2016 Autumn Archery UK MagazineCover

The official magazine of Archery GB

Cover teasers

Brazilliant: GB smashes Rio targets Inside: All your tournament updates plus all your latest news.

Cover photo credits:

Title: Rio.Pictures: onEdition and World Archery.

Editor's letter

Welcome.

Have you caught your breath yet? I don't think we have. What a fantastic time to be involved in British archery. Our wonderful Olympians and Paralympians smashed their targets. We even added six medals to Great Britain's amazing haul and achieved a rare clean sweep.

It's not only been about Rio though. We have a new European champion – and things haven't been too shabby on the domestic front. We have full tournament coverage, including field, clout and the national flight championships. And, of course, we have all your news.

Speaking of which, we need your help. We want to extend our coverage even further and are planning to bring in regional reports next year. So we are looking for reporters, both junior and senior. Do you fancy having a go?

We are still at the planning stage but if you are interested, get in touch at magazine@archerygb.org and tell us a little bit about yourself.

In the meantime, the indoor season beckons.

Good shooting.

Jane PercivalEditor

Contents

4 Cover story: Mission accomplished, for now16 News28 History30 Partnership News30 Juniors33 Development38 New Products40 Big Weekend42 Unis43 Field45 Clout47 Flight48 National tournaments56 Performance63 Mailbag

66 Experts77 Membership79 Disabilities80 Board84 Records and Achievements119 And finally120 Sponsors

Separate documents

2016 Autumn Tournament Diary: Archery UK Magazine2016 Autumn Directory: Archery UK Magazine

Production Information

Publisher

Produced on behalf of Archery GB by: TRMG Ltd, 1 Forum Place, Hatfield, Herts AL10 0RN. Tel: 01707 273 999. TRMG web site: www.trmg.co.uk .

Publishing Director: Jon FellowsOperations Director: Andrew StevensHead of Production: Charles DragazisProject Manager: Stefan GlosbyDesign: Claire GardnerSenior Commercial Manager: Steve Chambers

Disclaimer

While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, the organisers Archery GB and the publishers TRMG cannot accept liability for any statement or error contained herein © 2016.

Printing

The paper used for printing this magazine has been sourced from sustainably managed forests in accordance with the ISO 14001 and EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) standards, which are internationally recognised and externally audited integrated environmental management systems.

Published for:

Archery GB, Lilleshall National Sports & Conferencing Centre, Newport, Shropshire TF10 9AT. Tel: 01952 677888. AGB web site: www.archerygb.org . Email: magazine@archerygb.org. See also the Directory document for individual staff contact details.

Correspondence

Correspondence with regard to Archery UK including mailing list queries and enquiries about advertising, should be addressed to Archery GB at the address above.

Copy deadline for the winter edition:

16 October 2016.

AGB disclaimer

Archery UK is the Official Magazine of Archery GB and is read by all members. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, however caused. Letters, articles and features do not necessarily represent the opinion of Archery GB.

The decision whether or not to include material submitted for inclusion (whether advertising or otherwise) shall be entirely at the discretion of the Editor and/or the Marketing Manager. No responsibility can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork, editorial or advertising material in transmission or with the publishers or their agents, although every care will be taken to ensure safe return of items requested to be returned.

© 2016 Archery GB

Cover story: Mission accomplished, for now

Mission accomplished: All targets smashed at Rio – but there's more to come

Three Union Flags flying together at the Paralympics. It is not an image anyone will forget any time soon. It was the first time it had happened in decades and it, more than anything else, symbolises how far British archery has come.

We still have far to go but topping the archery medals table at Rio with three golds, two silvers and a bronze, shows that we are well on our way. And we beat both our Olympic and Paralympic targets.

Performance Director David Tillotson said: "It is important we were present for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio and clearly very pleasing that we beat our targets at both Games."

So how has it been achieved? Strengthening the sport's infrastructure and coaching expertise has played its part, as has bringing in new people and opening the door to more potential Olympians and Paralympians through Archery GB's Performance Pathway.

And there has been a change in the way we prepare. Instead of concentrating solely on technical aspects and skills, the focus has switched to competition strategy, greater individual responsibility and creating the right supportive culture.

