News from 3rd quarter of 2008
Warwickshire Outdoor Championship - 28 September 2008
The County Senior Outdoor Championship took place at Leamington on Sunday 28 September, a fine day with sunny periods and very little wind. The shoot had reverted to the traditional York / Hereford round and attracted 26 Warwickshire archers, including 10 from Leamington, the largest field for at least 4 years.
The Gents Recurve trophy for the York was won by Leamington's Brian Tustin, who shot a pb of 1126, a new club record. The silver medal was won on golds by James Scott with 958. Max Sowerby took the Gents Compound Trophy with 1054. Also shooting were Paul Roberts, Pete Hunnisett, Phil King (shooting for Warwick University), Perry Hughes, Steve Harriss, Angela Corrie and Angela Cave.
The Recurve Team award (1 lady, 3 gents) was also won by Leamington (Brian, James, Paul & Angela Corrie).
Leamington archers' results are on the Tournament Results page and the full results are on the County website.
Useful Win for Naomi at Crawley Field Championship - 27/28 September 2008
Naomi in action at a field shoot
Leamington’s Naomi Folkard was in top form at the Crawley Archery Club’s Field Championships last weekend.
The two day event comprising 24 targets at unmarked distances on Saturday and 24 at marked distances on Sunday was held at Furnace Wood, near East Grinstead, Sussex, in good weather conditions. Targets are of varying sizes which makes estimating the distances difficult. Sloping land and the varying width of pathways through the trees can also make distances very deceptive.
Naomi easily won the Ladies’ recurve competition. Her Saturday score of 353 and Sunday score of 338 gave her a combined total of 691, giving her a massive lead over Michelle Worthington (Crowthorne) who finished in second place on 452 and Jane Burchell (Forest of Bere) third with 247. This gives Naomi her first qualifying score of 592 or above, for the 2009 European Field Championships to be held at Champagnac in France.
Naomi, who has in the past year represented Great Britain at international level in outdoor target, indoor target and field archery, in the process winning numerous medals, has been nominated for the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Sportswoman of the Year Award. The awards will be made at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 9th October.
Success for our Juniors at West Midlands Champs - 14 September 2008
Isobel, Caitlin & Michael
Three Leamington juniors each won their class at the recent West Midlands Junior Championships held at Redhill, just south of Birmingham.
Youngsters shot rounds of 12 dozen arrows over three distances, distances varying according to age group.
12 year old Caitlin McCarthy won the under 13 girls recurve competition with a superb 1158 for the Bristol 4 round (40, 30 and 20 yds). This equalled her pb and put her well ahead of Alice Cotton (Long Mynd) who was second with 1084, and Sally Gilder (Evesham) third on 944. Caitlin’s 8 year old brother Michael also bagged gold in the under 9 boys’ recurve competition with 1078 for the Bristol 5 round ((20, 15 and 10 yds). Ethan Damerum (Long Mynd) was second with 748. The Leamington gold medal trio was completed by 8 year old Isobel Roberts who won the girls under 9 recurve event with 879.
Club success at the Warwickshire County Clout - 14 September 2008
Five Leamington archers; Angela Cave, Angela Corrie, Pete Hunnisett, Brian Tustin and Phil King, took part in the Warwickshire County Double One-way Clout, held at Bowflights. Although it was a fine day with little wind, the field was a mud-bath when we got there and deteriorated as we all splashed up and down to collect arrows. Nevertheless, our archers put in some good scores with Angela Corrie winning the County award for lady recurves at 140 yards and Brian winning the County award for gentlemen recurves at 180 yards. Angela Corrie also gained her blue tassel award, Brian and Pete gained their black tassels and Angela Cave her white tassel. These are GNAS awards for reaching certain scores in a record status double clout.
Juniors success in July Nationals
Only two of our juniors took part in this year's July Nationals competition. This is a national competition run by the GNAS each year. Nevertheless, Caitlin McCarthy managed to take 5th place (of 29) in the under-13 girls recurve section shooting 614, and Michael McCarthy came 1st (of 9) in the boys under-9 recurve category with 612.
A Good Turnout for the Club Championship - 31 August 2008
We had a relatively good turnout for the club Outdoor Championship tournament this year with 16 recurve and longbow archers shooting the FITA and Metric rounds. The weather was excellent with hardly any wind and only a slight shower towards the end. Fi Kemp, Phil King, David Hyde and Angela Corrie all shot above their handicap.
The Gents Recurve FITA was won by Brian Tustin on 1154 beating Tom Kemp by just 1 point with Phil King not far behind in 3rd with 1131. The Ladies FITA was closely fought with the lead changing throughout but was eventually won by Fi Kemp with 959 with Angela Cave 2nd on 913 and Angela Corrie 3rd on 910.
Kathy Folkard shot the ladies FITA with her longbow, scoring 200. Two Gents longbows, David Hyde and Brian Fennell, elected to shoot the Metric 1 round, David beating Brian 218 to 209.
Only 3 juniors shot; Caitlin McCarthy the only girl shot 1193 in the Metric 4. Henry Scott shot 1152 in the Metric 3 and Michael McCarthy shot 919 in the Metric 5.
