals will be awarded to those who contributed most to Team A during the season (Jon Stafford, Richard Cobden, William Martin, Russell French, Rod Brown (for more details see my earlier post).

Arundown B came 6th in Division 14 (7 teams per Division) whilst our C Team came 2nd with 14 points. If Arundown enters the league next year you should do better due to better division placement.

Many thanks to Liz for taking up the running of the postal leagues for Arundown, now I am representing Worthing.

Liz Triumphant

Six Sussex  archers travelled to the GNAS National Clout Championship at Barnsley of 17th October, five from Arundown (Liz, Graham, Russ, Jon and Rod) and Rene le Bouedec from Eastbourne, in fact you could say ALL the usual suspects.
Liz came back the 2009 UK Lady Recurve Champion; Graham took the Bronze in the Gents Longbow division.
The wind was cold and fickle, and hard to read because the shooting line was protected by trees. Liz found the first round hard work and at lunchtime was trailing in sixth place with 87, six points behind the leader, but she hunkered down in the afternoon and scored 109, fifteen more than the lunchtime leader, to win by nine points.
Liz was one of six National Champions from the Southern Counties Region, as against five from Northern Counties and two from Great Western, which shows that interest in Clout archery is now spread quite proportionally between the larger regional associations, and not just in the North. There were seven archers from Scotland, but none from Wales or Northern Ireland. This year the team title reverted to Stalybridge (Cheshire) after one year with Arundown.
The Arundown Recurve men all had a disappointing day, but Stalybridge have found two very strong young recurves to add to their team, and while our team score was down by around 90 points, theirs was up around 50.

Part of Graham's best end -  Five hits, 5-4-3-1-1-M
(The large wood arrows with white fletchings and nocks, at a steep angle).



Rod's Best Clout












Liz Collects her Trophy



Northern Counties do a great job putting on this shoot, they manage to find an exceptionally good-natured group of officials, and the whole mood is friendly and inclusive, with the most competitive and accomplished clout archers always ready to advise and assist and encourage anybody, whether it's first-timers or serious opponents. And like most Northern clout tournaments, there were nearly as many ladies as gents on the field.


On the following day we all shot the FITA Clout at Stamford. Graham, Jon and Liz all did well, even though it was hard work because of a stiff and variable following wind. Liz improved her personal best for the double round by a couple of points and was the highest scoring Lady Recurve. Jon and Graham shot the 185 metre Compound distance; Jon was the highest scoring recurve with a personal best for the double round, and beat Phil Lambert fresh from his success as National Recurve Champion the day before. Graham also managed a personal best and so now holds both the Club and Open County Records, and a cheer went up when he scored four clouts in one end, which no-one had seen before from a Longbow.

 

 

Jon passes 200 at Hants Clout

Another Tassel Award and Sussex County Open Record for Jon.
Six weeks after achieving a Blue Tassel, Jon pushed on again at the Hampshire County and Open Clout Championships meeting at Exbury adding 26 points, ascending into the rarified strata above 200 points and winning a Red Tassel. Rod achieved a personal best for a one-way clout, but missed the Blue Tassel by one point. Liz, Jon and Rod all improved their aggregates for the National Rankings, with three or four more opportunities in hand for further improvement, weather and skill permitting.
Liz: 175 - 1st Visitor, 1st Overall
Jon: 205 - 1st Visitor, 2nd Overall
Rod: 174 - 2nd Visitor, 4th Overall
Russ: 108 - 5th Visitor, 12th Overall
Graham: 47 - 4th Visitor, 5th Overall

Indoor Tournament Entry Forms

Entry forms for the Portsmouth shoot in November and the Worcester Shoot in February are now available for download from the Tournaments Page

South Wiltshire 150th Anniversary Sarum Clout

Another beautiful day at a beautiful location below Salisbury Cathedral, but for the second year running the mysterious turbulence of the air in the Watermeadows played havoc with expectations. As in 2008, what seemed to be perfect conditions did all kinds of weird things to arrows in the air.

A weird shoot in other ways too, we had to shoot a second set of sighters when it was discovered that the distances had been measured in metres rather than yards, and everybody's arrows dropped about sixteen yards short on the first attempt.

If this wasn't distracting enough, at about that time a Charolais  Bull decided to take up station almost within touching distance of the shooting line, behind a single strand of barbed wire .

 Liz won the Lady's Recurve class with a season's best score of 200, Rod was second in the Gent's recurve with 153 and Jon was third with 138. This was the first time the Arundown registered Club Colours have been worn at a National Record Status shoot, and made it onto the classy corrug- ated iron podium.

Liz 200
Rod 153
Jon 138
Russ 117
Graham
(L/bow) 42

Summer Selby September Results

Thanks to those archers who have shot for Arundown in the Summer Selby League this Season. I have added the league scores which include August results. Although the A & B Teams were hit by big score adjustments, it looks like the A Team could win league 9. If we are lucky enough to win a league, I will award medals to the archers which contributed the highest scores to that team throughout the season.

Team A
Name, Score, Hits, 10’s, X’s
Richard Cobden 615, 72, 12, 4
Jon Stafford 602, 72, 13, 6
William Martin 574, 72, 12, 5
Total 1791, 216, 37, 15 - Adjusted Score 1499 (Ouch!)
Opponents: Barnsley A, Score ??

Team B
Graham Brown 534, 71, 10, 0
Russell French 490, 68, 5, 1
Rod Brown 480, 68, 8, 1
Total 1504, 207, 23, 2 - Adjusted Score 1386
Opponents: Club AZ, Score 1323

Team C
John Nolan 459, 70, 5, 1
Liz Bowyer 451, 71, 3, 2
Heath Saxby 226, 43, 1, 1
Total 1136, 184, 9, 4 – No Adjustment
Opponents: Eastbourne B, Score ??


Team A Season Contributors
Name, Total Score For A, Selby Rounds Shot / Months Selected For A
Jon Stafford 2788, 5 / 5
Richard Cobden 2318, 4 / 4
William Martin 1166, 2 / 2
Russell French 1060, 5 / 2
Rod Brown 1049, 4 / 2

The Scores So Far (inc. August Results)

DIVISION 9
ARUNDOWN A 4, 4, 0, 6430, 12
SURREY B 4, 3, 1, 6397, 10
WINNINGTON PARK A 4, 2, 2, 5948, 8
PURITON GOLD B 4, 2, 2, 3088, 8
BARNSLEY A 3, 1, 3, 4679, 5
LALEHAM A 4, 0, 4, 3510, 4

DIVISION 14
SPROWSTON 4, 3, 1, 5660, 10
DEBEN 4, 3, 1, 5510, 10
CLUB AZ 4, 3, 1, 5484, 10
HIGH WEALD B 4, 2, 2, 5587, 8
ARUNDOWN B 4, 1, 3, 5543, 6
PERRISWOOD 4, 0, 4, 3457, 4

DIVISION 18
ARCHERS OF RAUNDS A 4, 3, 1, 4559, 10
GRAVESEND C 4, 3, 1, 4008, 10
ARUNDOWN C 4, 3, 1, 3436, 10
EASTBOURNE B 4, 2, 2, 4388, 8
QUANTUM B 4, 1, 3, 2926, 6
BYE 0 0 4 0 0

Another County Record for Jon

Jon's been trying all summer to beat the Single One-Way Clout County Record for rounds shot 'at home' - it stands at 103 (although the Arundown record is 105, but wasn't registered as a County record).
Today he EQUALLED it, but then improved his second round score to 117, and shoved the County Double Round 'Club' Record up to 220.

ARUNDOWN CLUB COLOURS **NEWSFLASH**

We have received confirmation that the club colours are now registered and will appear in the new Shooting Colours Register for 2009/10. This means that our members can now wear our colours at record status events from 1st October 2009.

If you still don't have your shirt and would like to buy one, don't forget to contact Liz with your order.