Part of that has been greater collaboration, working with other international squads both at home and abroad and thorough preparation.

"Rio was a challenging Games on many levels, such as climate, security, transport and infrastructure", said David. "And it was encouraging to see the effort we put into individual and team specific preparation pay off, particularly the Olympic squad training with the Turkish team in Antalya and the Paralympic squad rehearsing the Rio arrangements in their Lilleshall/Meriden camp.

"But Rio is now behind us and we now need to reset. We need to consider what's new and what more we need to do in order to remain or be even more competitive. The sport is a brutally honest and transparent one, with no hiding from the scores on the targets. We will be moving our thinking and behaving beyond the technical components of archery to a planning and delivery that is unashamedly focused on high performance medal winning."

The Road to Rio:

Competition success and lots of support

Photo: Our Paralympians at the send-off party. Picture: Muriel Kirkwood.

Photo: Naomi Folkard and Patrick Huston at the party. Picture: Muriel Kirkwood.

From hundreds of names on target faces from the Junior National Outdoor Championships to social media campaigns, and a joint send-off party for our Olympians and Paralympians, the support for our athletes was overwhelming as they headed out to Rio.

But they had to put in some hard work to get there in the first place, fighting through tough selection shoots. Then there was lots of competition practice as well as rehearsal sessions and specialist training camps – where they got the chance to check out and test themselves against their international competition. And, of course, they had to earn quota places for the Games.

Our Paralympians led the way, earning quota places at the European Championships in France. Then Patrick Huston secured our first Olympic spot when Archery GB hosted the highly successful European Championships in Nottingham. Could we win more? Of course we could.

That's the way to do it

Photo: She did it. Naomi Falkard hugs Team Manager Jon Nott after qualifying for Ria. Picture: World Archery.

Stage three of the World Cup in Antalya presented Naomi Folkard with a unique opportunity. The tournament included the very last chance to qualify for Rio. And she had said that these were to be her last Olympics. To get there, she had to win her quarter final.

But she did much better than that. She won the silver medal with a superb performance, dispatching Cuba's Elizabeth Rodriguez, Kareel Mee Hongitan of the Philippines, Greece's Evangelia Psarra and Moldovan Alexandra Mirca, who had ended Bryony Pitman's hopes.

That brought her face to face with Laura Nurmsalu in the gold medal match. The Estonian won – but Naomi had achieved what she set out to do. She was going to Rio.

There was, however frustration for our teams who had to reach the last three to qualify.

Patrick Huston, Kieran Slater and Larry Godfrey beat Japan 6 to 2 to make it to the quarter finals but their opponents, Germany, proved too strong. It was a similar story for Naomi, Amy Oliver and Bryony. They beat Spain easily but were denied a semi-final spot by Estonia.

Sign of things to come

Six medals. That was Britain's haul when members of our para-archery squad flew out to the Czech Republic to further hone their skills ready for Rio.

They had already secured 10 quota places when they competed in the Czech Target Para-Archery World Ranking Event in Nove Mesto. But they were not about to rest on their laurels. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.

They started as they meant to go on, picking up two golds and a bronze in the team competitions. Compounders Mikey Hall, John Stubbs and Nathan Macqueen took Italy to a 224 all draw in the final. They landed 28 in the shoot-off to beat their rivals by one point and claim the gold medal.

An hour later Jo Frith and John Walker collected W1 mixed team gold, beating the Czech Republic by a whopping 20-point margin.

John Stubbs added a second medal to his collection when he picked up the compound mixed team bronze with Jodie Grinham, beating Sweden 146 to 144.

And Britain doubled its medal haul the following day. Jess Stretton beat Korea's Kim Ok Geum 132 to 124 to take W1 gold while top seed Jo Frith took on Vicky Jenkins in an all-British battle for bronze. Jo took the medal with a 132 to 126 win.

John Walker picked up Britain's last medal, gold in the men’s W1 category by overcoming top seed Naci Yenier of Turkey 132 to 126.

And then there were 11

Great Britain's Paralympic campaign was given a late boost as Vicky Jenkins was added to the 10-strong team.

