B course – Archers mustering

Day two of the championships dawned and we wondered whether staying in the premier inn had been a good plan. We had had a very disturbed night having been woken by a fan humming noise which we’d thought was the aircon or heating but neither of these were on and it seemed to come from the corridor. The annoying thing was it would stop only to restart a few minutes later.

B course – Archers mustering

So bleary eyed we checked out and headed to Catton park. I’d taken some Lemsip tablets so I was hoping my head would be a little better.

B course – views across the fields

The mid point placings were out showing Sharon in first place and me way down at 19th.
Sunday was brighter day with clear skies and a slight autumnal nip in the air. Shooting group would be different on each day so I wondered what to expect.

Sunday Shooting group

To say my possible concerns were ill founded would be an understatement as we never stopped laughing all day. Thanks to Julie and others in the group we had a great laugh often at our own expense.

Catton Park

I think we were fortunate on Sunday as unlike other groups we weren’t held up by the previous groups. I was speaking to one fellow SVYF member who was waiting over 10 minutes to shoot each target with a 45 minutes delay after food stop. When faced with these delays it is very hard to remain focused. I’m not sure of the cause but a possible solution for the future might be to allow groups to jump slow groups at food stops. This would mean that targets could not be taken down until much later though. (Normally the target you finish on, on the last day is brought in by your shooting group to help the organisers to break down the course. If you allow jumping them you might not be the last group to shoot the target.)

View on B course

Think B course had the best grounds in my opinion with two separate pieces of woodland and a few open ground shots and a couple over water making for a good mix for all.

B course – 3D Crocodile

They also set up some interesting shots down the side of the woods or out of the woods into the fields, making distance judgement challenging.

B Course shot after food stop

Julie Shooting paper face on B Course

Thank you

At this point I would like to say a huge thanks to all the people who gave up there time to not only lay the courses but find the ground initially and thanks to the administration staff for all the work behind the scenes.

Outcome

The full results are available here.
Despite feeling rough I managed to climb 9 places on Sunday from 19 to just get in the top 10. Not too bad I suppose. Sharon did wonderfully well winning ladies hunting tackle making her not only 3D champion from earlier this year but now also the national champion for 2014.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Sharon (thanks Alex Tyler for photos)

Svyf came away with the team hunting tackle trophy.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Hunting Tackle  team (from left to right, Nigel, Johnny, Sharon and me) thanks Alex Tyler for photos

With Colin capturing a bronze in crossbow. Sharon and I also came away with the Nearest and Dearest trophy.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Nearest and Dearest (thanks Alex Tyler for photos)

So not a bad weekend considering I was feeling rough.
As always thanks for reading.