Monthly Archives: Apr 2012

Apr 26 2012

Severn Valley Yeoman Foresters shoot report

Severn Valley Yeoman Foresters
22nd of April 2012

Archers gathering at the start
SVYF club located near Droitwich, Worcester, is a bit of a drive from Leicester, but last Sunday saw us pack the car and leave in the hope of dry weather. The forecast was not looking great and memories of pulling arrows out of the swamp were resurfacing. Hopefully it would be only light showers, hopefully.

There were some 200 archers all hoping it would stay dry  which it did until the heaven opened at about 3. Fortunately it didn’t Last too long.

It was a 40 targets with a mix of 3D and paper faces, mostly 3Ds. With 3 groups setting sections of the course we wondered what it would be like, well it worked and worked well. The course flowed well with a couple of stops for grub, we generally weren’t waiting at targets for long. As for the course there was a nice mix of shots and interesting use of terrain with some larger targets close that threw your judgement. Nice to no target faces or 3Ds repeated on the course.

The course is based in woodland surrounding a swampy area so if you go in summer watch out for the midges and mosquitoes as I know I got bit. There are a few long shots but generally a good mix, with the challenge being not the distance but the judement of distance. The course makes the most of the limited height, so despite it being a mostly flat course there are a few shots that make you have to allow for height. Sorry there aren’t any photos, I was tryign to keep camera dry.

As always the SVYF provide a great shoot in short, with excellent catering (love the venison burgers).

 Sharon did well with over 600 points and getting a first place in ladies bare bow. Congratulation to fellow Black Arrow archer young Ben too who got a second place.
If anyone reading this can tell me where  a full set of the results are posted please let me know.
Apr 24 2012

Films effect on uptake of Archery

This is an interesting article by a fellow blogger Jordan Sequillion http://jordansequillion.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/hunger-games-great-for-archery/ I too have wondered what effect films might have on the sport, such as films like Hunger Games.

Shortly there will be the animated film Brave by Disney / Pixar http://www.disney.co.uk/brave/, with the main character using a bow. Will this increase the number of kids and adults wanting to try archery?

Who knows, but could be interesting.

Apr 24 2012

Scottish NFAS Championships

Auld Kirk Bowmen logo

Easter saw the NFAS Scottish Champs come round and this year it was to be a little different, with there being both a 3D course and a paper faces course.

Traditionally the champs have always been 2 paper faces courses so there was quite a bit of interest in how this might be organised, especially as the site is a disused quarry.
Having shot the site a couple of years ago, and not being able to make it last year we thought it worth the investment in time, fuel and potential arrows 😉 Also very aware of the weather, last time we ventured north it threw it down on the first day leaving us all soaked cold and wet
The first day would see me on the paper course (B) and second day on the all 3D course. Sharon would do A first and B on Sunday as she was now shooting in the Bare Bow class
This was my first target of Day 1
Scottish Champs - first target on first day
Sadly Saturday saw me shoot abysmally, scoring little over 400 on a 36 target round, just couldn’t get my head in it at all (think that was one of the worst scores I’ve had in years, having blanked 5 targets). Having said that I had a great group and the 3 of us didn’t stop laughing and joking all the way round the course.
Scottish Champs - another target on first day
Really enjoyed the 3D course and thought it was well set to make use of the terrain with nothing stretched. The use of dead ground and the natural geography was done to complement the shots not to make them impossible. Came in with over 580 and only blanked one.
Score card from first day course
Score card from 3D course on second day
Speaking of the ground, there had been much talk and concern over the use of 3D targets in a disused quarry, can anyone say snap, oops another broken arrow. There were no backstops other than ground, which was liberally covered in very hard stones or trees. Having said that I only broke one arrow, though Sharon does have a very nicely bent one. I know a few people snapped arrows but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Would have liked to have seen all archers in the same class shoot the same course on same day. Think it would give a fairer reflection on the difficulty of the courses.
We were also very lucky with the weather, with the rain only appearing late on Sunday.
Congrats to Sharon on getting 4th place. Not bad for only shooting the bow for less than 3 months
The full results are available from the Aulk Kirk Bowmen website