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Fun at Halloween Shoot at Sywell

An unseasonably warm evening for the Halloween ping shoot this year saw 18 archers plus spectators arrive at Sywell in the pitch dark to take part. Four targets were laid flat on the ground and illuminated pumpkins were set on the gold of each one.
 
The rules were, as usual, made up more or less as we went along. This year they ended up as normal five zone scoring with a direct hit of a pumpkin counting as 10. Random ghosts witches and pumpkins were scattered on the ground between the targets also counting as 10. Grass counted as zero. Targets were about 30-40 yards from the shooting line.
 
It was a very starry night so we had plenty of reference points for aiming. To level the playing field even more between experienced archers and beginners glow sticks were attached to all arrows to completely remove ballistic integrity.
 
Most arrows, as usual, scored zero. Only twenty arrows actually landed on the targets all evening. Not a single pumpkin, witch or ghost got injured in the process, although several pumpkins did have lucky escapes.
 
After a break for drinks and snacks we returned to the field to shoot a volley:  All archers shooting in unison to voice commands. This didn’t make any difference to the final scores, and resulted in only one additional archer (George) actually hitting anything.
 
Prizes were awarded as follows.
Junior Lady: Hazel Dalley
Junior Gent: Toby MacFarland
Senior lady: Karen Wilkins
Senior Gent: Paul Hopkins (That wasn’t the highest score but everyone thought I must have cheated)
 
Thanks to everyone who helped set up and pack away afterwards and especially to Lou for the photos & refreshments and George (Genny) Bond for keeping the lights on – well, most of the time. 
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NAC is back at John Ashby Sports Hall

It has been great to see our club back at John Ashby Sports Hall following the start of the pandemic. I was unable to make the two Saturdays, but joined in for the first session on Saturday 23rd November.

I was greated by warm faces, everyone seemed to be happy to be able to shoot inside. We had a mix of those who had recently finished their beginners courses, members who haven’t shot for a long time and our seasoned members – all helping out where it was needed. 

Getting the hall set up is always a challenge for us to be able to start shooting at the advertised time of 9.15am, especially now we have a much shorter time to shoot in, so we welcome members to join us for 8.45am to begin this. 

We look forward to seing more of you on a Saturday through the winter.

Lisa comes first in the Short Metric 2 round in the Inter-County Postal Match

Lisa Owen was last week presented with her certificate and badge for taking part and coming first in the Short Metric 2 round as part of the inter county postal match between Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

Lisa’s shooting has come on leaps and bounds over the last year, congratulations.

Usually the two counties have a in person match, but due to covid it was decided that we would do a postal match whereby any archer in the two counties can shoot the specified rounds and submit their scores.

The event was a great success with a total of 80 scores submitted across 5 bow style categories. In the same event Susan Corless took the highest compound score and Mick Lovell was second in the barebow category (by a mere 4 points).

Northamptonshire took the overall match win by 941 points – congratulations to the whole squad. The full results can be found here.

Mick shoots for the County

On Sunday 3rd October the County squad were out in action again, this time joined by NAC’s Mick Lovell shooting barebow. The County match was a three way challenge, between Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire hosted by Buckinghamshire at Silver Arrow Archery Club. 

The team shot Western rounds and I hear that it was a very bluistery day but the team shone through and Northamptonshire took the overall win! Congratulations to Mick & the whole team.

You can find the full results here.

A damp but successful beginners course

Saturday 2nd October was the final session of our most recent beginners course. The day was a very damp one, but this didn’t dampen the spirits! These photos tell a great story, and we are very lucky to have a shelter to shoot from under.

There are many moving parts that go into making a beginners course happen – from enrolling the beginners on to a course once dates have been set & agreed, collecting the money, arranging coaches and supporting archers. But that’s not all! There is also the equipment preparation before hand to ensure the bows are ready for use, setting up and packing away the targets and ensuring the supplies of tea & coffee are flowing (especially on a cold and wet day!). Finally and no means least each and every one of our members at Sywell making our beginners feel welcome to NAC!

Thank you & we hope to see them joining the club soon!



 

 

Susan wins the UK Masters

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