News from 2010
Leamington Archers Excel at National Indoor Championships
A weekend of national tournaments at the International Centre, Telford, Shropshire brought success for a two of Leamington's archers. The Junior National Indoor Championships was shot alongside the new ‘Back to Back’ head-to-head tournament on Saturday, with the Senior National Indoor Championships taking place on Sunday. It was a full weekend of competition which attracted top archers from all parts of the UK.
Isobel recieving her award
from Duncan Busby
Junior National Indoor Championships
Shooting the Portsmouth round (5 dozen arrows at a 60 cm face over 20 yards),10 year old Isobel Roberts won the girls’ under 12 group with a score of 457, comfortably ahead of second placed Isobel Ager (OOBAC) 439. Also competing were Michael McCarthy (4th in boys under-12) and Caitlin McCarthy (girls under-16).
Back to Back Tournament
The first ever ‘Back to Back’ tournament was run alongside the Junior Championships. Shot at a 3 spot 40 cm face over 18 metres, it followed the same group round robin format as the well established Amsterdam ‘Face to Face’ tournament. (The round robin elimination rounds produce four archers in each discipline to proceed to semi final and then medal matches.)
Naomi Folkard pictured
on the Sunday
In the elimination rounds Naomi Folkard shot 588 and 587 (maximum just 600) for the 5 dozen arrows, both of which scores surpassed the existing national record of 586, held by herself. Unfortunately the competition did not have record status. She continued on top form to easily win all her final matches and beat Gill Newland (Corsham) for gold.
Senior National Indoor Championships
Naomi Folkard maintained her top form for the second day to win the ladies’ recurve championship.
In the 18 m qualification round Folkard shot 586 to equal her existing national record. She then stormed through her head to head matches. In the final she met Swedish international Jenny Jeppsson. Only dropping one point, she won in 3 sets 29 to 28, 30 to 27 and 30 to 28, which gave her 6 points to nil.
European Indoor Championships
Naomi, who is currently shooting superbly, has qualified and been selected for the GB team at the European Championships to be held in March in Spain. However, the event is to be self funded, and she is now struggling to get the necessary funds together.
6 December 2010
Starlight Shoot & BBQ
The torrential rain throughout Friday obviously put a lot of people off, but that was a shame as less than an hour before we were due to shoot the rain stopped and it turned into a very pleasant, warm evening with very little wind. About a dozen people shot the round (3 dozen arrows at 30 metres), and afterwards we all enjoyed a pleasant BBQ augmented by hot coffee (or whatever was the preferred beverage), Sandy's chocolate brownies and Mike's apple pie!
For those interested in the scores, Tom Kemp was the only compound and scored 313. Fi Kemp won the ladies recurve with 226 followed by Sandy Rice with 142. Pete Hunnisett won the gents recurve with 314, Niall Joy was second with 247 and Dan Tassell and Ash Krishna were joint third with 238.
2 October 2010
RLSAS Outdoor Championships
Sunday saw the annual club championships shot in very windy and cold conditions so there were no record scores this year! The rounds shot were the Ladies and Gents FITAs plus Metrics for the juniors.
The gents started at 90 metres and because of the windy conditions everyone had a few misses. Nevertheless Brian Tustin managed to hang in there and win with a score of 1077. Not far behind was Steve Partridge on 1059, putting us all to shame really as he shoots without a sight (EFAA barebow style) and in 3rd position was Nigel Butterworth on 987. Also shooting were Martyn Ellis, Pete Hunnisett, Paul Roberts and Paul McCarthy.
Shooting the Ladies FITA were Angela Cave, who won with a score of 863 and Deborah Owen.
For the Juniors Niall Joy shot 754 in the Metric II, not bad considering it was the first time he had ever shot at 60 metres, Caitlin McCarthy shot 1029 in the Metric III and Isobel Roberts shot 1173 in the Metric V.
27 September 2010
Archery GB National Series Finals
members of the public receiving expert tuition
This weekend saw the Grand Final of the Archery GB National Series Championships held in Jephson Gardens in Leamington. This event, now in its second year, attracts some of the country's finest archers, including our own Naomi Folkard.
