Sunday saw another early start and long drive, this time stopping off to collect Ben on route a fellow Black Arrow member who we were acting as shoot guardian for. Thankfully it was dry and sunny day, a rare combination recently. Our destination was to be the Lyme Valley  grounds just north of Stoke on Trent who were hosting this NFAS shoot.

We like Lyme Valley shoots and try to get to them whenever possible, so the early start is normally more than worthwhile.
It is a lovely wood situated on the sometimes steep sides of a valley, with a stream at the bottom.

See previous shoot write-up.
Renowned for being a course where you will be going up and down the valley sides and crossing the countless foot bridges you work up a good appetite. I’m not a fan of having lunch breaks at shoots, I rather shoot through where you stop off and grab a bite to it between pegs. However due to the layout of the wood it’s not practical for Lyme Valley to run as it as a shoot through. This Sunday would see 160+ archers joining us for a day shooting a mix of  3D targets and paper faces.

We had a great group with Sharon, Ben and I being joined by Jill and David Haynes from the Pride Park club, 2 very good compound archers and great company laughing and joking all the way round the course. Jill is also a coach trainer and had been one my assessors when I was taking my coaching course.
The Lyme Valleys course itself had been extensively modified since the last time we shot it, providing a mix of short medium and long shoots, going up, down and across the hillsides. Add to this the careful use of dead ground and trees to frame shots all made for a real challenge.
I’m still amazed to have hit the long turkey shot after the lunch break. Especially with the audience watching, themselves waiting to shoot the target. I’m sure the marshal had jinxed us when he’d said just before we were about to shoot “everyone gets it first arrow” – thanks Tom. We’d seen the group before lunch shoot the target and not all hit with their first arrow.

Amazingly we proved Tom right and did all hit it with our first arrow, though I did feel the pressure when I went up to shoot. I was the last adult to shoot and Jill, David and Sharon had all nailed it with their recurve and compound bows. There was me with my little flat bow and wooden arrows, I’d only finished making and marking up the day before.

Sharon did really well scoring 628 and winning ladies barebow. In fact I think she was only 2 points behind the third placed gents. All in the group did well with all of us getting placed. Yes that means I won my first ever medal in American Flatbow, only a third place but still a medal and placing 🙂
After all my concerns about target panic and reading on the subject and not forgetting the support from followers of this blog and fellow archers I’m more convinced than ever that you have to persist and work at it.

Big thanks to all at Lyme for a great day, already booked for your next shoot.
Thanks for your time in reading this.