Vicky was added to the teamsheet after the British Paralympic Association asked the International Federation for Archery to award the world W1 number three a discretionary bipartite place at the Games.

Signing off: Naomi ends Olympic career in style

Naomi Folkard went into her fourth Olympics full of confidence after deciding that these would be her last. And if Rio was her swansong, she signed off in style.

She had been disappointed with her performance at London 2012 but her preparations for Rio had gone well under Senior Olympic Coach Richard Priestman.

"There's a calmness about the way he approaches things," she said. "He lets me shoot the way I need to shoot."

And it showed as she got off to a cracking start, beating Indonesia's Ika Rochmawati and Kaori Kawanaka of Japan to secure a third round showdown with Brazil's Ana Marcelle Dos Santos for a place in the quarter final.

She later said: "I kept my head. The Japanese girl showed a bit of weakness in the first set and I capitalised on that."

That set up a third round match with home town favourite Ane Marcelle Dos Santos. And it was a thriller. The highly experienced Briton shot consistently throughout but the Brazilian's nerves kicked in, leaving the door open for Naomi.

It took her to the quarter finals – and gave her the highest finish of her Olympic career.

She was kept out of the semis by the finest of margins and the archer who beat her, Chang Hye Jin, went on to take the gold medal.

Archery GB Performance Director, David Tillotson said: "There is much to be pleased and proud about over the last six months and into Rio.

"Naomi and Patrick have been great role models and committed fully to their Rio preparation. They deserve much credit for their handling of a very intense lead into the Games.

"It is clearly very tight and tough at the sharp end of competition, and while we are increasingly competitive, there is little room for error. Being consistent is key, as Naomi's excellent results have shown.

"Qualifying for the Olympics was hugely important to our Performance programme and its future progression. Our increasing competitiveness was very evident, though we need to work on our consistency and move into the areas of probability rather than possibility.

"But we saw nothing that scared us and believe that the changes we are bringing about in our programme will take us to new levels of achievement."

'I'll be back' says Patrick

When Patrick Huston bounced on to the shooting line at the Sambodromo, the smile could not have been wider or more proud. But he knew he had a job to do.

It may have been windy. The rain may have been pouring – but nothing was going to stop the Olympic debutant when he went head to head with Rick Van Der Ven.

He started as he meant to go on, with a 10. But it was nip and tuck all the way and it all came down to the fifth set. Van Der Ven shot 9 10 8 – but Patrick shot 9 9 10 to take a 6 to 4 victory.

Before the Games, Patrick had said there was one thing he wanted to avoid: coming up against a Korean in one of the early rounds. Why? Because he reckoned nothing could dent their confidence until they reached the later stages.

In round two, however, he went head to head with 23-year-old Korean Ku Bonchan, ranked sixth at the Olympics and second in the world.

Again the 20-year-old European bronze medallist, cheered on by his family, started with a 10 as Ku shot a nine – but then the Korean hit the form which would eventually earn him Olympic gold, finishing the last set with two 10s, and edging it 29 to 28.

It was a fantastic match – and it won't be the last we hear of Patrick. He said: "Competing in Rio against the best in the world was a great experience for me. I intend learning from it and coming back stronger in the future."

Clean sweep for dominant Korea

Korea proved itself to be the dominant force in Olympic archery in Rio with its first clean sweep of titles.

The final piece fell into place when 23-year-old Ku Bonchan, who had earlier knocked out Patrick Huston, beat European Champion Jean-Charles Valladont 7 to 3.

Ku, who dropped to his knees after winning, later told World Archery: "I'm so happy tonight is beautiful. It was the most respectful way to give thanks to the spectators who cheered for me."

Defending champion Ki Bo Bae had hoped to hang on to her title but she was beaten in the semis by teammate Chang Hye Jin. She was not about to lose bronze though, beating Mexico's Alejandra Valencia with a perfect 30 in a hard fought match. Germany's Lisa Unruh took silver.

There were signs of what was to come as Olympic debutants Lee Seungyun, Kim Woojin and Ku took the first archery gold of the Games, beating the USA with a perfect 10 10 10.

