News from 4th quarter of 2007
Henry gets Bronze at Stratford
Junior archer Henry Scott was awarded the bronze medal for his score of 938 in the annual Stratford Double Portsmouth held on 16th December (446 in the morning session and 492 in the afternoon). All archers shot the Portsmouth round of 5 dozen arrows at 20 yards.
Also shooting in the Gents recurve category were Brian Tustin, 4th with 1135 (566 and 569) equalling the club record, and James Scott, 5th with 1131 (562 and 569).
Medals at Junior National Indoor Championships
Four Leamington juniors competed in the Junior National Indoor Championships last weekend at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre. All performed well and two came away with medals.
Nearly 300 youngsters from all parts of the British Isles took part in the event. They shot the Portsmouth round of 5 dozen arrows at a 60 cm face over 20 yards.
Michael McCarthy (pictured left with sister Caitlin), at 7 one of the youngest competitors, won the boys' under 9 recurve competition with a 'pb' of 247. He was well ahead of Jayden Murray (Thorpe Hamlet) who with 197 finished second.
11 year old Bethany Roberts (pictured right) was up against stiff competition in the under-13 recurve girls group, but with a 'pb' of 504, she just edged into bronze medal position. Rachel Beardsley (Severn) was first with a very impressive 562, and Sophie Cole (Chelmsford) was second with 511. Club mate Caitlin McCarthy, also in this section, put in a sound performance to finish 12th with 441.
11 year old Henry Scott (pictured right) also faced stiff competition in the recurve boys under-12 section. Despite a couple of low scoring arrows he achieved an excellent 535 and another 'pb', but finishing in fourth place, he just missed out on a medal. Zak Crawford (Welland Valley) took gold in this section with 555.
Henry Helps Leamington Claim Gold
A small contingent of Leamington archers yesterday (Sun 25 Nov 07) entered the Redditch indoor 'Stafford' tournament, and came back with a number of medals, and the recurve team trophy.
The event was well attended, predominantly by local archers. There were some excellent scores for the Stafford round, which comprises 6 dozen arrows at an 80 cm face over 30 metres.
The men's recurve event was won by Dave Beardsley (Severn Archers) with an excellent 682 points out of a maximum of 720. Leamington's Brian Tustin, together with Mike Lewis (Saints and SInners) were not far behind on 674, but Lewis took silver on golds, 38 to 36. The other Leamington men also shot well: James Scott (654) and Pete Hunnisett (621).
The only Leamington lady shooting was Angela Cave, who with 587 picked up the 'D' class medal.
Leamington's 11-year-old Henry Scott put in a very good performance to beat many of the adults present and achieve 606, a personal best by 59 points. Henry hopes to maintain his form for the junior National Indoor Championships at Lilleshall National Sports Centre next weekend. Henry, together with Brian Tustin and father James Scott made up the Leamington team which took first place in the team event.
Folkard wins Evesham Event
Leamington's Naomi Folkard showed her class again last weekend at the Evesham 18 metre FITA tournament by taking gold with a massive lead over the rest of the field.
For the 5 dozen arrows shot at a small 3 spot face over 18 metres, Naomi scored 583 points. England international, Linda Haines (Evesham) was second with 540 and Joann Lunt (Saints and Sinners) was third with 537.
Two other members of the Leamington club also performed well. Colin Geenes, a student at Coventry University who shoots for Lakeside, was second (551) in the men's recurve competition, and Andy Rikunenko, shooting for Redditch, was third (577) in the men's compound event.
Folkard Maintains Top Form Indoors
Leamington's UK number 1 target archer, Naomi Folkard, yesterday (11 Nov 07) shot a world class score at the Evesham FITA 18 tournament, to win the event by a massive 43 points from England international, Linda Haines (Evesham).