Are you interested in competitive archery?

Archery is no different to other sports, as it is about competition. However, one of the great things about archery is that it caters for all abilities and ages. When you attend any archery event at club or county level you will not be alone at your skill level. Do not assume only top archers attend tournaments, as most are reasonably relaxed family events. You will also find that archers are a friendly bunch (well, most are) and when you attend your first tournament someone on your target will help you.

When you have finished you beginners course you may be wondering what to do next? Unfortunately, only a very few larger clubs have enough resources to run intermediate or improvement courses for their members, so you will need some self-motivation to progress. However, most clubs will have coaches you can talk to and seek advice. The Sussex Marlets Guild http://www.martletsguild.org.uk/ usually runs a number of improvement workshops during the winter. Both Rob and Rod are members of the guild, but you can contact Les Bartlett direct if you are interested in when courses are being run.

You will probably find shooting rounds at the club, in between practice sessions will be more rewarding. You can see what level you are at now, how you are progressing and set goals for what you wish to achieve. Scoring is also good practice for tournaments. Most archery dealers sell small score pads which can be used for scoring most rounds.

When you have a score for your round, send it to the Club Records Officer (Russell French). Once you have submitted 3 sets of scores, Russell will be able to give you a handicap. In addition to a handicap, you can aim for a classification. Both handicaps and classifications are a very good way of monitoring your performance. You can find more information on the Classification Scheme from the GNAS download section (the document is called Shooting Admin Procedures). The handicap scheme is copyrighted, so you have to purchase it if you want your own copy. The National rounds are a good choice for outdoor and Portsmouth, Bray and FITA 18 for indoor.

Finding tournaments can be tricky if you are new to the sport. One of the best places to look for tournaments is the Mayflower Archers Tournament Diary http://www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk/ . Before you compete at a tournament, you will need to be registered with GNAS. If you talk to Rod Brown, he can explain about registration and costs.
Rod has also written a number of guides, which will tell you what you need to know for your first tournament.

Arundown win at the County Championships

The Outdoor County Championships were held later in the season this year, due to problems with arrangements. They were held at Falmer High School in Brighton which is renowned for being one of the more windy venues, but yesterday the weather was very changeable. I was in and out of wet weather gear before the start and after finally settling on the dry weather quickly realised the error of my choice.

My first end scored 44, which is pretty acceptable for a 100 yard score. All was going well until the heavens opened as I approached the line for the second end and I got soaked and cold. At this point, my enthusiasm started to ebb. Shortly after this the wind started blustering strongly which set the theme for the day.

I finished my 6 dozen @ 100 yards about 100 points down on my PB, with 3 arrows off. I was pondering retiring to a hot bath and cup of tea, but County Archer Graham Stevens of Holbrook was having an even more miserable time than myself and beat me to it.

During Lunch I was talking to fellow recurve archer Nick Prysnyak from Bognor and found out that he was 2 points behind me and this was the trend over the field. To my amazement I went on to take second place in the Gents Recurve with a score of 938.

I learnt the lesson that it’s worth soldiering on, even if you believe you are doing badly as others may be doing equally so or worse. As Graham said archers often compare their scores against their own PB’s and not what’s being shot there and then.

Arundown Archer Selected for County

I was pleased to find out that I had been selected to shoot for Sussex at the Inter-Counties Tournament at Andover next month. Other archers new to the squad were also selected based on their recent performances. Previous Arundown archers who have represented Sussex include Rod Brown, Dave Hodges and Gordon who shot for nine years.

Another UK National Record for Liz

Liz took the UK National record for the Gents Two-Way Double Clout Round at Penrith earlier in the year, but had failed to win the tassel award she was after on that occasion by three points. So she gave it another go yesterday at Devizes in very blustery conditions and this time she easily won the tassel and upped the record another 27 points, ending on 99 for the double round and very nearly equalling one of Arundown's blokes.

Surrey Clout Championships

(Click on any picture to view Full-Size)
What was beginning to look like an impenetrable barrier was broken today when Jon scored 179 for the double round and won a Blue GNAS Tassel (he already has a RED FITA Tassel) and broke the County Open Record too. As usual Jon took it right down to the wire, and for a moment looked like chucking it when his second to last end fell apart, but he came back strongly in the final end - look at the bottom picture below.
One of the difficulties of the Surrey field at Warlingham is that the gents' clouts are just beyond a ridge, and archers with fast bows can't see where their arrows have landed. Here Jon is trying to see his arrow drop out of the sky 180 yards away...


Nick seemed very much at home shooting his Longbow at his first competitive event - he even scored with several shots, something that's by no means guaranteed with a longbow. What was very promising was the way he was getting arrows well past the clout as well as in front, but clout with a longbow is an art that takes quite a while to master.


Compare Nick's style with Dicky Summers' - here seen next to Russ. Dicky shoots a bow that at 65 pounds is about 25% heavier to draw than Nick's, and Dicky is also quite small, so he's had to develop a unique style - but it works well as he's been UK champion more than once, and holds National records.


Rod started off with a fairly indifferent 63 for the first round, then things got much better in the second round, finishing up with a score of 101, the final end scoring 25 points with three clouts, his best ever in an open shoot, final score for the double round 164. The picture below shows the group of arrows round the flag, with Rod's and Jon's best arrows marked - Jon scored 18 for his final end, giving a mighty sigh of relief when he saw he'd got 4 points more than the bare minimum to get the blue (and that he'd beaten the standing County Record by seven points)

August Summer Selby Short Metric

Thank you to everyone who helped set the field up early.

If you look back at July's Selby, I have added the last score from Quantum B. It looks like 3 wins in the month of July. This month however, we shot too well (shame on us) and got clobbered by the thresholds.

Today we had the second to last Short Metric in the Summer Selby League. The weather was not bad, although we had a deceptive side wind from left to right.

Special praise goes to John Nolan who put in his best short metric score this summer - Well done John :-)

Archer, Score,. Hits, Golds , X's

Division 9 Arundown A ~v~ Puriton Gold B
Richard Cobden 587, 71, 35, 6
Jon Stafford 567, 72, 30, 0
Rod Brown 526, 70, 23, 0
Total 1680, 213, 88,6
Adjusted score 1610

Puriton Gold B scored Pending


Division 14 Arundown B ~v~ Deben
Russell French 508, 71, 6, 1
John Nolan 506, 70, 21, 2
Graham Brown 493, 71, 6, 3
Total 1507, 212, 33, 6
Adjusted 1383

Deben scored 1409 – Result Lost (Deben had no Adjustments!)

Division 18 Arundown C ~v~ Archers of Raunds A
Liz Bowyer 461, 70, 5, 0
Hamish Matheson 452, 68, 16, 0
Simon Beach 448, 68, 16, 1
Total 1361, 206, 37, 1
Adjusted 1039

Archers of Raunds scored Pending

CMO Bowmen's Open Annual Tournament

A contingent of one (me) attended the above record status shoot in Croydon yesterday.

The event attracted the usual top Gents recurves, with gold going to a Perris staff shooter who shot 1120. I was not in the medals, but I came away with a bottle of sherry from the raffle.

Taking part in the York, I shot 1046 claiming a Blue Rose but falling a few points short of a MB classification score. Next year I will be attending mainly record status Yorks and FITA's so if anyone wants to jump into the big league of target archery give me a shout.

This was a well run and friendly shoot and not too far away (as Yorks go).

Bayeux Lazy Shoot

Myself, John Nolan and Emily attended Dave Egalton’s Lazy Windsor in Catsfield. This was the same venue that we shot the Albion against Newhaven at a couple of weeks ago. We were blessed with blazing sunshine and only a very slight breeze.

Emily did very well at 60 yards considering we only roughly set her bow up Monday night with her new limbs. She shot well at 60 and 50 yards, but the heat took it’s toll as the afternoon set in.