And Korea's women - Chang Hye Jin, Choi Misun and Ki Bo Bae – swept to their eighth consecutive Olympic victory in difficult conditions and beat Russia to gold.

Chance of a lifetime

Photo: Lizzie and Jack with Jessica Ennis-Hill and equestrians Rosalind Canter and Millie Dumas.

The Olympics is about celebrating athletes at the pinnacle of their abilities but, as London demonstrated, it is about more than that. It is about inspiring the next generation.

That's why the British Olympic Association set up its Ambition Programme. The aim is to give young athletes the chance to experience the Olympic environment and prepare for the

future. This year two of our brightest young prospects, Lizzie Warner and Jack Masefield, went to Rio as part of the programme. Lizzie tells us what happened next:

I feel incredibly lucky to have been selected by Archery GB for the Ambition Programme and to have been given the opportunity to go to the Olympic Games. The programme was organised by the BOA to prepare athletes for future Olympics, giving them experience so that if they are selected for future Games they won’t be so overwhelmed.

The BOA aims to deal with all the concerns and worries athletes might have so they can concentrate fully on competition. They did the same for us. A month before we flew out to Rio we spent two days at the NEC. Here, we were given our Olympic outfits and the rest of our kit and had workshops to prepare us for Rio. We also had talks from Olympians such as Sir Steve Redgrave and Charlotte Dujardin who told us about their experiences and what to take away from our visit.

We flew first to Belo Horizonte where we visited the GB training camp. The facilities were excellent. Everything the athletes might need to prepare for their competition was provided. In Rio we visited the Athlete Village and the British House, where sponsors and the media were hosted, and the British School. This had training facilities but it was also a place where athletes could go to get away from the limelight. It was also a place where they could meet their families away from the media.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Naomi or Patrick compete but we did see the women's team finals. We were quite close to the archers so I was able to look and learn from their experience. It was interesting to see how much pressure can affect an archer's performance. Even the Koreans, who we think are unbeatable, were affected.

If I get the chance to compete in the Olympics, my experiences in Rio will be a huge benefit. I’ll know what to expect and won’t find it so overwhelming. Hopefully, thanks to the Ambition Programme, I'll be able to adjust more quickly.

Table toppers: Win crowns remarkable 24 hours

Photo: Paralympic champions Jo Frith and John Walker. Picture: onEdition.

When John Walker and Jo Frith became Paralympic W1 mixed team champions they ensured Great Britain's place at the top of the archery medals table and crowned one of the most remarkable 24 hours in British archery history.

First John won W1 individual gold. Then Jess Stretton, Jo Frith and Vicky Jenkins did the clean sweep and, finally, John and Jo took the final archery title of the Games.

A bye into the semis put the top seeds up against the Czech Republic's David Drahoninsky and Sarka Musilova. The Britons made no mistakes, securing a 144 to 128 win and a place in the gold medal final.

They faced Korea – and they were on a roll, taking the title with a 139 to 129 victory.

After winning gold, Jo told World Archery: "It shows that British para archers are the best in the world, particularly in the W1 category. We're streets ahead of everyone else. The hard work we put in week in, week out, with the funding, we are able to practice our mixed team. That's why we're so slick, so comfortable."

And John admitted winning individual gold had a knock-on effect. "I took absolutely loads of confidence from it. This means the absolute world to me. I started this as a hobby back in 2013 and to achieve this is beyond my wildest dreams."

Paralympic champion

Photo: John Walker with his two Paralympic medals. Picture: onEdition.

It was amazingly close, but Great Britain's John Walker took the first of his W1 gold medals by beating Beijing Paralympic champion and London silver medallist David Drahoninsky. And he did it in style with a perfect 30.

Drahoninksy beat John into second place at the World Championships in Donaueschingen last year. But John, who only started shooting in 2012, loves a challenge.

He started as he meant to go on, taking the first end 28 to 27. Drahoninsky pulled back to win the second and go a point ahead but John squared it in the third. Tensions rose as they tied the fourth. It was all down to the last three arrows. Drahoninsky shot 9 10 9 – but John shot X 10 10. He had not missed gold once throughout the match.