As the local club we had been asked to put on a have-a-go session for members of the public to try out archery. Fortunately the day was warm and mostly sunny so we had a steady stream of people all day wanting to have a go. Events like this raise the public's awareness of archery as a sport and help to publicise us as a local club, as well as raising some funds. Many thanks to our members who took part and helped to make this a success.
the four gold medallists - (l to r)
former Olympic bronze medallist Simon Terry,
Naomi Folkard, Nichola Simpson and Chris White
Leamington archer Naomi Folkard won the ladies recurve title. She beat Sam Meadows in the semi finals to go on to the final against defending champion Charlotte Burgess. This was a closely fought match, stretching into the seventh set. Folkard shot a 10 with her first arrow which helped her to a first set advantage, but Burgess bounced back and went into a 4:2 lead after 3 sets, before Folkard turned it in her favour again. In the final end Folkard’s 9-9-10 to Burgess’s 9-8-8 eventually clinched the match.
Naomi, delighted with the result said: “It’s lovely to win the National Series gold medal, but especially satisfying to do it here in Leamington”.
Simon Terry won the men's recurve event, Nichola Simpson won the ladies compound and Rugby's Chris White won the men's compound.
For a fuller report of the event see the County of Warwickshire Archery site.
14 September 2010
Michael achieves Junior Master Bowman
Michael at the recent County Clout Shoot
Until this season the Junior Master Bowman classification was only awarded in the under-18 age group. However, from March it has been extended to the lower age groups.
On Saturday Michael McCarthy won the boys under-12 recurve category shooting a score of 991 in the Bristol 4 round at the WMAS Junior Championship.
This was Michael's third qualifying score for Junior Master Bowman ( the others being at the Midland Counties shoot and the Junior National Championships earlier in the summer) so he becomes our first junior to achieve this classification in the younger age groups.
This weekend's score was also the one he needed to complete his scores for the GNAS Black Arrow award. Well done Michael.
13 September 2010
County Clout Championships
Several Leamington archers took part in the annual Warwickshire County Clout Championships held on 5 September in conjunction with Bowflights Open Clout shoot. This is a double one-way clout to GNAS rules shot at 180 yards for men and 140 yards for ladies.
Brian Tustin came second in the gents recurve with a score of 126. Chris Earp and Angela Cave also shot the adult distances.
Caitlin and Michael McCarthy were the only juniors shooting and as there was no 80 yard target (Michael's official distance for his age) both elected to shoot at a higher distance. Consequently Michael shot at 100 yards and scored 95 and Caitlin shoot at 120 yards and scored 161, both very good scores. For the icing on the cake both finished the round with a 2 clout end (arrows within 18 inches of the target flag. Their scores earned Michael the White Tassel award and Caitlin the Black Tassel.
6 September 2010
Naomi Folkard Performs Well in Shanghai
Two Warwickshire archers, Leamington’s recurve Naomi Folkard and Rugby’s compound Chris White, performed well in the fourth and last leg of the FITA World Cup in Shanghai last week.
Both are now hopeful of wild card places in the World Cup final to be held in Edinburgh later this month.
Naomi, who had a slow start to the season has been steadily improving. She qualified in ninth place in Shanghai with an excellent 653 for 6 dozen arrows at 70 metres. She easily won her matches against Deonne Bridger (Australia) and Kristine Esebua (Georgia), but finally went out to Hui Ju Wu (Chinese Taipei).
The World Cup Final is for just the top 7 archers in each category, with a wild card place for the host country. As the highest qualifying British lady Naomi should get the ladies’ recurve place.
6 September 2010
Junior National Outdoor Championships
Caitlin, Isobel, Ben and Michael
Four of our juniors took part in the annual Junior championship held at Lilleshall last weekend. Both days were fine and warm but with very strong winds on the Sunday.
Saturday was the Metric rounds which saw Caitlin McCarthy 9th in the Metric 3 with a score of 1102 and Michael McCarthy 5th in the Metric 4 with 1086.
On the Sunday they were joined by Isobel Roberts and Ben Thompson for the Championship round which is normally the 12-dozen Bristol Rounds. However, as the strong wind was proving to be such a problem, it was decided to shorten the round to the 8-dozen Western rounds.
Nevertheless, despite the wind Isobel Roberts shot well above her handicap to take the silver medal for second place in the girls' Short Junior Western with a score of 760. Michael also shot above his handicap gaining 5th place in the Junior Western. Caitlin scored 666 in the Short Western and Ben shot 469 in the Western.