I was keen to improve on the county record I set at Ditchling in July. I kicked off with a 6 gold end and finished the 60 yards 4 points up on Ditchling score. I went on to score 936 setting a new record shooting 91 golds including eight 6 gold ends.

John struggled to keep a consistent form as the heat increased during the day. Despite several layers of sun cream we all came away slightly pink and glowing.

The scores on the day: -

Richard 936 scored, 91 golds, 108 hits
John 729 scored, 34 golds, 107 hits
Emily – TBA

Southampton Clout

Maybe the weather will be perfect for clout one day this summer, but it wasn't for the Southampton Tournament. It was sunny enough, but the wind was very unkind and vindictive, so once again it wasn't a good day for improving tassel awards, or national rankings. All the same, Jon's 171 came close to the Sussex County record and won the Gent's recurve competition outright. Russ see-sawed between high scoring ends and next to nothing, but still came second 35 points behind Jon. Rod plodded along in a consistently middling way and came fourth, ten points behind Russ. Liz tried her faster bow, and found it had a near-impossible, truly 'underhand', aiming point, so only managed second place with 146. Graham came second in the longbow class with a very useful 58.
For all that, this was a very enjoyable and well-run shoot in a very pleasant setting apart from the constant motorway rumble. The full results lists arrived by e-mail about an hour after we got home. Put it in the dairy for next year.

Albion at Bayeux Bowmen’s Ground

Seven archers represented Arundown in our last match in this seasons Sussex Albion League. Bayeux hosted the shoot at their small but picturesque field which overlooks the site of the 1066 battlefield with Battle Abbey prominent on the adjacent hill top across the valley. Although three clubs were in attendance, we had already lost to Bayeux at home and were only competing against Newhaven. Regrettably we lost our match, although we were represented solely by recurves.

Each club can field as many archers as they wish (within reason), but only the top four scores of each club count to the total. The Albion League is pretty unique as compounds shoot head-to-head with recurve bows. A simple adjustment of 80 points is taken from all compound archers total scores.

The intention of the Sussex Albion League is to get clubs to socialise together and is intended to be non-competitive. However throwing leagues and a cup into the mix, does make it competitive.

The simplistic 80 point adjustment can only be argued as valid if you compare gents MB classification scores. As the average archer attending an Albion is more likely to be 1st or 2nd Class the adjustment should be bigger. In addition Ladies compete head-to-head with Gents. With a large number of clubs fielding a number of compounds, it’s tough for a pure recurve team to compete.

We had some good scores on the day, especially Simon Beach’s vastly improved Albion PB of 731, which exceeded a 1st Class by 31 points. Simon has improved greatly this year and we should see greater things from him during the 2010 outdoor season.

The scores on the day were: -

Richard Cobden 832
Jon Stafford 819
Simon Beach 731
Graham Brown 706

Total 3088

Russell French 669
Rod Brown 661
Declan Ross-Thomas 595

July Selby Results

Here are the scores for the not so sunny month of July. Can I please ask scorers to mark down X’s on the sheets as well as golds on the remaining shoots.

I will edit and add the opponent’s scores when they come in.

I would like to remind everyone that the summer Selby is the last postal I will be running for Arundown. Unless anyone offers, we will not be entering the winter leagues.

Division 9
Jon Stafford score 558, hits 71, golds 10
Richard C score 553, hits 72, golds 5
Russ score 535, hits 72, golds 7
Total score 1646, hits 215, golds 22

Threshold (+120) 1645
Corrected Score 1644
Vs Winnington Park A - Scored 1512 Win.

Division 14
Graham score 533, hits 71, golds 12
Rod score 521, hits 67, golds 11
Simon score 476, hits 68, golds 11
Total score 1530, hits 206, golds 34

Threshold (+120) 1445
Corrected score 1360
Vs Perriswood - Scored 1102 Win.

Division 18
Hamish score 427, hits 59, golds 2
John N score 412, hits 69, golds 2
Richard G score 363, hits 69, golds 6
Total score 1202, hits 197, golds 10

Threshold (+120) 1200
Corrected score 1198
Vs Quantum B - Scored 945 Win

June Selby League Results

This post is a little late as I had to request Gravesend C’s results. We won 2 matches in June, as Arundown B was hit by the threshold penalty.

Arundown A 1575 no adjustment
v
Laleham A 1182 no adjustment
Result: Win

Arundown B actual score 1480, adjusted to 1410
v
Sprowston Archery Society 1419 no adjustment
Result: Loose

Arundown C actual score 1218, adjusted to 1182
v
Gravesend C 1002, no adjustment
Result: Win

Team breakdown
A
Jon Stafford - 72 hits - 5 golds - 2 Xs - 527 total score
Russ French - 72 - 9 - 2 - 525
Rod Brown - 72 - 5 - 3 - 523
B
Graham Brown - 69 - 15 - 0 - 516
Declan Ross-Thomas 69 - 3 - 3 - 485
Simon Beach - 69 - 5 - 0 - 479
C
John Nolan - 71 - 7 - 4 - 473
Hamish Mattheson - 68 - 2 - 0 - 449
Richard Gargon 58 - 1 - 1 - 296

Marc Bevan - 53 - 2 - 0 - 290

31st Sheila Brown Memorial Shoot

Myself and Russell attended the shoot last Sunday. You should never complain that the weather is too hot in this country, so I won’t.

We were shooting a York round, which kicks off with a morning shooting of 6 dozen at 100 yards. The scopes became difficult to focus as the day went on and the heat haze blurred the vision. After a 40minute lunch we shot 4 dozen at 80 yards and then the 2 dozen at 60 without a break.

The Sheila Brown is a longstanding and popular event and attracts many top class archers.

I also learnt a top tip - If you don’t want to get lumbered with the scoring as soon as the whistle blows on the first end speed walk to the target on the pretense that you are keen to check your arrows. The last archer on the line has no choice but to grab the score card and in doing so becomes the scorer.

Mole valley hosted a well run shoot and Mark Davis presided as the Judge. I have shot at a few of Marks’s tournaments and personally think he’s one of the best out there!


A total of 32 archers shot in the Gents Recurve and the scores on the day were:

Russell came 20th, scored 754, with 132 hits and 28 golds achieving a good 1st class score

Richard came 11th, scoring 915, with 142 hits and 41 golds achieving a Bowman score and taking a Black Rose.

Arundown Selby June Results

As we have been placed in too lower leagues for our skills, we have been clobbered with threshold penalties. The actual score is what we shot and the adjusted score has the league threshold taken off.

The B & C teams were clobbered in a similar fashion in July. I will post the July results when I get the final score in from Gravesend.



Arundown A actual score 1689, adjusted to 1601
v
Surrey Bowmen 1599 no adjustment
Result: Win

Arundown B actual score 1500, adjusted to 1390
v
High Weald B 1429 no adjustment
Result: Loss

Arundown C actual score 1344, adjusted to 1056
V
BYE
Result: Win

Eastergate Gun Club Charity Day 20th June

I think this was our fourth Charity Have-A-Go for the Eastergate Clay Pigeon Club. Another enjoyable day for those who of us who ran the Archery Butts - Emily and Richard Cobden, Ciaran and Declan Ross-Thomas, and Sam and Rod Brown. After supervising nearly seventy punters, we were allowed to try our skill with the guns. Evidently two of us hit more clays than any of the punters, and a third equalled the best. Declan had clearly done this before, but Ciaran who had never shot a gun before had an amazing succession of five consecutive hits on one stand.
Click on the pictures to view fullsize.

Eagle Bowmen Clout weekend in Penrith

The Arundown Hotel opened for business last weekend as the usual contingent of Clout archers took to the road and headed north. After a 6 hour drive to Penrith and another hour to put up the tent, Russell, Jon and Liz settled in along with a strong group of competitors ready for a good weekends shooting.



