ARCHERY

All the up-to-date news from Boston archery scene

News and reports from 2006

News for week ending July 7, 2006:

PILGRIM BOWMEN

Boston’s Pilgrim Bowmen member Abi Clayton was selected earlier in the year by the English Archery Federation to shoot for England. And she has just returned from a successful visit to Guernsey where she was part of the winning English team in a Euro-nations competition.

The opposing teams were from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Guernsey and top archers from those countries competed in the team event on day one and an individual event on day two. The round shot on both days was a FITA which comprises, for ladies, 36 arrows from 70m and 36 arrows from 60m at a target of 122cm, diameter. This is followed by 36 arrows from each of 50m and 30m at a target with a diameter of 50cm.

Shooting started at 9.30am and continued with a short break for lunch until 5pm. Archery is an endurance sport in both the physical and mental senses. Abi shoots in the ladies’ recurve discipline and in the team event was sixth overall and in the individual event fifth overall.

On both days she shot Master Bowmen scores which will enable her to compete again at the UK master next year. She found her first taste of international competition stimulating and exciting and is already submitting further scores to the EAF in the hope of being selected to shoot for her country again.

News for week ending April 23, 2006:

FRISKNEY BOWMEN

On Easter Monday (April 17) Friskney Bowmen had a target shoot on the club’s field. There was a good turnout with many juniors taking part. In target shooting the archers are put into different categories depending on the type of bow they are shooting, their age group, and their gender, this is to define the distances they will be shooting at. Usually there are three different distances to shoot at — unless competitors use Bristol 4s, which meant distances shot were 20 yards and 10 yards.

The Bristol rounds are meant for the juniors to shoot and so are at shorter distances.

There are four different Bristol rounds and the winners of them were:

Boys’ recurve, Bristol 1, Rory Cambell (Grimsby Archers) scoring 1016 also being the overall Bristol winner.

Boys’ recurve, Bristol 2, Charles Black (Grimsby Archers) scoring 642.

Boys’ recurve, Bristol 3, Craig Burnett (Grimsby Archers) scoring 965.

Boys’ compound, Bristol 3, Sean Barry (Silver Spoon Bowmen) scoring 1038.

Girls’ compound, Bristol 3, Samantha Tayor (Silver Spoon Bowmen) scoring 962.

Girls’ recurve, Bristol 4, Ellen Talbot (Friskney Bowmen) scoring 390.

Boys’ recurve, Bristol 4, Daniel Severn (Friskney Bowmen) scoring 577.

The adults, shooting Hereford and York rounds, also did well. Two archers retired and one entered but didn’t shoot. The wind was three-quarters ahead and so the arrows were flying into the prevailing conditions, making it harder than was normally expected.

Friskney Bowmen are only meeting in Friskney village hall for another two weeks. And then it’s on to meetings on the club’s field. Anyone wanting to have a go at archery is welcome to attend any of the sessions.

News for week ending March 31, 2006:

FRISKNEY BOWMEN

The Friskney Bowmen have been continuing their indoor winter season at Peter Paine Sports Centre, Boston. Sessions have been held on the first Sunday of every month from November until March.

The concluding round was shot as a Worcester round. It was a good day for all with some excellent archery from everybody. The winning team was Grantham Archers. The ladies recurve section was won by Gwen Mawer of Pilgrim Bowman scoring 273, Simon Terrys from Grantham Archers won the men’s recurve with a score of 299.

In the youth section Rory Campbell from Grimsby Archers scored 277 in junior boys recurve. In the compound categories Rachael Sullevan from Grimsby Archers scored 299 in ladies compound. The men’s compound was won by Neil Dowsett from Grantham Archers who scored 300 (the maximum score of this round). This figure was also achieved by Colin Tucker who came second on the decision of a pin shot to find the winner. Colin Tucker shot at the pin first, the pin having a diameter of around 1.5 cm, and the arrow landed next to it, touching, Neil Dowsett was up next, he shot at the pin and it snapped in half.