John's teammate John Cavanagh did not fare so well and compounder Jodie Grinham just missed out on the chance to shoot for a medal in the women's competition. She took second seed, Somayeh Abbaspour to a fifth end but shot a seven with her final arrow. The Iranian took advantage to go through.

The Pride of Britain: British archers show the world

A clean sweep, a double Paralympic champion, gold for the youngest archer in the competition and a total of six medals. Great Britain showed just how far it had come when it topped the results table in Rio.

The tone was set early on when John Stubbs and Jodie Grinham took silver in the inaugural mixed team competition. Then John Walker smashed the opposition to take individual W1 gold before taking a second, W1 mixed team gold with Jo Frith.

But the truly iconic moment for British archery came when three Union flags fluttered above the Sambodromo after Jess Stretton, Jo Frith and Vicky Jenkins took individual W1 gold, silver and bronze.

So how was the table-topping performance achieved? "Hard work and preparation," said Paralympic Coach Michael Peart. "It's one thing to work hard but I think it's working hard in the right way and in the right areas.

"We did a lot of preparation around the schedule because it is so different to any other shoot and we did a lot of preparation around competing in challenging conditions and I think those things paid off.

"The results are excellent. They are right above what we, and UK Sport, thought were likely so it is wonderful that we have done that. We have met some of the targets we have set for Tokyo already, which is awesome, and it gives us a great platform from which to push into the next cycle and deliver even more in Tokyo."

Performance Director David Tillotson said: "We are hugely proud of our Paralympic archery team. To top the archery medal table, win a clean sweep of medals in the women's W1 class, to have a W1 men's double gold medallist and be the most successful GB archery team ever, is an enormous achievement and well worth celebrating. There was even the opportunity for more that got missed.

"These achievements don't come without a great deal of effort, an extraordinary amount of time and many ups and downs from so many people on and off the shooting line and we are truly fortunate and appreciative of all who have played their part and to all who play the National Lottery and helped make this happen.

"However, Rio has been and gone and Tokyo will present new challenges. We will reset and address the new and better things we need to do in order to remain or be even more competitive."

Silver scene setters

John Stubbs and Jodie Grinham took compound silver in the Paralympics' first ever mixed team competition.

They started as they meant to go on, beating Italy 150 to 149 to earn a semi-final tie with Korea. And the single point theme continued as they beat Kim Mi Soon and Lee Ouk Soo 144 to 143.

It set up a mouth-watering showdown: the highly experienced John Stubbs, who won Paralympic gold in 2008 and 23-year-old Games debutante Jodie Grinham versus China. The first end was tied but then China crept ahead and secured the gold by winning the fourth end.

Jodie later said: "Unbelievable. I thought if I performed to my best I could come away with bronze. But to get through the semi-finals to get into the gold match and to bring home the silver? I'm absolutely over the moon, I'm really chuffed.

"The atmosphere at the games as a whole was fantastic and the crowd was really supportive. They were quiet when they should be quiet, they cheered on the 10s and the nines – it was really nice. We had sell-out days as well."

John Stubbs described the Rio experience as: "Surreal to be honest. If you had told us we would be coming back with six medals we would have been astounded."

He paid tribute to the Olympians – and the British public. "It all started from what the Olympic guys did," he said. "They over achieved on what was expected and that gave us the motivation to go forward and show the world it doesn't stop with the Olympics. We Paralympians are elite athletes as well and our success is testimony to how hard we have worked over the past four years.

"And without the support of National Lottery and the great British public we could not have achieved this."

A helping hand

Our Paralympians could not be where they are without having received support along the way. And among those supporters, the Worshipful Company of Fletchers ranks highly.

The Company was formed in 1371 to ensure the quality of arrows, with only liverymen allowed to trade. Things have changed since then and is now a charity funded by its members, or liverymen.

But they put that charity to good use, helping Paralympic and other archers buy equipment. The Company also supported the Rio Dream and, for the past five years has donated £12,500 each year towards

Identifying, training and preparing potential Paralympians for success at Rio. Pass It On.

It has also helped Archery GB's inclusion programme and given funding to Blind Veterans Archery section, to archery schools it set up for disabled children, to the British Wheelchair Archery Association and British Blind Sport.