Saturday started the proceedings with a FITA tassel shoot, where Russ and Jon elected to shoot the compound distance of 185m. Jon came first with a new Sussex and Southern Counties Record of 272 with Russell a close second with 264. Liz shot the women's distance and came in first with a new Sussex record of 306.



With a fabulous sunny start to the day, we were hoping the rain that was forecast would not arrive, and apart from a few light spots we were very lucky on Sunday. Shooting a two way GNAS clout, Liz joined the men in the hope of getting two UK records and a white tassel. Unfortunately missing one record by 2 points, and the white tassel by 3, but collecting the UK record for 180yrds double two way with a score of 72, 18 points above the previous record. The men had competition from Peter Gregory who came out top of the field, with Jon in second place with 156 and Russ in third with 152.

New County Record at Ditchling!

Simon Beach, John Nolan and I attended the Ditchling Windsor this Sunday. A Windsor is a GNAS Imperial 9 dozen round, with 3 dozen being shot at 60, 50 and 40 yards with a top achievable score of 972.

With a very slight breeze and a cloudless sky, we were blessed with gorgeous weather for the day. This was the first Windsor Ditchling have held, but with the success of this year I am sure this will become a regular event.

Simon showed excellent improvement scoring 806, compared to his Western score of 626 at Newhaven. This was a big improvement of 5 points in the handicap rating for the rounds moving from 48 to 43. John was happy with his days shooting and ended on 662.

I shot my best round since I took up the sport 2 years ago and managed to take the gold in the gents recurve and smashed the County Open Record for the Windsor. I managed to hold it together and scored consistently high over all 3 distances. I closed the 60 yards on a round 300, at which point I knew a 900+ score was possible as long as I did not screw up (it’s been known). A number of 6 gold ends at 40 yards took my score well above 900 at the last distance.

Old Record: -
Open: Richard Cater scored 899, Club: High Weald, Date: 8th August 2007

Club: R Le Bouedec scored 900, Club: Eastbourne, Date 28th September 2001

New Record
Open: Richard Cobden 918, Club: Arundown, Date 15th June 2009

June Summer Selby League - 26th

As we cannot pack enough free weekends into the month of June, we have to shoot this month’s Selby on a Friday.

We will be setting up the field on Friday the 26th with sighters shortly after 7:00 PM. We need to get the field setup ASAP and get on with the shooting. We will have to shoot in ends of 6.

Make sure you have 50m and 30m sight marks this Friday.

You will be busy as you need 80, 60 & 50 yards also – read below……

Albion League Match 21st June (next Sunday)

We have a home match against Bayeux next Sunday. Presently we are talking to another club and this may become a 3-way. We need volunteers to set up the field and as many archers as possible willing to shot an Albion round (9 dozen arrows, with 3 dozen shot at 80, 60 & 50 yards). If you want to help speak to Rod Brown.

Make sure you sort your 80, 60 & 50 yard sight marks out! You will need to do this Friday night.

If you want to learn about the Albion League, read my post on it.

ARUNDOWN CLUB COLOURS

Here are the full details of the Arundown Club shirts which are now available to buy:

Sizes (chest size):
Small (38")
Medium (40")
Large (42")
X-Large (44")
2X-Large (46-48")

Price: £18.35

Email Liz with full details of your order including which side you would like the Arundown badge to appear on the front of the shirt, ie. left handed archers have badge on right, right handed archers have badge on left.

Southern Counties 2-way Clout 2009

Liz retained her Southern Counties Ladies Recurve Title in rather tricky weather conditions. Her first half was a new Sussex County Record, with a landmark score of 100; the very variable wind in second half gave everyone's scores a bad knock, and Liz was able to keep ahead of her biggest challenger, Barbara Williams. Russ took third place medal in the gents recurve class.

New County Team Selection

As published on the SCAA site: -

“The SCAA Committee have decided to publish the rankings of Sussex archers.
For a trial period of this season, it is proposed that the Records Officer runs a ranking table for all archers who shoot FITA/York/Hereford or Bristol rounds, shot at tournaments.

These Tables will then be used as the primary source of archers performance for county team selection. Scores for the GNAS rounds will be converted to an equivalent FITA score using the handicap tables. FITA & equivalent FITA scores will be used to determine the total of each archer’s best three rounds.”

http://www.sussex-archery.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/team-selection-rankings-table.xls

Archers not presently representing Sussex will need to find as many suitable qualifying tournaments shooting the appropriate rounds above. As full distance target rounds are necessary, you will likely need to travel. To see what is available, I would recommend the Mayflower Archers Tournament Diary
http://www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk/ .

For more details check out the SCAA site http://www.sussex-archery.org.uk/

Ditchling AC Windsor Tournament, 14th June 2009

Ditchling Archery Club are hosting a Windsor shoot at the Ditchling Recreation Ground on Sunday 14th June. Billed as a “family” tournament, Windsor, Junior Windsor and Short Junior Windsor rounds will be available.

Myself, Simon and John Nolan have already entered this, but if anyone else wishes to attend you need to get your entries in ASAP as they have limited targets on the field and it closes on the 1st June.

A Windsor is 9 dozen arrows shot at 60yrds, 50yards and 40yrds with a 1.2m face. This will be a friendly club shoot and ideal first step into outdoor tournaments. Juniors are also welcome and will be shooting their appropriate distances.

The entry form can be found here http://www.sussex-archery.org.uk/ditchling-ac-windsor-tournament-14th-june-2009/

Arundown Selby 2009 May scores

Surrey Bowmen B scored 1599, so we just pipped them with 1601!

Firstly, thank you for the big showing of archers for our first Selby Short Metric postal of 2009. However, we need to get the field ready for shooting to begin at 10:30 promptly. Our next shoot is the 14th of June. Russell and Jon are away for a clout, so can we all try and attend. PLEASE ARRIVE SHARPLY AT 9:30, SO WE CAN KICK OFF SIGHTERS AT 10:30.

I am still awaiting the scores for Surry B who are shooting against Arundown A this month. However, Arundown B’s opponents (High Weald B) scores just came in at 1429. As they scored less than the threshold, they actually beat us as our adjusted score was 1390. Arundown C gets a bye this month.

Each division within the Selby League has a threshold score. If the three archers exceed this with their combined scores, the total score becomes the threshold minus the difference between actual score and the threshold (see below for how it works!). This is designed to make sure teams don’t have an advantage by being placed in too low a division. However, if you are you get hammered every month.

Here are a few division threshold scores, to give you an idea of what divisions we would ideally be in.

1685 Division 3 }
1660 Division 4 }
1500 Division 10 } Add 120 points to this (ex 1500+120=1620)
1365 Division 13 }
1325 Division 14 }

Arundown A

William Martin (Jnr) 72 hits, 11 golds, 0 X’s, 592 scored
Richard Cobden 72 hits, 10 golds, 2 X’s, 563 scored
Jon Stafford 72 hits, 3 golds, 0 X’s, 534 scored

Total 216 hits, 24 golds, 2 X’s, 1689 scored

Division 9 threshold 1525+120=1645
Threshold penalty 1689-1645=44
Final score = 1645-44 = 1601

Arundown B

Rod Brown 70 hits, 11 golds, 2 X’s, 527 scored
Hamish Matheson 69 hits, 9 golds, 2 X’s, 497 scored
Russell French 65 hits, 4 golds, 0 X’s, 476 scored

Total 204 hits, 24 golds, 4 X’s, 1500 scored

Division 14 threshold 1325+120=1445
Threshold penalty 1500-1445=55
Final score = 1445-55 = 1390

Arundown C

Liz Bowyer 72 hits, 2 golds, 1 X’s, 465 scored
Declan Ross-Thomas 66 hits, 3 golds, 0 X’s, 442 scored
John Nolan 69 hits, 2 golds, 0 X’s, 437 scored

Total 207 hits, 7 golds, 1 X’s, 1344 scored

Division 18 threshold 1080+120=1200
Threshold penalty 1344-1200=144
Final score = 1200-144 = 1056

Additional archers scores who contributed

Simon Beach 62 hits, 0 golds, 0 X’s, 405 scored
Richard Gargon 71 hits, 2 golds, 0 X’s, 420 scored
Ciarán Ross-Thomas (Jnr) 37 hits, 0 golds, 0 X’s, 191 scored

First Summer Postal Shoot this Sunday!