The well attended competition involved the FITA 18 round of 5 dozen arrows over 18 metres at a small 3 spot face. Folkard, who is taking the opportunity of the current break in international competition to change some details of technique and equipment, was pleased to score 583. This is only 3 points off the national record she set at the World Indoor Championships in March when she took the bronze medal, and is 4 points up on her score two weeks ago at the Droitwich Combined FITA. Her first two 'dozen scores' were excellent, 116 and 117, but a slight blip of two 8s at the beginning of the third dozen reduced the dozen total to 113. However, Folkard came back with a superb 118 and 119, giving her a massive second half total of 296 out of a possible 300. The world record for the full round currently stands at 591, perhaps within Folkard's reach.
Linda Haines took silver with 540, and Josie Lunt (Saints and Sinners) bronze with 537.
Folkard Tops Target Rankings
Leamington recurve archer, Naomi Folkard, who shoots for Coventry's Dunlop club, with another superb year both at home and abroad has topped the national target rankings for the seventh year. Showing amazing versatility and prowess as an all-round archer, she has also this month hit the number 1 spot in the World Field Archery rankings, and, just yesterday (28 Oct), started the indoor season with a superb record breaking score which augurs well for the coming 2008 European Indoor Target Archery Championships.
In the recently published UK Target rankings, which are based on best scores in FITA rounds and head to head matches, Folkard amassed a total of 5515 points Athens bronze medallist Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) took the number 2 spot with 5453, and Lana Needham (Links, Scotland) was third on 5340.
A number of other Leamington club members also feature well in the rankings: Nicky Hunt (Clophill) 1st lady compound, Colin Geenes (Lakeside) 12th man recurve, and Andy Rikunenko (Redditch) 7th Man compound. Other local archers at the top are Chris White (Rugby) 1st man compound, Jon Shales ('V' Archers) 11th man recurve and Philippa Lowe (Meriden) 5th lady recurve.
In the World Field rankings, in which a limited number of shoots throughout the world are rated to enable a comparison of scores, Naomi's excellent performance in September at the World Field Championship Test event, pushed her to the top with an average score of 327.64. Deonne Bridger (Austria) lies second on 321.49 and Jessica Tomasi (Italy) third on 321.13. It is, however, unlikely that Folkard will feature in the final results, as with training commitments etc she will be unable to compete in enough ranking events.
In her first indoor competition of the season, the Droitwich combined FITA (a FITA 25 followed by a FITA 18), Folkard yesterday opened with a new national record for the combined round of 1158. This added four points to her own record established at the same shoot last year. She scored 579 for both rounds, 5 dozen arrows at a 60 cm face over 25 metres, and 5dozen arrows at a 40 cm face over 18 metres. With the European Indoor Target Championships looming, in Torino, Italy, in March, this is a very encouraging result. Folkard has already achieved the necessary scores to qualify for the shoot off, in January, for GB team places.
Folkard, a Birmingham University music graduate, is currently training full time. When looking to the future she says 'My primary objective is a medal in Beijing, but I am also hopeful of success next year in the World Field and the European Indoor Championships'. She is aided by sponsorship from local companies, solicitors Wright Hassall and estate agent Malcolm Hawkesford.
Warwickshire Recurves win Annual Regional Inter-County Match
The annual end of season five way inter county competition was held last Sunday (14 Oct 07) at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire. Shooting against Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. Warwickshire recurve archers led the way throughout the day and had a fairly comfortable victory despite the absence of some of their top archers. The compounds, however, similarly lacking some of their best performers, had to be satisfied with second place.
Archers shot the FITA round of 3 dozen arrows at each of 4 distances (70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies and 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men). After a wet start, the day improved slightly, but remained cold, dull and damp. However, there was only a light wind, although it was at times tricky.
The Warwickshire recurve team comprised: Leah Innocent (Coventry)1191, Kathy Folkard (Leamington) 1147, Carol Byde (Sutton Coldfield) 1007, Lee Williams (Meriden) 1243, Colin Geenes (Leamington) 1225, Brian Tustin (Leamington) 1195, Tom Kemp (Leamington) 1193 and Adrian Kinzett (Meriden) 1130. The combined team score was 9331. Despite the presence of Olympic bronze medalist Alison Williamson in the Shropshire team, with 8948 they had to settle for second place. Worcestershire followed hard on their heels with 8940 to finish third.