Clean sweep: Gold, silver and bronze for Britain

Great Britain's archers dominate the W1 world – and they demonstrated why by taking Paralympic gold, silver and bronze at Rio.

Photo: Jess Strtton, Jo Frith and Vicky Jenkins. Picture: onEdition.

But only one gold medal could be awarded – and it went to 16-year-old Jess Stretton. She knocked Czech Sarka Musilova and teammate Vicky Jenkins out of contention to earn her showdown with the other Briton in the competition, Jo Frith.

Jess, who only started shooting in 2012, led from the start. Jo fought back in the second end and tied the third. But it was not enough. Jess went up a gear to take a 137 to 124 win, giving Great Britain gold and silver.

If they needed inspiration, Vicky Jenkins provided it. She had been hospitalised for days and only just made it to the match. But she went on to win bronze. The British archer faced Kim Ok Geum took control from the start.

Then the Korean fought back, tying the fourth. She scored three eights in the fifth and Vicky started with an eight. Then there were gasps as she shot a four. It all depended on the final arrow. She needed a nine and she got it to take the medal.

Jess, who got her GCSE results only a couple of days before flying out to Rio, later told World Archery: "It’s still sinking in a little bit, but it's been an amazing ride and I’ve really enjoyed it.

"This is an amazing experience and an amazing opportunity. I guess I was pretty nervous, I felt like I was taking a step for the youth that can be in para-sport and showing them that it can be done and it will be done.

"I hope to continue to compete and hopefully go to the Tokyo 2020 Games. I just love the rush of it, the feeling of satisfaction when you compete well and get medals."

Jo said: "It's the prize that we all aim for, when we start out in sport – coming to the Paralympics and winning a medal. Of course we want to win a gold medal but I'll take silver any day of the week. It's been totally awesome.

"We were hoping for a clean sweep but fair play to Vicky she's been in the hospital for the last three days. To come out here and take the bronze and make it a one-two-three was absolutely amazing."

An inspiration: Club celebrates Olympian Rachel

Forty years ago, Rachel Fenwick represented Great Britain at the Montreal Olympics. In 2001, she set up Wellington Bowmen. This August club members wanted to let her know just how inspiring she is.

So they decided to mark the 40th anniversary of her Montreal adventure by running an Olympic-themed shoot at the Somerset club. And they really went to town.

As well as plenty of bunting, members shot at Olympic-style rings, ate Olympic-themed food and stepped up on a specially-created podium to receive their awards.

Rachel got into the spirit by wearing her Montreal T-shirt and team jacket and she was presented with a bouquet in the form of an Olympic torch.

Member Lauren Hemmings said: "It was a fantastic treat for our members, particularly the youngsters, to meet a real Olympian, and we hope that commemorating her success will inspire more archers to go further with the sport."

We are Team GB

From the Bowmen of Backworth to Royal Leamington Spa Archery Society, from Harworth Archers to Shipston, from Bamber Bridge and Long Mynd to Southampton – clubs and organisations around the country can say I am Team GB.

Forty-three threw their doors open to introduce people to the Olympic and Paralympic sport of archery as part of the nation's biggest ever sports day.

The aim was to get hundreds of thousands of people across the UK to get out and get active in their community as part of I AM TEAM GB.

The event, which was also a way of celebrating Great Britain's biggest medal haul for 108 years, was set up by ITV and the National Lottery, and supported by Join In and the British Olympic Association. And just to drive the message home, ITV pulled the plug on all of its channels for an hour to get people out of the house.

It also turned some of our clubs into TV stars. Harworth Archers featured on Calendar News while Bowmen of Backworth was profiled on ITV News.

Marking Queenie's legacy

In 1908, Sybil Fenton Newall won gold at the London Olympics and set a record that still stands. She was 53 years and 275 days old, making her the oldest woman to win a medal.

But it was no flash in the pan. Sybil, known to all as Queenie, followed it up by becoming national archery champion in 1911, 1912 and 1914. So it was no surprise that her home town of Rochdale decided to honour her achievements during the Olympics.

