Author: Mackenzie Geyton

Susan recently headed to Lilleshall to compete for the title at the UK Masters which is an invitational event that you have to qualify for by achieving Master Bowman or Grand Master Bowman classifications. This event is usually held on the first weekend of June, however it was decided that extra time would be allowed to qualify due to Covid-19. The title is awarded to the archers who come out top over three separate elements to the weekend.

On the Saturday archers shot a WA1440 round, Susan shot an overall PB, and distance PBs at 70m and 60m and placing her in 3rd for Day 1. We had really great weather for the Saturday, which is a blessing at Lilleshall.

On the Sunday the wind has returned to its home at Lilleshall, and archers shot a WA50 round in the morning where Susan came 2nd, taking her to the head 2 heads in a strong position. In the head 2 heads Susan had a bye in the first pass taking her into the quarter finals where she took the win by a single point. She also took the win by 3 points in the semi-finals, taking her into the gold medal match, and she took that by a single point, placing her in 1st place for this element.

Overall this placed Susan first for the whole event, taking home the title of UK Masters Champion, as well as winning overall distance award for the 60m section of Saturday and part of the winning regional compound team.

Congratulations

Sunday 26th September saw the return of the annual Northamptonshire County Championships, hosted by Wellingborough. 

Usually York, Hereford and Bristol rounds are shot to decide the County Champions, however this year due to the fact that many archers haven’t been shooting again for that long it was decided that WA720 rounds would be shot which are a shorter 6 dozen arrows at a single distance.

From Northampton Archery Club we saw Mick Lovell and Ioannis Chrisinas enter to battle for the title. 

Mick shooting barebow took on 4 others in his category and was crowned County Champion after a clear win of 18 points.

Ioannis shooting recurve took on 10 other archers and finished a respectable 4th in his category.

The full results can be found here.

Congratulations to both archers and thank you for representing NAC!

On Sunday Ioannis Chrisinas represented Northamptonshire County Archery Society at the annual EMAS Senior Intercounties Event. This event is a team competition between the 5 counties which make up EMAS. Ioannis shot the highest score for the county in the gents recurve division – congratulations!

It is unfortunate that Northamptionshire were unable to field a full team – partly due to archers not having returned that long since clubs have reopened and therefore hadn’t been competing, and other event clashes around the country. The full results can be found here.  

Hopefully next year the county is able to field a full team for this event.

Congratulations again to Ioannis for making the team, and if anyone else is interested in representing the county, you can find out more here.

 

Susan Corless has spent the past weekend representing England at the annual Commonwealth Championships Europe, which was hosted at Lilleshall, Telford. 

This event is open to all Commonwealth Europe countries and this year England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man took part, with each nation able to send two teams per category. 

Susan was part of the England blue team, who qualified in second place on Saturday and took the silver medal on Sunday. Overall England dominated, winning all but one of the gold medals, and winning 11 of the 21 total medals possible. This is the England medal breakdown – 

• Gold – Recurve Men, Recurve Women, Compound Men, Compound Women, Compound Mixed, Barebow Mixed
• Silver – Recurve Men, Compound Men, Compound Women
• Bronze – Recurve Mixed, Barebow Mixed

The full results can be found here. 

Congratulations to Susan and her team mates.

 

 

Every year it is a long standing tradition at NAC that the Chairman (or woman) gets to award a trophy to the member he or she thinks has given exceptional service to the club. This can be one of the committee members or any other member that deserves recognition.

This year has been a difficult year and there are several members who I considered to be in the running for the trophy, for going above and beyond what they are expected to do. I decided this year that that person is Mick Lovell. 

Mick has been a member of NAC for over ten years and works hard, quietly in the background doing all sorts of things to keep the club running smoothly.

It is thanks in a large part to Mick that the club has been able to keep functioning during the restrictions over the last year or more. He has been largely responsible for the booking system and has been heavily involved with the lane marking arrangements and other additional requirements that we have had both at Sywell and BBOB.

In addition to this Mick is at almost every shooting session and works on either the setting up or closing down of the venue – often both. He does far more than most members ever know and is a real credit to the club.

Congratulations Mick & thank you!

 

As most of you know we sadly lost David towards the end of last year. The committee felt that there should be some lasting tribute to him, among the many things that David did for the club was his assistance and encouragement given to junior members. It was for this reason that it seemed fitting that the David Stephens trophy should be awarded to the junior member who most deserves it either by improvement or dedication.

The trophy is one that the recipient gets to keep permanently as a reminder of their achievement.

There is one junior member who has shown exceptional dedication during the recent restrictions and has shot regularly throughout. That person is Lisa Owen.

Lisa has improved her shooting consistently over the last year through regular practice at all available venues. For obvious reasons there has been little chance of competing in normal competitions but she has now achieved her 40 yard 252 award. This is an achievement that few junior members attain.

Congratulations to Lisa and hopefully many more successes to come as we move back towards normal times.