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On Sunday 26th March Sway Bowmen sent an intrepid team of 17 to Waterside Archers to compete in an open shoot against a field of 45 archers from across the South. At stake were places in the open shoot but also a head-to-head match up against the Waterside Team for the Sway Water Trophy, a team accolade that has been contested by the two clubs for many years.
On a rainy, cold day everyone shot 6 dozen arrows at a distance of 30m. Sounds easy? Not so! Close distance shooting requires discipline and accuracy and this is particularly challenging when the weather is against one. Sway, however, proved more than equal to the task, winning 9 of the 10 categories they competed in and winning the Water Trophy by a convincing margin.
The club were particularly delighted that the team included archers who only completed their beginner’s courses last year but who were brave enough to join the team and mad enough to attend in the rain!
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So that's it, all over for another year. After three handicap setting nights, four practice sessions, twelve league nights and four weekend specials the Winter League is all wrapped up. We saw 43 different archers over the 23 sessions who between them submitted over 400 scored rounds to our records officer. We completed Bray I, Bray II, Portsmouth, Vegas, Worcester and WA25 rounds.
Well done to our four divisional champions who were awarded their winners shields by Shirley Gulliver our Club President at the AGM on Monday night.
- Winner of Division 1 (Recurve, Barebow, Compound) - Stuart Thomas
- Winner of Division 2 (Recurve, Barebow, Compound) - Darren Firth
- Winner of Division 3 (Recurve, Barebow, Compound) - Amanda Rios
- Winner of Division 4 (Longbow Division) - Tony Silver
To see the final league standings click here.
Thank you to all who took part and made it a great Indoor Season. Only a little over six months and we can do it all over again.
But for now....welcome to the 2023 Outdoor Season with nine tournaments to look out for (click here). First up is the Battle of Clontarf, a concept shoot taking place on 23rd April. More information to follow soon...and we'll need eight volunteers to be Chieftans to lead the eight Viking and Irish clans. Let your Tournament Officer (Jem Mason) know if you are interested. Costumes will be a must! (At least for the Chieftans).
Also look out for the new summer challenge The Metric Marathon. More information will be on the site soon or see Jem for details.
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As you are probably aware, Archery GB have overhauled the entire classification/handicap system.
Outdoor handicaps and classifications earnt before January 1st 2023 have been archived (but don't worry, any classifications earnt last year will still be awarded).
The new tables that tell you what you need to shoot can be found here: https://archerygb.org/resources/find-a-document/awards/outdoor-classifications-and-handicaps
(This information will eventually be in the relevant bit of our website too but our website guru is currently snowed under with work - your patience is appreciated!)
The highlights are this: Archer 1st, 2nd and 3rd class can be gained by the normal process i.e. shoot and record a score in practice or target day sessions, get it signed by your witness and send it in to the records officer. Once rounds totalling 12 dozen arrows at the correct distance and meeting the required score are received you will get your shiny badge.
The new part of the classifications is that it is now possible to attain a 1st, 2nd and 3rd class Bowman. To attain this you need to shoot 18 dozen arrows meeting slightly stricter (Target day) criteria:
- The session should have been offered in advance to anyone wanting to attend. For most people this will be a 'Whatsapp' message saying 'we will be shooting on this day, at this time...' For those who are not part of the Whatsapp group, you can contact a friend who is, or the admins (Jem Mason, Jo Long and Bob Hughes) who will ensure your message is communicated to the group.
- You must have a minimum of three people present at the shoot.
- You must all shoot a round from the same group of rounds e.g. one might shoot a long Western, and two an ordinary Western
- You must apply rules around practice and scoring as if it were a competition.
For the elite archers there are also Master Bowman, Grand Master Bowman and Elite Master Bowman. These require 36 dozen arrows shot in competitions with either UK or World Record status.
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Twenty-one archers submitted scores for a Worcester Round. Great fun, but not necessarily the scores we were looking for. Well done to Roisheen Sweeney for being the only person in the room to surpass their handicap this week (by 3 points).
With no performance points being awarded, league standings are largely unchanged, see them here.
We have one practice night (7th March) and one league night (14th March) left. Still chance for it all to change. Divisional prizes will be awarded at the club AGM on Monday 20th March 7.30pm at Sway Village Hall.