Tag Archives: national field archery society

Oct 3 2011

Shoot Report – NFAS Nationals

Well it’s been a while since I last posted on this this blog, so here goes.

So what has been happening?

The big thing has been the NFAS National Championships 17th-18th September at Eastnor Castle, near Ledbury. This is a 2 day shoot, where you shoot 2 different courses. A course on Saturday and this year Y course on Sunday. Photos here https://picasaweb.google.com/111701601294639380446/NFASNationals2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Originally there were to be 4 courses, 2 for wooden arrows (A+B) and 2 for metal (X+Y), but thereweren’t enough entires to warrent 4 courses so X course was dropped. This was a bit of a shame as it meant as I thikn it was obvious that Y course was not set for wooden arrows. I’m not complaining about the distances of the shots, but the choice of faces (very skinny for the distances) meant it pretty tough for woods. Whilst discussing target faces I was disappointed by the number of repeated faces on the courses. There are enough faces out there for a nationals course not to have to repeat faces

On the subject of target faces Merlin Archery (http://www.merlinarcherycentre.co.uk/) had a selection of new taret faces on display at their stall.Nice to see some new taret faces and some of them look really good.

We headed down on Friday and pitched the tent in the afternoon, glad we headed down in day light as it wasn’t the easiest place to find. There were a few people who had to pitch their tent in the dark, witht he aid of headlights and torches.

Ok so how did we get on? Well not too bad really. I came 20th in my category, best result at a nationals. Am really proud of Sharon though as she came 2nd (was second after the first day and managed to hold it together onthe second day despite a harder course) My personal achievement was not blanking any targets over teh weekend. Oh and we were 10 points behind the winners of the Nearest and Dearest trophy (2004 to 2014, Congrats to Andy and Carol Soars)

There are a load of photographs of thecourse and the weekend  (http://www.nfas.net/photos/2011Nationals.asp)

Overall a good weekend. Think the cost and distance may have put some people off which is a shame and maybe something organisers need to consider in the future

Aug 30 2011

Shoot Report – Castle shoot August Bank Holiday 2011

A few photos from a cracking weekend

Photos from weekend

Photos from weekend
Castle August 2011 Above is the trophy Sharon won on the First day

Over the bank holiday weekend we journeyed up to the Castle Bowmen grounds for there 2 1 day shoots. Neither of us had shot Castle before and thought this a great opportunity
So early on Saturday morning we packed the car and headed North, via Loughborough as we had to pick up some camping supplies. We’d arranged to meet up with some fellow archers at a local campsite, (thanks Karen for finding the site, was great) Arriving on Saturday afternoon we pitched the tent and then ended up moving it closer to the Conisbrough Castle Archers (http://www.ccarchers.webs.com/) crew.
Saturday was a BBQ and early ish night for the shoot Sunday. This would be a trophy shoot.
The course proved challenging with 4 loops to allow for stops at catering. Think they could have dropped one of the stops. Good selection of distances and some good use of dead ground. Though if you were under 5ft 6 I think a few shots might have proved very tough. We were shooting with 2 great compound archers from Black Sheep, Mark and Lynn.
Sharon won hence the photo and I got a 3rd place. The plan for the evening was a pub meal but when we got to the pub in the village we discovered they had stopped serving so it was across the road and Chinese take away. This was a great idea as it was fantastic, washed down with liberal amount of alcohol back at the campsite.
The only problem being, my shoulder locking up in the evening when I was getting out of my chair, actually read trying to get out of my chair. Guess it’s still not right and I wondered how it would cope with Monday shoot.
Monday saw some changes to the ground, with pegs moved and the organisers taking on some of the comments from the previous day had changed a few shots. Always good to see a slightly different course on the second day rather than the same again. Again we had the good fortune to shoot with Mark and Lynn
Mark put in a storming day of shooting scoring 900 points, sadly my back and should started playing up three quarters way round, but that was nothing in comparison to Lynn who at one target had her back crack. At this point I must say I think she was fantastic, you could see the pain in her face but she refused to give in and though her score dropped slightly she still put in a storming show. Well done a true inspiration to anyone who has physical difficulties but doesn’t allow them to stop them enjoying the hobby.
So how did the second day go?
Sharon won her second 1st in 2 days and I put in a personal best of 702 to win too.

Aug 16 2011

Shoot Report – Lyme Valley shoot

Waking early on Sunday we headed north to Lyme Valley, just outside stoke. The ground is a wooded valley with quite steep sides and we were both hoping it remained dry as it is very ,very slippery when wet.

As luck would have it the weather held, with only a slight shower early on in the day. As for my shoulder it coped for about half the course but was locking up by the afternoon – resulting in a drop of 100 points from the first half. This was really demoralizing as I’d been feeling really good initially. I managed to score 292 in the first 18 targets but only 194 in the second 18, truly terrible!!

Having said I didn’t shoot well, I’m very proud of Sharon who won first place, with 584 and 4 spots. Her face was a picture when she realized she had won.

The course is always challenging and with over 160 archers it was a busy day for all. The morning proved a bit slow, largely due to numbers and a few targets requiring 3rd arrows. One thing I will say is the we were up and down the sides of the valley. Some really technical shots that you had to judge height etc on By Lunch we had shot 14 targets, which seemed average for most groups.

I’m not a big fan of lunch breaks, much prefer shoot through but not all grounds can accommodate this due to their geography. The advantage Lyme Valley has, is a large field that means there is enough.

In all a good shoot, but has made me wonder about my shoulder and whether I will be able to cope with the flatbow. Chances are I’m going to have to shoot the recurve for the nationals 😦

Lyme Valley website