The event was held at her birthplace, Harehill House in Littleborough and organised by Rochdale Company of Archers and the Friends of Harehill House. They made sure that there would be a lasting reminder of Queenie's achievements: a commemorative plaque at the site.

It was unveiled by RCA member Rebecca Stephenson, who dressed in period costume and wowed onlookers with a longbow demonstration. And the Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale were roped into the fun, trying archery for the first time, along with crowds who gathered to take part in a have-a-go.

It could also be the start of a new legacy. The Friends of Harehill House presented RCA with a prize for a new Olympics style head to head competition to be staged each year. And, fittingly, Rebecca was the first winner of the Queenie Newall Trophy.

News

£74,500 boost: Plus a right royal honour for Bowmen

Photo: Work starts on the new Duke of Edinburgh Archery Centre.

Windsor Forest Bowmen has secured Sport England funding to rebuild its 1950s wooden clubhouse – and the Duke of Edinburgh has agreed to it being named in his honour.

The club meets in Home Park, on the eastern side of Windsor Castle. The Duke of Edinburgh Archery Centre will be the park's first new building for several decades.

The present clubhouse is a large wooden shed sheltering under a stand of ancient chestnut trees. It was built in a time of post-war rationing and has stood for 65 years – far exceeding its original design expectation. Electricity and water supplies were brought in later but it still lacked toilet facilities.

The new centre will be a raised but accessible structure to cater for disabled sportsmen and women. It will provide facilities suited to all abilities, and there are plans for a new junior section.

Windsor Forest Bowmen is among 148 local sports projects to secure a share of £9 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund.

Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston, said: "The Inspired Facilities Fund has had a huge impact on grassroots sport across the country. Since 2011, we've invested £102 million into more than 1,920 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non-sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs.

"It's great to see Windsor Forest Bowmen join the long list of successful clubs to benefit from this fund."

Club Chairman, Chris Johnston said: "We are delighted to have secured this investment to upgrade our clubhouse, helping us attract people of all ages and abilities to share this wonderful sport in one of England's finest sporting locations."

Local MP, Adam Afriyie, said: "Windsor Forest Bowmen have been a much loved Windsor institution for more than 60 years. It's great to hear that they have been awarded this Sport England grant which will enable them to open up the club to even more sportsmen and women."

Diana would be proud

Photo: The winners – Andover Archers.

Victoria Loader led the charge for Andover Archers at the 52nd Diana Tournament, organised by Harlequin Bowmen.

Shooting a Short Windsor with a compound she recorded a perfect 972, beating the previous Junior National Record of 964. And, for the first time, Andover entered a team to challenge for the coveted Diana Trophy.

The trophy, a silver-plated figure of the goddess Diana was found many years ago in a second-hand shop. She was treated to a new bow, a wooden plinth – and archers have been battling over her ever since.

And, inspired by Victoria, it proved to be Andover's day as the team beat defending champions Whiteleaf Bowmen to claim their prize

Head to head: It's bow v firearm all over again

In the middle ages, longbows gave way to firearms because they were quicker to learn and easier to handle. But things have changed since then and both have evolved.

That got Paul Whiteman from the Isle of Wight thinking: would it be possible to have a fair contest between the two weapons? And would the result be as predictable as you might suppose? It was worth investigating.

Paul is a senior archery coach – and a keen prone rifle shooter – so he had the right connections. He got agreement from Wight Bowmen and Shanklin Rifle and Pistol Club and a cup and medals from Shanklin Town Council. The next step was how to organise it.

The pistol club had a Home Office-approved 100 yard range with enough room for 12 competitors in total so teams of six competitors from each of the clubs were selected.

It was decided that prone shooters would shoot 30 rounds at 50 metres and that the archers would shoot 30 arrows at 30 metres. Then they would swap over and shoot the other team's discipline – with supervision and assistance. The rifle targets were bigger for the archers and the riflemen were given lightweight bows and shot at an 80cm target at 15 metres.

So did it decide anything? After shooting their own disciplines, the teams were neck and neck. Then it was time to swap – and the archers did pretty well at prone shooting. In fact, one archer dropped only one point to score 199 out of a possible 200.