This Sunday we have our first summer postal shoot in the Selby League.

The more archers the better, so make sure you have a 30m and 50m sight mark!

Similar to the winter BA Postal, we will shoot against other clubs in our leagues but we do not actually meet. At the end of each month I will post (or email) the results to the organiser and the apposing team.

This year I have entered 3 recurve teams named Arundown A, B and C. Each month we will shoot the Selby on a given day (Summer Calendar appearing soon). At the end of every shoot the score taken from the highest three archers will make up Arundown A, then the next three Arundown B and so on.

Each team will be placed in a different league (Arundown A being highest ranked then B and so on...). Each month during the summer season we will shoot against one other team in that league. At the end of the season all teams would have competed against each other and the team with the highest number of victories wins that league. If two teams have the same score, the one with the highest number of points wins overall.

To complicate matters, each league has what is known as a Threshold Score. If all three archers score over the threshold you are penalised and points are deducted. This balances each league and is in place in case a team is placed in too lower a league. If we are placed in the correct leagues, we should not hit the threshold score. Last season was our first Selby and our leagues were too low for us and we often hit the threshold. This year our rank will be based on last years performance, although I have suggested a score for Arundown C as we rarely had a full three archers last year for C.

The round is a Short Metric which consists of 3 Dozen at 50 meters & 3 Dozen @ 30 meters on a 80cm face. I suggest you turn up at the start on a Friday or Sunday session and ask if you can get targets set up at these distances (or set one at 50m and then move it forward). Even better, shoot a full Short Metric round for practice.

Newhaven Western 2009

Updated with John's real score!

The shoot was held at Newhaven’s scenic ground running along the back of the South Downs at Firle near Newhaven. For British weather near the start of the season we were lucky with no rain and patchy sunshine. We had a reasonable headwind to contend with which died down as the day went on.

Many thanks to Newhaven for hosting yet another well run and friendly shoot.

Russell and William both had a disappointing day and good form eluded them. This was Simon’s second outdoor tournament, since his arm was twisted to shoot a full gents FITA a few weeks back.

Gents R/C
Richard Cobden 96 hits, 44 golds, 744 scored, position 6th
Russell French 95 hits, 36 golds, 685 scored, position 9th
Simon Beach 96 hits, 27 golds, 626 scored, position 17th
John Nolan 94 hits, 25 golds, 586 scored, position 24th

Gents U16
William Martin (U16) 95 hits, 34 golds, 681 scored, position 3rd (Shooting a full Western).

Phil Hughes

It's very sad to hear of the death of Phil Hughes, our Club Chairman, Life Member, sometime Club Champion and Instructor and long-term supporter of the club. If it hadn't been for Phil, the Club probably wouldn't have survived, as he did far more than his fair share of the hard work of looking after the equipment and field, and setting up the big outdoor Tournaments, particularly while the club was located at the St Flora's Road Sports Field (he lived opposite, and usually arrived dramatically by popping up over the high brick wall at the rear of the Parkside Church - he was a wiry man, always remarkably strong and fit) as well as being a steadying influence at committee meetings. A keen Boy Scout who once re-set his brother's broken arm by following the instructions in Scouting for Boys, he started out in his adult life as a professional Soldier, and was in India before Independence, then had a long second career as a Signwriter (which is why Arundown had Signage that was the envy of other clubs). He mostly enjoyed working for Showmen and Circuses, and was also a talented Sculptor. Phil enjoyed archery in at least four decades, and only stopped coming regularly in the last two years. He's been missed during that time, and things will never be quite the same again.
Our thoughts are with his wife Barbara and their children, grandchildren and family.

Essex County Clout Championships

The weather forecast on Saturday seemed to suggest a sunny day on Sunday, with little wind direction arrows labelled '9' - which we took to mean 9 mph. On Sunday morning the sky was overcast and threatening to rain, and the wind was more like Force 9 than 9 mph. The wind persisted all day, but at least the sky brightened up. The wind caused a lot of trouble for most people but at the end we managed to take home three Visitors Medals - First Lady Recurve, and First and Third Gent Recurve.
Scores - Liz 181 - Rod 146 - Jon 120 - Russ 117

AC Delco 2009 Easter FITA

Simon Beach, William Martin and myself started off the Outdoor Season shooting a full Gents FITA at the AC Delco ground in Eastleigh. Sighters at 9:30AM meant an early start and as we travelled West the wetter it become. Shooting up until lunch was hampered by wet weather gear and we had a changeable side wind to contend with throughout the day. Within the Gents FITA were a number of Hampshire archers capable of 1200 points. On the day Dave Ferguson won the Gents FITA with a score of 1211, falling short of his County record of 1285 at the UK Masters in 2007.

This was Simon's first outdoor tournament and taking on a full Gents FITA was a brave challenge for someone who has been shooting for only 6 months. To add to the challenge, he had borrowed a set of carbons to achieve a 90m sight mark the afternoon before. Despite the poor weather and poorly adjusted arrows he racked up a score of 770, exceeding a 2nd Class Bowman score of 716. Simon was presented with the Lady Paramount for his sterling effort.

William was shooting 30m over his Metric II distance in his first full distance Gents tournament. He was not shooting his best and the high winds and wet weather made the 90m even more difficult. William still amazed fellow archers by consuming quantities of cakes and glucose drinks which would have given a buffalo a headache. Furthermore his sugar supply was later supplemented by the box of chocolates he won in the raffle and the Easter Egg prize for his U16 score. William ended the day with a respectable score of 924 smashing a Junior Bowman score of 774.

With the strong shifting side winds across the centre of the field I found I had to adjust my aim at every end. It became apparent that although I can cope with an indoor round I still don't have the necessary stamina to comfortably shoot as 12 dozen round. Struggling to pull through the clicker at the last distance I too had to succumb to the AC Delco cakes to finish the round. I ended the day with a score of 1033, falling 27 points short of a Bowman score.

Our scores on the day: -
Richard Cobden 140 hits, 4 X's, 9 Golds, 1033 scored
William Martin 131 hits, 7 X's, 19 Golds, 924 scored
Simon Beach 125 hits, 0 X's, 6 Golds, 770 scored

2009 Sussex Archery Albion League

I am putting a separate post for each of the summer leagues, primarily for the newer archers but also to remind the not so newer members of dates.

The Sussex County Albion League was formed in the early 1970's with the main purpose of enabling the archers of all standards to meet together in friendly competition between clubs in line with the GNAS's motto of "Union Trueheart Courtesie", as well as giving the opportunity for archers to visit other grounds during the season.

Archers will shoot a GNAS Albion round consisting of the following arrows:- 3 Dozen @ 80 yards, 3 Dozen @ 60 yards and finally 3 Dozen at 50 yards using a 1.2m face at all distances. Although I do not believe there is a restriction on the number of archers each club can field, only the top 4 scores are taken from each team.

Last year we came third in Division 3, although both Newhaven and Bognor had a good number of compound archers. Both compound and recurve archers shoot using 5-zone scoring (Golds 9, Reds 7, Blue 5 and so on....), but the compound scores are subject to an 80 point reduction. I personally feel that 80 points (or 9 per dozen - ish) is not a fair adjustment. If you look at the Sussex 2008 Top Ten scores for both bow styles in the Gents York round compound scores are over 17 points higher per dozen arrows on average. This minor whinge aside, the events are always great fun and enjoyed by all club members.