5 July 2010
Droitwich Summer Tournament
Four Leamington Archers took part in the annual summer tournament hosted by Droitwich company of archers.The Worcestershire shoot attracted a large turnout despite its clash with the England/Germany match, . Although very hot, a tricky wind proved challenging and kept scores down.The gentlemen shot the Albion round (3 dozen arrows at each of 80, 60, and 50 yards) and the ladies shot the Windsor (60, 50 and 40 yards).
The Albion for recurves was won by Kevin Gayton of Redditch with a score of 826. Paul Roberts led the Leamington challenge in third place with 780, equal with the early leader Paul Johnson of Redhill, but gaining the Bronze medal by achieving 43 golds to Johnsons 36. Chris Earp couldn`t match the form that saw him win last year, and trailed Johnson by just 4 points, despite shooting 44 golds. In his first competition over 80 yards. Glenn Owen, shooting his first Albion, found the conditions testing but still scored a commendable 587. Deborah Owen, shooting the Windsor shot well in spite of the conditions, scoring a very creditable 669.
28 June 2010
Leamington & Midland Counties Tournament
Isobel Roberts at Midland Counties
The 159th Leamington and Midland Counties Archery Meeting took place on the weekend of 5th and 6th June. As usual the competion was a double York/Hereford with appropriate Bristol rounds for juniors. Both days were warm and sunny with less wind than in recent years, although we did get a shower on the Sunday afternoon. We held the usual barBQ on the Saturday evening with excellent entertainment provided by the 'Old Gits' Blues Band.
The Champions Silver Mirror for the Ladies Double Hereford was won by Virginia Lichfield of Derwent Bowmen and the Champions Silver Challenge Bowl for the Gents Double York was won by Andrew Shreeves of Warwick University.
Janette Ross and John Robbins, both of Meriden AC, won in the Compound categories and the top Longbows were Ruth Field of Bowflights and David Seymour of Bingham Leisure Centre.
Leamington's Michael McCarthy, Isobel Roberts, and Annabel Thompson were among the juniors who gained medals.
The event was judged a success and the new boss stands proved to be a winner as we got no complaints about them or the bosses this year. Our thanks go to Philip King who stepped in as organiser at relatively short notice and to all the other club members who who helped out with preparations and throughout the tournament
See the full results.
20 June 2010
£100 off coaching courses
CSW Sport are offering a £100 bursary to go towards level 1 coaching qualifications and £200 bursary for level 2 or 3 coaching qualification, so if you have been interested in doing a coaching qualification in archery now may be the time to do it. In order to qualify you will need to deliver coaching within Coventry, Warwickshire or Solihull based on the councils regions. The next window for applications opens on the 14th June.
For more information see http://www.cswsport.org.uk/CoachBursaryScheme
1 June 2010
Andy Rikunenko wins European Gold
Andy Rikunenko won the Gold Medal in the Gents Compound category at the European Championships held at Rovereto in Italy.
Andy held his nerve and silenced a partisan home crowd as he beat Italy's Sergio Pagni in the final of the men's compound tournament. In five tightly contested sets, he took the gold with a 6-4 win.
He said afterwards "To be the European Champion is a fantastic feeling, and I am absolutely ecstatic, especially beating such a top class opponent in Sergio, and in his home country as well - it's simply awesome."
Andy, who shoots for Reddich, is also a member of Leamington, where he can often be seen practising.
30 May 2010
Leamington Archers win Trophies at Redhill
Six Leamington archers travelled to Wythall in Birmingham on Monday (3 May 2010) to compete in the American tournament staged by Redhill Archers. The weather was again cold and windy but once again Leamington archers performed well.
Brian Tustin won the Gents Recurve with a score of 750, for which he presented with a trophy and engraved glass tankard. Chris Earp was seventh with 721. Angela Cave was sixth in the Ladies Recurve with a score of 630.
Our juniors also did well. BenThompson won the Short American (50, 40 & 30 yards) with a score of 539 for which he was presented with an engraved hiball. Caitlin McCarthy also won a hiball for first place in the Junior American (40, 30 & 20 yards) with 696, and Annabel Thompson was third with 645.
Glenn Owen wins WMAS Novices Tournament
The annual West Midlands Novices tournament was held at Leamington on 2 May 2010. Archers shot the Western round of 4 dozen arrows at each of 60 and 50 yards with shorter distances for the juniors. Although rain was forecast, it held off but there was a strong and cold wind from the north-east which kept the overall scores down.
