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.