Other results are on the tournament results page.
A Very Testing British Target Championship - 9/10 August 2008
The Annual British Target Championships were held at Lilleshall in appalling weather, high winds and torrential rain made shooting very difficult and consequently scores were very low. Consequently a significant number of archers did not start or retired before the finish. Nevertheless, two Leamington archers were among those who completed the two days. Brian Tustin finished 23rd with 865+936=1801 for the double York and James Scott was 28th with 835+907=1742. Full results are on the GNAS website.
Victory for Warwickshire - 3 August 2008
There was victory over Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire for both Warwickshire’s recurve and compound archers in the annual Tri-Counties event last weekend.
The competition held at Burton on Trent involved the FITA rounds of 12 dozen arrows, 3 dozen at each of 90, 70, 60 and 50 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies. There were separate matches for recurves, compounds and longbows. Warwickshire, however, did not produce a longbow team.
In the recurve match Warwickshire, despite the absence of some of its best archers, had a grand total of 11212, ahead of Derbyshire on 11046 and Nottinghamshire on 10879. The team comprised Leah Innocent (Coventry) 1205, Helen Markland (Meriden) 1145, Carol Byde (Sutton Coldfield) 1067, Natalie Gee (Sutton Coldfield) 1033, Steve Hallard (Rugby) 1236, Brian Tustin (Leamington) 1165, Craig Bowley (Meriden) 1131, Paul Jaggers (Rugby) 1102, Phil King (Leamington) 1072 and Bob Watson (Meriden) 1056. Innocent and Hallard topped the ladies’ and gents’ recurve tables, giving a strong boost to the Warwickshire team score. Helen Markland, Craig Bowley and Phil King in their first outing for the county all put in sound performances. Also shooting recurve for Warwickshire, but not on this occasion making the team, were Angela Corrie (Leamington), James Scott (Leamington) and Terry Deery (Rugby).
The Warwickshire compound team had a somewhat closer victory. With a total of 3981 it pipped Derbyshire, 3978, by just 3 points. Nottinghamshire finished on 3805. The experienced Warwickshire team comprised Jeanette Ross (Meriden) 1271, Garry Fowler (Meriden) 1368 and John Robbins (Meriden) 1342. Fowler had the highest score of the day. Dawn Leide (Leamington) and Brett Walker (Meriden) also shot for Warwickshire, but did not make the team.
Full results are on the County Website
Folkard, In Top Form, Leaves for Beijing
Leamington archer Naomi Folkard yesterday (Sunday 27 July) left GB for the BOA holding camp in Macau where the GB archery squad (3 ladies and 3 men) will make their final preparations and acclimatisation for the Beijing Olympics.
Folkard, now 24, has had an excellent year to date, both at home and abroad. Highlights include individual silver in the European Championships and team gold in a World Cup event in San Domingo. Since her last international outing at the end of June to the World Cup event in France, where the GB ladies claimed bronze, she has been training hard. In addition she has entered a number of major shoots at home over the last 3 weeks in which she produced some superb scores, sometimes in difficult conditions. Against stiff competition, she won the Bedford FITA 70 and Olympic head to head tournament, the Meriden Double FITA 70 competition, and the Cleve Archers FITA Star. Last Saturday she went to Andover to take part in the first day of their Double FITA Star and scored an amazing 1341 despite a miss at 50 metres when her site was incorrectly positioned.
Folkard finished 11th in the Athens Olympics, and this time hopes to bring back an individual medal. Her world ranking reached 9th a few weeks ago, but with no recent international tournaments, it has now dropped to 12th. The GB ladies’ team, which includes Athens bronze medallist, Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) and Charlotte Burgess (Bruntwood) are much fancied for a team medal. The three ladies, who are good friends and spend much time together, shoot extremely well as a team. They have been so successful on the international circuit that they are now ranked 2 in the World, behind Korea. However, they face stiff competition, not only from Korea, but also from the host nation China, Italy and Poland, all of whom are very close together in the complicated points ranking system.
Archery will start on the first day of competition in Beijing and will be completed by Day 7. Rather sadly all the archers will miss the opening ceremony in order to conserve their energy for competition. Folkard will also miss the closing ceremony, as her place in the GB team for the World Field Archery Championships at the beginning of September has now been confirmed, and she needs to return to GB early in order to prepare for that.
On leaving for Macau Folkard said: “I have worked really hard over the last 4 years preparing for Beijing and I am now very much looking forward to the event, and will do my very best to bring back a medal. I am particularly grateful to my coaches, Barry and June Farndon, at Coventry’s Dunlop Club. I just can’t thank them enough for their unflagging help over the last 15 years. Assistance from local sponsors, solicitors Wright Hassall and estate agent Malcolm Hawkesford has also been invaluable.”
Leamington Fun Summer Clout - 27 July 2008
Fourteen club members turned up to shoot the Summer Clout on one of the hottest days of the year. Some found a suitable sight mark quicker than others but most were hitting the target area fairly consistently by the end of the round. Most importantly, good fun was had by all in this light-hearted change from the usual target shooting. Results, if anyone's interested, are on the tournaments page.