Glenn Owen shot consistently throughout to win the Gents Recurve trophy with a score of 655. Gordon Sharp (4th on 611) and Simon Lapworth (5th on 603) just missed out on the medals. Also shooting from Leamington were Richard Mabbett, Richard Piggott and Dave Smith.
In the Ladies Recurve category Melanie Yates came 3rd with a score of 472. Other Leamington ladies shooting were Deborah Owen and Suzanne Mabbett. Amy Byford was our only junior shooting this year.
More medals for Leamington at Stratford
Once again Leamington archers took their share of medals at Stratford's anual Shakespeare shoot (25 April 2010) which was held on a blustery and showery afternoon which made shooting a bit tricky.
Gentlemen shot the Albion round (3 dozen at 80, 60 and 50 yards) which was win by Brian Tustin on 832 followed by Chris Earp on 796. Pete Hunnisett was 4th with 757 and Paul McCarthy 8th with 694.
Junior Bethany Roberts, shooting compound, also shot the Albion, which is way above the distance for her age group and suffered in the adverse weather conditions.
Shooting the Windsor were Angela Cave (709) and Simon Lapworth (686).
Juniors shooting the Short Winsor were Caitlin McCarthy (730) and Ben Thompson (699), and shooting the Junior Windsor were Isobel Roberts (806) and Annabel Thompson (795).
Leamington Success at Meriden's Open American
Leamington had a good turnout at Meriden's 25th annual Open American shoot (18 April 2010). A total of 15 Leamington archers shot on a warm sunny day with not too much wind. Adults shot the American round of two and a half dozen arrows at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards and juniors shot shorter distances.
Brian Tustin won the gents recurve on 760 with Chris Earp second on 741. Other gents recurves from Leamington were Martyn Ellis, Nigel Butterworth, Paul Roberts, Glenn Owen and Paul McCarthy.
Angela Cave came 3rd in the ladioes recurve with a score of 597. Our other ladies were Melanie Yates and Deborah Owen, both of whom won classification medals.
Junior Bethany Roberts, shooting her compound for the first time in a competition also shot the adult distances and scored a creditable 622.
Juniors shooting the Short American were Ben Thompson (644) and Caitlin McCarthy (638). Of our younger juniors shooting the Junior American, Annabel Thompson won the junior ladies with 673 and Michael McCarthy was second in the junior gents with 599.
Flying Start to Season for Naomi
Naomi at the 2009 World Games in Korea
Leamington’s two times Olympic archer, Naomi Folkard, made an excellent start to the outdoor season winning the ladies recurve competition at the Meriden Archery Club’s Easter pre-season FITA Star Tournament with an excellent score. With the first GB and Commonwealth Games selection shoots coming up in mid April, the event attracted a large number of GB and England archers and competition was fierce. The shoot also incorporated the Warwickshire county trials and therefore many of the best county archers competed.
The competition involved the FITA round of 12 dozen arrows, with 3 dozen at each of 4 distances (90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies and juniors). Although the variable winds were tricky at times, and the ground was very wet underfoot, it remained dry throughout and shooting conditions were fairly good.
Naomi finished on 1308, with a massive lead over Rebecca Martin (Trent Valley) second on 1195, and Joann Lunt (Saints and Sinners) 1194. Naomi, who has been training hard over the winter making changes to both her equipment and shooting technique, was pleased with the result.
The top scores in all sections were high. Former Olympic bronze medallist Simon Terry (Chorley) achieved a magnificent 1348 in the men’s recurve; GB top ranked compound for many years Chris White (Rugby) shot 1394; and Andrea Gales (Woking) a GB lady compound scored 1373.
Other Leamington archers shooting were recurves James Folkard, Brian Tustin and Chris Earp and compounds James and Henry Scott.
5 April 2010
Leamington Juniors Collect Medals at Clophill
Bethany, Isobel, Michael and Caitlin
Four Leamington youngsters, all recurve archers, shot the annual Clophill Indoor Junior tournament last Saturday with considerable success. The competition involved the Portsmouth round of 5 dozen arrows at a 60cm target face over 20 yds.
9 year old Isobel Roberts, from Fenny Compton, scored 379, and although this was well below her personal best she won the under 13 girls competition. Clophill’s Ellie Roberts took second place with 351.