This year we are hosting one three-way matche and the other is away at Hastings: -
June 21st v Bayeux Bowmen - Home
July 26th v Newhaven AC - Away

The home match starts at 11:00 and we need volunteers to help set the field up before the match. All those who can assist, please see Rod Brown.

Rules:- http://www.sussex-archery.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/albion-league-rules.pdf

Selby Postal League 2009

+++++++++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++++++
Club members not affiliated through Arundown to GNAS can represent Arundown in the Selby League as long as they don't represent another club within the Selby League in the same season.

We now have dates for the Selby League shoots. Due to a packed summer calendar there are clashes, so all archers will not be able to attend every shoot. Please don’t think you won’t be needed as the more recurve archers that shoot the better!

May 24th
June 14th
July 5th
August 9th
September 6th
+++++++++++++++++UPDATE++++++++++++++++++++

We welcome all Arundown recurve archers to participate in this year’s tournament. Each month the top 9 scores are taken, but the more archers the better! You may find you do much better than you think and if you don’t you just won’t have your score selected that month. If you have any questions, speak to me (Richard Cobden) at the club.

Similar to the winter BA Postal, we will shoot against other clubs in our leagues but we do not actually meet. At the end of each month I will post (or email) the results to the organiser and the apposing team.

This year I have entered 3 recurve teams named Arundown A, B and C. Each month we will shoot the Selby on a given day (Summer Calendar appearing soon). At the end of every shoot the score taken from the highest three archers will make up Arundown A, then the next three Arundown B and so on.

Each team will be placed in a different league (Arundown A being highest ranked then B and so on...). Each month during the summer season we will shoot against one other team in that league. At the end of the season all teams would have competed against each other and the team with the highest number of victories wins that league. If two teams have the same score, the one with the highest number of points wins overall.

To complicate matters, each league has what is known as a Threshold Score. If all three archers score over the threshold you are penalised and points are deducted. This balances each league and is in place in case a team is placed in too lower a league. If we are placed in the correct leagues, we should not hit the threshold score. Last season was our first Selby and our leagues were too low for us and we often hit the threshold. This year our rank will be based on last years performance, although I have suggested a score for Arundown C as we rarely had a full three archers last year for C.

The round is a Short Metric which consists of 3 Dozen at 50 meters & 3 Dozen @ 30 meters on a 80cm face. For those who don't have a 30m & 50m sight mark, make sure you get one soon. I suggest you turn up at the start on a Friday or Sunday session and ask if you can get targets set up at these distances (or set one at 50m and then move it forward). Even better, shoot a full Short Metric round for practice.

BA Postal League Dec 2008 ~ January 2009 Official Results

1 Arundown AC 3, 6, 0, 0, 8187, 62
2 Supermarine Bowmen 3, 6, 0, 0, 8055, 63
3 Cantebury Archers 3, 6, 0, 0, 7920, 64
4 Shrewsbury Bowmen A 3, 0, 0, 2, 7613, 25
5 Perriswood Bowmen 3, 0, 0, 2 7378, 2

We should get the results in from the other teams for the end of season very soon. We look to be in very good position above Supermarine. Fingers crossed!

In March we were up against Perriswood Bowmen, whose results were as follows:-

Richard Harding, 60 hits, 502 scored, 8 golds
Nigel Davies 60 hits, 486 scored, 10 golds
Kit Mitchell 60 hits, 443 scored, 4 golds
Joram Los 60 hits, 432 scored, 4 golds (JB)
Lucy Kirby 60 hits, 415 scored, 5 golds (JG)

Totals 300 hits, 2278 scored, 31 golds.

Supermarine won the match against Perriswood in January.

Our scores for March >>> TOTALS 299 hits - 139 golds - 2789 scored. Average Score 557.8

2009 Indoor SCAS & SCAA Arundown AC Championship Results

Firstly, a big thanks to Chris Tucknott for organising the whole event and to the judges Mark Davis, Roger McMullan, Richard Hillier and Phil Bussingham for their services throughout the day. Also a thank you to all the other individuals working behind the scenes to make this such a successful day.

The full results are avialble for download, but I have summarised Arundown's performance here:-

SCAS Individual (Portsmouth - 60cm face @ 20 yards)
4th - Elizabeth Bowyer (ladies Recurve) 60 hits, 24 golds, score 550
4th - William Martin (Junior Gents Recurve) 60 hits, 19 golds, score 550
15th - Russell French (Gents Recurve) 60 hits, 25 golds, score 546

Sussex Team (FITA 18 - 40cm face @18 meters)
7th place - Arundown AC A 240 hits, 47 golds, score 2005
22nd place - Arundown AC B 229 hits, 11 golds, score 1635

Sussex Individual (FITA 18 - 40cm face @18 meters)
1st place - William Martin (Junior Gents Recurve) 60 hits, 11 golds, score 526
6th place - Richard Cobden (Gents Recurve) 60 hits 16 golds, score 526
13th place - Simon Beach (Gents Recurve) 60 hits, 7 golds, score 475
19th place - Richard Gargon (Gents Recurve) 60 hits, 3 golds, score 461
24th place - John Nolan (Gents Recurve) 59 hits, 3 golds, score 408

Ranks are within category and Sussex ranking is excluding visitors

Next year we should do even better, as our newer archers get more experience and their scores start to climb.

Don't forget to read the post below about the summer season!

What's happening at Arundown AC during the Outdoor Season

I was asked what shoots the club will be attending this summer season and how it all works. During the summer the club will have scheduled shoots within the Sussex Albion League and we are also entering 4 teams in the Selby Summer Postal League. You do not have to enter these as we will ask you when the time comes if you are able to shoot.

Albion League
http://www.sussex-archery.org.uk/tag/albion-league/
We will shoot against a number of other Sussex clubs, shooting an Albion Round. We will host at least one shoot at Arundown and the others will be away. On the day we are hosting, it's an early start and we all muck-in and help set the field up. Rod Brown is sorting this out.

Round
Albion - 36 arrows @ 80yds, 36 arrows @ 60 yds and 36 arrows @ 50 yds with 122cm target face.


Selby Summer Postal League
This is a postal shoot, so we will be competing against other clubs within a league. Each month we will be shooting against other clubs within a league. A recurve team consists of 3 archers and a longbow team is made up of 2. This year we will be entering 3 recurve teams (Arundown A, B & C) and a single longbow team. Each month we will all shoot and the top 3 scores will make up team A, the next 3 team B and so on.

Rounds
Recurve - Short Metric (36 arrows @ 50 meters, 36 arrows @ 30 meters) 80cm target face
Longbow - National (48 arrows @ 60 yds, 24 arrows @ 50 yards) 122cm target face

Clout Events
As you may know Liz, Russ, Jon, Rod and Graham are our club clout specialists. Last year Liz, Jon and Russ won the National Clout Team Championships. Those of you interested in clout should talk to Rod. Clout archers will be attending a number of clout events during the summer season. Due to the lack of popularity with clout in the Southern Counties, a number of the shoots are held north of the country.

Local Club & County Target Shoots
We do not have any formal organisation of shoots. If you are interested in attending a particular event, talk to others at the club and find out who else will be interested in attending. Usually a small group will attend and organise a car share. Soon you will get to know who attends what type of events.

I have listed local shoots below. The list is not exhaustive and dates may clash with other events in which case you need to make a choice. For a more comprehensive list look at the Mayflower Archers tournament diary http://www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk/ The Sussex Outdoor is in August this year, with a FITA 18 being held earlier on. Keep an eye on the Sussex Archery Site as an annoucement will appear soon.

I would strongly suggest that junior archers attend Doreen's County Junior Shoot on July 18th in Ditchling. This is a yearly gem in the junior shooting calendar and I cannot talk highly enough about it.