Leamington Juniors in National Championships - 5/6 July 2008
Our youngest archers shooting the Bristol 5
Michael (left) & Isobel (right)
Five of our juniors, all shooting recurve, took part in the annual Junior National Championships held at Lilleshall over the weekend. Both days were marred by heavy showers and strong gusts of wind made shooting tricky on the Saturday but nevertheless some good scores were recorded.
On Saturday everyone shot the metric rounds, 3 dozen at each of 4 distances according to age. Henry Scott, having just moved up an age group, shot the Metric 3 and came 10th with a score of 1092. Caitlin McCarthy and Bethany Roberts shot the Metric 4 and Caitlin, shooting very well, managed to get the Bronze medal with her score of 1223. Bethany, shooting a little below par, was 5th with 1184. Michael McCarthy won the Metric 5 with an excellent 982. Caitlin's and Bethany's scores both counted towards the WMAS regional junior ladies team which won the team event. Henry's score counted towards the junior gents team which came 4th.
Sunday saw archers shooting the Bristol rounds; 6 dozen at the first distance, 4 dozen at the second and 2 dozen at the shortest distance. Henry stepped up a gear on Sunday to put in an excellent 1166 which earned him equal 4th place in the Bristol 3. Sadly Caitlin could not shoot on the Sunday as she had to leave for a school trip to France, but Bethany put in a 1082 to get her 5th place in the Bristol 4. Michael again shoot very well, wilnning the boys Bristol 5 with an excellent 1137. Isobel Roberts, our youngest archer, also shot the Bristol 5 winning the girls category with a score of 822. Henry's score counted towards the WMAS team that came 3rd in the regional team event. Henry's and Bethany's scores counted towards Warwichshire's 11th place in the County team event.
World Bronze for GB Ladies
British ladies happy with victory –
l to r: Suk (Coach), Folkard,
Williamson and Burgess
Leamington GB international Naomi Folkard was in the ladies’ recurve team which won the bronze medal in the fourth stage of the FITA World Cup event held last week in Boe, France. Folkard, together with Athens Olympic bronze medallist Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) and Charlotte Burgess (Bruntwood) proved yet again that they are one of the World’s top teams when they defeated China in the bronze medal match. Together they have won a series of medals at major world events, and now ranked 2nd in the world behind Korea, they will be representing GB at the Olympics in Beijing in August.
The event in Boe, the last major competition on the world scene before the Olympics, was very well attended by almost all the world’s top archers. There were 122 recurve ladies and 27 countries had complete teams in the ladies’ recurve event. Competition following the Olympic format, comprised a FITA 70 round (6 dozen arrows at 70 metres), which was used for ranking in both the team and individual competitions, followed by head-to-head matches for the top 64 individuals and the top 16 teams.
Folkard qualified in eighth place with a superb score of 660. Koreans, Sung-Hyun Park (Athens gold medallist) and Ok Hee Yun were first and second with 670 and 665 respectively. GB team mates Burgess and Williamson, with slightly disappointing scores, 635 and 623, qualified 26th and 45th respectively. This gave the GB ladies team a qualification ranking of 5th, behind Korea, China, Italy and Ukraine.
In the head-to-head matches each of 12 arrows, Folkard was rather unlucky. In her first match she beat Maidenia Sarduy (Cuba) 112 to 106. She then came up against Khatuna Narimanidze (Georgia), who had qualified in 40th place with 617 (for 6 dozen arrows). Narimanidze briefly hit top form and achieved her highest dozen total of the whole competition, to beat Folkard, 113 to 109. Although Folkard failed to make the last 16, as one of the highest scoring losers in the round she finished in 18th place. Meanwhile Williamson beat Esebua (Georgia) 104 to 103 to progress into the last 16, but she went out in the next round to Zhao (China) 111 to 103 and finished in thirteenth place. Burgess was unlucky to go out in her first match against Ana Maria Rendon (Columbia) who briefly hit form with 108 to 105, and Burgess finished in 40th place.
In the team event all the British girls shot well. They comfortably won their first match against number 12 seeds Poland 214 to 209. This put them up against number 4 seeds Ukraine (Berezhna, Koval and Rieznikova). Both teams stepped up a gear and in a very fierce competition the British ladies scraped a victory by 220 to 219. Qualifying in fifth place automatically put the British ladies in line to meet the top ranked Koreans in their semi-final match. The Koreans (Park, Yun and Joo) maintained the impressive form which they had shown throughout the event to win 226 to 208. Korea went on to beat Italy for gold. In the shoot off for the bronze medal GB met China, ranked number 2, in an exciting match. After the first end of 6 arrows China led 53 to 51, but the British girls pulled back in the second end when China only made 47 to GB’s 52. The British girls were consistent and followed this with ends of 52 and 51 to gain a total of 206. Despite 2 ends of 52 the Chinese could not pull back the deficit and finished on 204.
Folkard said: “Despite a slightly disappointing result in the individual competition, I know that actually I was shooting very well and I am now looking forward to Beijing”.
GB team manager Hilda Gibson said: “This was another fantastic performance by three wonderful archers, and I’m very proud of them”.