The compound match was more closely fought. The Warwickshire team of Dawn Leide (Leamington) 1242, John Robbins (Meriden) 1354 and Adam Ravenscroft (Bowflights) 1352, amassed a total of 3948. This put them in second place behind Worcestershire, who fielded their best internationals Andy Rikunenko and Sheila Harris, to total 4023. Staffordshire came third with 3875.
Leah Innocent finished third in her category and Lee Williams finished second in his to be rewarded with one of the much coveted Roy Matthews medals.
Also shooting for Warwickshire, but not making the teams were recurves Wendy Baird (Meriden), Eleanor Bromage (Meriden), Dean Holmes (Meriden), Pete Hunnisett (Leamington) and Paul Jaggers (Rugby), and compounds Janette Ross (Meriden) and Brett Walker (Meriden).
Folkard wins National Field Championships - 13/14 October 2007
Leamington recurve archer, Naomi Folkard, last weekend won the English Field Championships held at Mouldsworth in Cheshire, in the process breaking two national records.
On a challenging steep sloping wooded course, archers shot the 24 target FITA rounds with unmarked distances on Saturday and marked distances on Sunday. Assisted by good weather conditions, Folkard shot superbly. On the very difficult unmarked course she scored 337, just 2 points below her own national record, but beating all other recurve archers including the men. On the marked course , again finishing in first place with 337 points, she put four points on to her own national record. This gave her a combined score for the event of 674, well ahead of fellow GB internationals, Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) who was second with 625, and Charlotte Burgess (Bruntwood) who was third with 554. The existing record for the combined, again held by Folkard, was 665.
Jon Shales, a former World Field Champion from 'V' Archers, another Warwickshire club, finished on 634 to take bronze in the men's recurve competition.
Folkard, who is primarily a target archer now preparing for the Beijing Olympics, took bronze in the World Field Championships in 2006. She is hoping to improve on this in the next World Championship event shortly after the Olympics in 2008. She currently heads the selection tables, but must obtain two more qualifying scores of at least 564, next year.
Leamington Round off Season in Style
Nine Leamington archers yesterday attended the last local shoot of the outdoor season, the Meriden Club's Open Windsor. As usual they made their presence felt in the medal market.
Both ladies and gents shot the Windsor round of 9 dozen arrows, 3 dozen at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards; and juniors shot the shorter distance Windsor rounds according to age group.
In the men's recurve event Brian Tustin was on form with an excellent 932. This gave him a clear victory over, in second place, Mike Lewis (Saints and Sinners) 920, and third, Dean Holmes (Meriden) 896. Also shooting in this category were Leamington clubmates Paul Roberts (869), Pete Hunnisett (868), Paul McCarthy (838) and in his first competition, newcomer Perry Hughes (648). Pete Hunnisett picked up the Veteran's Award.
In the ladies' recurve competition Linda Haines (Evesham) set a new national record for the round with 972 points out of the maximum 972. Leah Innocent (Coventry) took second place with 910. Angela Cave (Leamington) 790, finished 8th.
Leamington's Dawn Leide despite an excellent 960 in the ladies' compound competition, had to be satisfied with second place, behind England international Sheila Harris (Redhill) 966. Nevertheless Dawn's score was a new club and county record.
Leamington juniors, Bethany Roberts and Caitlin McCarthy, also performed well, taking first and second places respectively in the Junior Windsor (40,30 and 20 yards). Bethany's score, an excellent 872, was also a new club and county record.
To round off the day, the Leamington team, Brian Tustin, Paul Roberts, Pete Hunnisett, Paul McCarthy and Bethany Roberts, won the Davies Rose Bowl for 5 recurve archers from one club.