Clubs hosting shoots / travel
Mole Valley Bowmen, KT23 4DW, Bookham 43 miles 1hr 10mins
AC Delco, Eastleigh, 1hr 15mins
Fox Archers, Otford Kent 1hr 20mins
Spelthorne Archers, Sunbury-On-Thames, 63miles 1hr 37mins
Guildford Archery Club, Normandy, Guildford, 38miles 1hr 25mins
Newhaven Archery Club, Firle, West Lewes, 30 miles 51minutes

Local shoot diary

April
April 12th - AC Delco Bowmen, Easter Fita.. ALL Prizes are Easter Eggs.
Club shoot
Contact: Chris Hatt - acdelcobowmen.hants.org.uk
http://acdelcobowmen.hants.org.uk/forms/2009_acdelco_easter_fita_entry_form.pdf

April 19th - Hastings & St.Leonards, Soup Shoot.
Club Shoot
American Round.
Contact: Kevin Doswell
See blog older blog post

May
May 10th - Newhaven A.C.
Club Shoot
Annual Western Shoot
Contact: Mrs.N.Chadwick
http://uk.geocities.com/newhaven_archery/AnnuaL_Western_Tournament_2009.pdf

May 17th - Mole Valley
Club Shoot
Wand
http://www.molevalleybowmen.org/Wand2009EntryForm.pdf

May 24th AC Delco Bowmen
Club Shoot
Hereford/Bristols Eastleigh Hampshire
http://acdelcobowmen.hants.org.uk/forms/2009_acdelco_trinity_hereford_entry_form.pdf

May 31st - Fox Archers, 2nd Fox Shoot.
Club Shoot
St.George,Albion & Windsor
Contact: Lynn Archer - lynnarcher54@googlemail.com
http://www.freewebs.com/foxarchers/Fox%20Entry%20Form.doc

June
June 7th Crawley Archery Club
Club Shoot
Western Handicap Shoot
http://www.crawleyarcheryclub.co.uk/

June 7th - Spelthorne Archers
UK Record Status & Rose Award
York, Hereford & Bristols
Contact: Bob Robinson - tisrob@btinternet.com
http://www.ukarchery.org/Spelthorne%20Archers%2024th%20Open%20YHB.pdf

June 10th Guildford Archery Club
St George/Albion/Windsor
Club Shoot
http://www.guildfordarcheryclub.co.uk/Entry%20Forms/PDF%

20th Guildford Archery Club
Club Shoot
Westerns
http://www.ukarchery.org/Spelthorne%20Archers%2024th%20Open%20YHB.pdf

June 28th - Mole Valley Bowmen, Sheila Brown Mem.Shoot.
UK Record Status & Rose Award.
York, Hereford & Bristol
Contact: Paul Grinham - mail@molevalleybowmen.org
http://www.molevalleybowmen.org/SB2009entryform.pdf

July
July 18th - Ditchling Archery Club, 39th Junior Shoot .. All Rounds for U18 Juniors
Contact: Doreen Cannon

Fareham UK Record Status FITA 25

Three archers from Arundown attended the record status shoot today in Fareham. Shooting a 60cm 3-spot at 25m can be a daunting task for a recurve archer, as a miss is too easily achieved. Being a FITA shoot, each archer had 2 minutes to shoot their 3 arrows. I personally found the time limit very tough and often found myself alone on the line.

Many thanks to Linda, fellow RN South Coast Archers and judges for providing another well organised and friendly shoot.

Congratulations to William Martin who took a silver medal, coming second behind the Junior Boy 2008 SCAS Indoor Champion.

Scores on the day: -
William Martin 528, 60 hits
Richard Cobden 532, 58 hits
John Nolan 355

GNAS Rule 307 Dress Regulations

The infamous Rule 307 basically outlines an acceptable dress code which should be worn at tournaments.

If you speak to archers who have been in the sport for many years they will tell a familiar tale of a lapsing adherence to the dress codes. I have recently attended a record status shoot where some archers turned up wearing camouflage trousers or denim jeans. The judge did take the offenders names and said they would be removed from the line if the wore non-conforming clothing at any future event.

These cases are most likely a blatant disregarding of the rules and not a simple case of misunderstanding them. Much time and effort is put into setting up a tournament and most are run at little or no profit, so the least an archer can do is turn up in appropriate clothing.

My personal concern with this rule relates to an acceptable green (dark green to be precise). At the event I mention I did wear green trousers, although they were light and not dark green. Technically I felt I could have been as guilty as those wearing blatantly incorrectly coloured clothing, so I felt it necessary to clarify an acceptable green.

I contacted GNAS and after some discussion, the person responding agreed that Olive Green would be an acceptable green in their eyes. However, GNAS don't believe it is necessary to go into further details. Ultimately, what is acceptable is down to the judge attending on the day. So, as far as green is concerned any green which is not Khaki and a form of dark green (including Olive Green) should be acceptable. However, I have now purchased whites (that's real white - white and not cream - white) so I don't have the dilemma of an acceptable green playing on my mind at the shooting line.

So, if you attend a tournament please wear appropriately coloured clothing!

BA League Update

OUR SCORES FOR MARCH
TOTALS 299 hits - 139 golds - 2789 scored. Average Score 557.8
YES, that's FIVE HUNDRED AND BLOOMIN FIFTY SEVEN point EIGHT points each
Individual Scores:
Rod Brown 566 - Will Martin 563 - Russ French 559 - Richard Cobden 557 - Hamish Mattheson 544.
If Hamish had noticed one of his arrows had a broken nock before he shot it (it missed) he would probably have scored 553 - and put the average within a whisker of 560. Liz Bowyer (540) and Simon Beach (534) also shot scores that would have got them into the team any other month.

Hastings & St Lenards Bowmen - Sedlescombe Soup Shoot 19th

The soup shoot at Sedlescombe is an established fixture in the Sussex archery calendar. This year’s competition will take place on Sunday 19th April at the Sports Field in Sedlescombe.
Shooting an American round is a nice way to start the outdoor season and there is always a good turnout for this event. Entry forms can be obtained by contacting Kevin Doswell on 07976 306059.

American Round = 2.5 dozen arrows at 60, 50 and 40 yards (90 arrows in total)

Myself and John Nolan are attending and likely sharing a car with a Worthing Archer. If anyone is interested, they will need to enter themselves and talk to other club members about a car share. This is not a record status shoot, so it is slightly less formal and being a soup shoot, there is hot soup being served to keep archers warm.

A good end to the BA Postal Season

This mornings shoot concluded the BA Postal Portsmouth 2008/2009 winter season competing in Division 19. Some very strong shooting brought the highest score yet achieved in a BA Postal shoot this season by us. We have not yet received this months opponents score,but if we have won this month us winning the league depends on how Supermarine has fared in January, February and March. We will stand a very good chance of racking up the highest total, but the league order is based on wins. As and when the result come in myself or Rod will post them up.

I tried to look at opponents web sites, but they are not as active as ours so we are going to have to wait.

Thank you to all those who have shot and contributed to the scores over the months. Also, a big congratulations again to William Martin for achieving a new County Junior Club Record of 580 during a postal match.

Some 2008/2009 scores I have to hand to chew over are below: -

November 2008
Arundown 2711
Scorton Archers 2643

Supermarine Bowmen 2663
Shrewsbury 2618

Cantebury Archers 2622
Perris Bowmen 2448

December 2008
Supermarine Bowmen 2760
Arundown 2741

Cantebury Archers 2636
Shewsbury 2576

January 2009
Arundown 2740
Shrewsbury 2554

Cantebury Archers 2662
Scorton Archers 2420

February 2009
Arundown 2730
Canterbury Archers 2667

Canterbury Archers Postal Results

The results for Canterbury Archers, our opponents in February are as follows: -

Gary Pritchard = 60 hits, 19 golds, 545 scored
Glyn Levis = 60 hits, 22 golds, 537 scored
Chris Clark = 60 hits, 22 golds, 531 scored
Mark Byles = 60 hits, 17 golds, 530 scored
Judy Hutchings 60 hots, 16 golds, 518 scored

Total 300 hits, 96 golds, 2667 scored

Arundown's Results

Will Martin - 60 . 566 . 30
Russ French - 60 . 551 . 31
Rod Brown - 60 . 546 . 18
Liz Bowyer - 60 . 534 . 21
Jon Stafford - 60 . 533 . 18

TEAM TOTAL - 300 hits - 2730 scored - 118 golds

Club Shirts - Update

Many thanks to Chris Dowdeswell who has been trialing our new club top design over the last few Fridays. It was deemed necessary to carry out field testing as some archers were concerned about using tight fitting compression shirts. Although the sample was in pure white, we still have to settle on club colours and register them with GNAS. The biggest bonus is that the compression shirt comes in the one size and will fit anyone from a young child to a large adult, so we do not have to worry about purchasing sizes.