In the junior lady compound, Alex Fleming from Friskney Bowmen scored 177. The longbow section was won by Janet Lloyd (Friskney Bowmen) who scored 162 and Joe Lloyd won the men’s section also from Friskney Bowmen scoring 205.

This was the last of the Boston indoor shoots and overall winners of all the competitions put together in the ladies recurve saw Maria Tucker from Silver Spoon Bowmen win with a score of 4,231. She was the only one to shoot 10 rounds, The ladies compound was won by Barbara Hughes also of Silver Spoon Bowmen with a score of 3329 but only shooting eight round. The ladies’ longbow went to Janet Lloyd of Friskney Bowmen with a score of 2,032 from 10 rounds.

The men’s recurve was won by Ashley Beckett from Grimsby Archers with a score of 4,081 after shooting 10 rounds. The men’s compound was won by Neil Dowsett from Grantham Archers who scored 4,698 from 10 rounds. Joe Lloyd of Friskney Bowmen, in scoring 3,147 from 10 rounds, won the men’s longbow prize. In the junior section’s boys’ recurve, Craig Burnett scored 3,169 for Grimsby Archers and won after shooting 10 rounds.

Sean Barry of Silver Spoon Bowmen won the boys’ compound with a score of 2,436 from only eight rounds.

And in junior lady compound, Alex Fleming of Friskney Bowmen shot 10 rounds for a score of 3,075. The winning team were Grantham Archers.

Friskney Bowmen meet in Friskney village hall on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Meetings are held from 6.30pm to 10pm with club equipment available.

News for week ending November 6, 2005:

PILGRIM BOWMEN

A trip to Southwell in Nottinghamshire was enjoyed by members of the Pilgrim Bowmen archery group when the host venue staged its popular annual “pie and beans” tournament — part of the entry fee covering a lunch of that description.

Competition was strong in a western round comprising 48 arrows from 60 yards and 48 arrows from 50 yards. In this event, men and women had to shoot the same distances. Pilgrim Bowmen members acquitted themselves well with a reasonable haul of medals.

In the ladies’ recurve section, Abi Clayton was first and Gwen Mawer was third. Abi’s scored a total of 751 points. This, in fact, was bettered only by the winning male score in their recurve competition. Ian Clayton came third in the men’s compound section.

Around 90 archers attended the tournament, one always seen as a popular way end to the outdoor season.

On a personal note, Pilgrim Bowmen member Abi Clayton has learned from the Grand National Archery Society that she is ranked eighth lady in Great Britain for ladies’ recurve archery. She is hoping that this achievement will catch the eye of the national squad selectors in due course.

News for week ending September 25, 2005:

FRISKNEY BOWMEN

Friskney Bowmen held the Dennis Ingham memorial shoot on September 25 in honour of their founder member. This is primarily a junior shoot and it was nice to see so many young members from the county attend and deliver a high standard of archery. The junior winners were: Victoria Rumary (girls recurve), Thomasina Charlish (girls compound), Chris Seymour (boys recurve) and Sean Barry (boys compound).

Various adult rounds were also shot with Friskney Bowmen taking a first, second, and third in the longbow with Chris Shaw, Joe Lloyd and Alan Blythyn doing this. Also Janet Lloyd took first in ladies longbow, shooting a Hereford round starting with 72 arrows at 80 yards. Archers from across the county put up good scores in other classes. The day did have its disappointments with Jim Johnson (Billingham Archery Club) breaking his bow limbs at full draw after nine dozen arrows while Craig Burnett left due to illness with only 18 arrows left.

The heavens then opened and with all the lightning in the area, nobody was too keen to hold out a carbon rod until it had passed. As the weather cleared up the shooting ended and an enjoyable day was had. Friskney Bowmen now meet in Friskney village hall on a Wednesday and Thursday for the winter months. Meetings are held at 6.30pm to 10pm with club equipment available.