Isobel’s 13 year old sister Bethany, shooting in the under 16 girls event, had a disappointing day. Her score of 442 was well down on her usual score level, but she finished in fifth place.
10 year old Michael McCarthy was on excellent form finishing on 434, which put 25 points on his pb and earned him the silver medal in the boys under 12 section, behind Joe Ground (Thorpe Hamlet) 501.
14 year old Caitlin McCarthy matched her brother’s silver medal taking second place in the girls under 16 section with 504. The winner in this section was Sophie Cole (Chelmsford) with an excellent 558.
Success for Naomi at National Indoor Champs
Leamington’s top international Naomi Folkard put in an excellent performance last weekend (20/21 Feb) at the National Indoor Championships at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
Archers shot the FITA 18 round of 5 dozen arrows at a small 3 spot face over 18 metres, which was followed by a head to head knock out competition for the top 32 qualifiers in each category.
Naomi qualified in first place with an excellent 570. Fellow Olympians Charlotte Burgess (Bruntwood) and Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) qualified in second and third places respectively with 567 and 558. In the head to head elimination rounds of 12 arrow matches, Naomi was the highest scoring archer in every round up to the gold final. She beat Ashleigh McCloud (LoughboroughUniv) 114 to 88, Jenna Derraven (Gwent) 114 to 111, Emma Downie (Edinburgh Univ) 115 to 107, and Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 115 to111. This brought her into the gold medal match against Burgess, which finished 110 to 113. Although disappointed with second place, Folkard was pleased with her day’s shooting as she was using new equipment and has recently made changes in shooting technique in preparation for the coming outdoor season.
Andy Rikunenko (Redditch) who also shoots at Leamington came second in the men's compound competition, behind Chris White (Rugby).
Leamington archers in Leicestershire
Three Leamington archers took part in the Leicestershire indoor championships at Oadby last Sunday (7 February). The shoot was also an open competition and all archers shot the Portsmouth round. Conditions were not ideal as there was no heating in the hall so, with near-freezing conditions outside, it was declared inclement!!
Father and daughter, Paul and Isobel Roberts both shot, Paul scoring 549 to come 13th among the gents recurves, and Isobel came 7th in the junior lady recurves with 423. But surprise of the day came from novice archer Glenn Owen who came 15th (of 46) with an excellent 542, adding 40 points to his PB. Obviously one to watch!
Good Shooting at County Championships
Local archers put in some good performances yesterday at the senior County Indoor Championships held in conjunction with both the County and Regional Junior Championships, at the Harry Mitchell Sports Centre in Warley. The national record status event, involving the Portsmouth round of 5 dozen arrows shot at a 60 cm face over 20 yds, was well attended by West Midlands archers, and, although no records were broken, some good scores were shot.
The senior championship winners were, for the ladies, recurve Natalie Gee (Sutton Coldfield) and compound Janette Ross (Meriden) and for the men, recurve Brian Tustin (Leamington) and compound Adam Ravenscroft (Bowflights, Birmingham). Ravenscroft set a new county record with 592, which is only one point off the current national record.
The junior county champions were Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) and Jacob Vick (Meriden). Caitlin was 1st under 16 girl in the county championships and 3rd U16 girl in the West Midlands. Jacob was 1st under 16 boy in the county event and 2nd in the West Midlands.
Other local medal winners were Angela Cave (Leamington) 2nd recurve lady, Chris Earp (Leamington) 2nd recurve man, and Michael McCarthy (Leamington) 1st county and 3rd West Midlands boy in the under 14 sections.
Dowload the Full results here.
Leamington's Folkard Doing Well Indoors
Leamington’s Olympic archer Naomi Folkard has been maintaining competition practice indoors over the indoor season, with good results.
Last month she won the Welland Valley FITA 18 (5 dozen arrows at 40cm 3 spot face over 18 metres) with an excellent 568. She also won the Sherwood Archers FITA 18 event with 567, ahead of fellow GB internationals Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 533 and Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) 526. In her second shoot at Sherwood, which did not count in the competition, Folkard scored 574.
Last week she competed in Nimes in a FITA 18 and head to head event, which was well attended by archers from all parts of Europe and USA. The competition was fierce with 150 recurve ladies taking part in Folkard’s class. She finished 13th, unlucky to go out in the 1/8 round to long time rival and eventual winner of the competition, Berengere Schuh, France.
Folkard has recently obtained sponsorship from Recaro, manufacturers of racing and child seats