Those of you interested in the new shirt should talk to Chris and here the great things he has to say about it.

Once we settle on the colours we will need a range of various sized voluteers to model the shirts for the news section on our site.

Thanks again Chri :-)

BA League - Our Jan & Feb Performances

Thanks to the pressure of doing the Tournament paperwork, the January scores weren't posted (and we were waiting for the opposition's scores to arrive). Now they have - see the post immediately below this - we find we did win the January match, by a comfortable margin.

Shrewsbury 2554 - Arundown 2740

Our Individual Scores....
Will Martin - 60 . 569 . 33
Russ French - 60 . 556 . 29
Jon Stafford - 60 . 545 . 16
Hamish Matheson - 60 . 539 . 22
Graham Brown - 60 . 531 . 15

TEAM TOTAL - 300 hits - 2740 scored - 129 golds

As for February, we're still waiting for the other team's scores, but ours were...
Will Martin - 60 . 566 . 30
Russ French - 60 . 551 . 31
Rod Brown - 60 . 546 . 18
Liz Bowyer - 60 . 534 . 21
Jon Stafford - 60 . 533 . 18

TEAM TOTAL - 300 hits - 2730 scored - 118 golds

As it happens, this is our lowest score this season, but nothing to be ashamed of as our highest score is 2741. Four matches, and only 11 points between highest and lowest, that's consistent. The threshold score for our division is 530 points average individual score, and we are averaging 547.

January BA Postal League Results

The results for Shrewsbury Bowman, our opponents in January are as follows: -

Darren Middleton = 60 hits, 21 golds, 552 scored
Phil Knight = 60 hits, 21 golds, 507 scored
Martin Boakes = 60 hits, 9 golds, 506 scored
Glyn Knight = 59 hits, 13 golds, 501 scored
Roger Breeze 60 hots, 7 golds, 488 scored

Total 299 hits, 62 golds, 2554 scored

RN South Coast Archers Portsmouth Tournament 15th Feb.

A small contingent of three archers attended the above shoot today at HMS Collingwood in Fareham. It was a record status shoot, with 29 bosses and over 100 archers in attendance.

William was not on form and scored a very mediocre 560 (mediocre for Will and not us mortals that is!). His performance allowed his old arch-rival Daniel Phillips of Holbrook to take first place by a solitary 1 point.

John Nolan had a slow start but after the 15 minute break at half-way, his luck turned and he started to find the custard.

Unlike John, I was on track for a 560 but lost the winning form after the half-way break and finished on 547.

Apart from a small hick-up on the junior compound scores (I believe one boy put his score in the wrong box confusing everyone), all went well and the tournament was very well run.

RN South Coast Archers are holding a FITA 25 (25m distance with a 60cm face) on March 14th (the day before the County Indoor).

GNAS Clasification Scheme

Firstly a summary of the scheme from Rod........

It's a progressive Grading System that requires archers to achieve different levels of scores, which depend on gender, age-group and bow-style. For each gender / age / bow style grouping, the higher the grading, the further you have to shoot. And the more technically sophisticated your bow-style, the bigger the score you need to get to achieve the grading. You can achieve the lower and intermediate grades at quite short distances for your gender or age, but as you get better the bar is set higher and you can only achieve the higher grades at maximum distance for your gender / age group. And if you get really spectacularly good, you can only achieve the two top gradings at major tournaments.

Proposal for Arundown

When we start shooting outdoors on Sundays I would like to start working towards the scheme and I hope others would like to join me. This would mean that we set some of the targets on the field out for appropriate GNAS rounds on Sundays. Participation within the scheme will give you something to work towards each year and adds a bit of purpose and friendly competition to Sundays. It is also very good practice for tournaments. Many clubs participate within this scheme and if you have attended a tournament you have likely seen the classification badges on archers quivers like these http://www.quicksarchery.co.uk/superbasket/product.php?product=712

The other benefit is that you will get a handicap, which comes in useful if you shoot at tournaments which have handicapped awards.

We need to select a recognised round that can be shot on a Sunday within the timescale. The National rounds are shot with 4 dozen arrows (shot in ends of 6) at the longest distance, then 2 dozen arrows shot similarly at the shorter (that's 6 dozen = 72 arrows total).
We can overlap targets, so setting at 80, 60 and 50 yards would suit archers for both a Long National and a National. Junior rounds differ based on age groups.

GNAS National Rounds using 1.2m target face and ends of 6 arrows

A - New National- 4 dozen @ 100 yards + 2 dozen at 80 yards
B - Long National- 4 dozen @ 80 yards + 2 dozen at 60 yards
C - National- 4 dozen @ 60 yards + 2 dozen at 50 yards
D - Short National- 4 dozen @ 50 yards + 2 dozen at 40 yards
E - Junior National- 4 dozen @ 40 yards + 2 dozen at 30 yards
F - Short Junior National- 4 dozen @ 30 yards + 2 dozen at 20 yards

Here are some examples of the score necessary to qualify

Ladies 3rd Class Bowman A=47, B=109, C=205, D=296, E=401
Junior Ladies 3rd Class Bowman A=3, B=12, C=32, D=68, E=145, F=284
Gents 3rd Class Bowman A=106, B=202, C=319, D=403
Junior Gents U16 3rd Class Bowman A=20, B=56, C=121, D=200, E=312, F=440

Notes

1) The scores must be achieved over 3 separate rounds on club days or GNAS events in that calendar year.

2) Archers are re-classified during each calendar year.

If you are interested let me know at the club and we can start to see how many are interested. We have a while yet to iron things out.

The White Stuff

Two benchmarks set on Sunday for the Worcester Shoot - Fullest Soonest (all sessions full before the weekend before) and the COLDEST. Alright, it may have been colder in the past, but the snow made it seem the most wintery. Thanks everyone for helping, and well done those who shot too, specially the first-timers. And to Richard (Gargon) and Ciaran who both picked up sprains or strains along the way but kept on to the end. Overall the scores were better this year than last and some County records were broken, I noticed three barebow records went, and Will (shooting for Worthing) improved both Single and Double Junior Freestyle Records.
Some pictures below to remind you of the cold.

Tournament Diary

A number of the newer members have asked me about tournaments in 2009. The best place for tournament dates is the Mayflower Archers web site. If you click on the Tournament Diary link on the left hand menu, you will get a full listing. http://www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk/

There is a 20yrd Portsmouth shoot coming up on the 15th March at HMS Collingwood in Fareham. I have already entered forms for Emily, Will and John Nolan. If anyone else wishes to join us and has their own transportation you will find details here http://www.rnsouthcoastarchers.co.uk/

You will need to enter a form yourself A.S.A.P. The closing date was this weekend, but they have moved the shoot to the 15th. I suggest you call the lady running the event to make sure you have a space before hand - full details on their site.

As summer season approaches, the newer members can see who is attending shoots and join in. Rod, John S, Russ, Graham and Liz excel in clout and will attend a good number of events, although some involve travel. Myself, Will, Emily & John Nolan will likely be attending a number of target shoots during the summer.