The riflemen did slightly less well, although nearly all the arrows hit the scoring area, which was no mean feat for first-time archers. And the final result? The archers triumphed with 2,785 points to 2,496.

Another winner was the island's multiple sclerosis charity. It received all the money raised from tea and cake sales during the event.

So will it be happening again? "Most certainly," said Paul. "It was fun. Everyone enjoyed the day and learned a lot about each other's sport. With a few small tweaks to the competition rules it should be possible to close the gap and get that unpredictable result that is purely down to the skill of the shooters on the day. We are looking forward to next year."

Joan and Stephen join the 25 club

It was jelly bows at the ready – and time to party – as Bath Archers Joan and Stephen Cottle joined the 25 club.

A fun clout shoot was organised to celebrate their 25 years with the club, followed by a barbecue. And there were, of course, presentations. Joan and Stephen received an engraved goblet and tankard as well as certificates showing their first archery round and score by Club President, Stella Simmons.

As well as being an excuse for a party, it was the club's way of showing its appreciation for the pair's hard work over the past quarter-century.

When they joined the club, Stephen was Somerset under-16 and under-17 champion. Joan is now Club Treasurer and has been Membership Secretary, while Stephen is the Records Officer and has organised tournaments. They have both now switched to shooting longbow.

Colin's challenge: Coach steps up to fight cancer

When former Hampshire coaching organiser Colin Stopher lost his wife to pancreatic cancer he felt he had to do something. But what?

Vanessa died last November after a short struggle with the illness, which is very hard to diagnose in the early stages. So Colin started looking at charities that help sufferers, their families and the researchers working to improve the odds.

Colin said: "I'm not a doctor, scientist or multi-millionaire so my contribution to medical science seemed limited until I saw that Pancreatic Cancer UK organises an annual fund-raising trek on the Great Wall of China.

"Yes the Great Wall that can apparently be seen from space (with a zoom lens). How appropriate to help stop something that cannot be seen from just a few inches away."

The Bowmen of Petersfield archer and coach has set up a Just Giving page to raise money for the charity – and he is determined that it will receive every penny raised from the trek, which starts on 15 October.

"Let me say right now it's not so others can give me a free holiday. I'm personally financing the trip so that every penny given on this website will go directly to PCUK.

"So for whatever help you feel able to give I will be most grateful. So will PCUK and we all hope there will be more survivors in future who will be grateful to be alive."

If you want to help Colin honour Vanessa by funding the fight against pancreatic cancer, the link to his page is Colin's Great Wall Trek for Hope: www.justgiving.com/Cols-China-Trek.

The perfect hosts

Photo: Spanish Visitors.

It's been a busy season at Ballyvally. The club has hosted the British field championships, supported its award-winning archers and has even played host to Spanish visitors and Sky TV.

Sky was on the scene to interview five of the club's archers who were selected to shoot in the World Archery Field Championships in Dublin. They spoke to freestyle recurver Mark Nesbitt, compounder Dean Hamilton, top barebow archer Robert Mallon, European Youth championships silver medallist Jake Walsh and Craig McCreery, who shoots barebow.

And a group of young archers from Spain did not pass up the chance to visit either. Their main objective was to improve their English but they could not resist an offer of a competition at Ballyvally's outdoor venue. The results were very close – and made it necessary to have a return match.

Golfers chip in, and take up archery challenge

When Scottish Archery heard that this year's Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open was being held at Archerfield Links, it had an idea.

It got together with the European Senior Golf Tour to come up with a new challenge: seeing if golfers could match up to the course's original use as the home, in 1298, of Edward I's bowmen.

Defending Scottish Senior Open champion Paul Broadhurst, DJ Russell, designer of both golf courses at Archerfield, and Scotsman Andrew Oldcorn, winner of the Winston golf

Senior Open earlier this year, were paired up with archers from Scottish Archery, each shooting six arrows in a competition before the tee-off.

Olympian Simon Needham, his 2010 Commonwealth Games teammate Alistair Whittingham, and Scottish 3D Field champion David Ireland were on hand to introduce the golfers to a new sport.

Photo: Archery meets golf. Picture: Phil Inglis

The 18th fairway was transformed into an archery range, each archer was paired with a golfer and they shot a mini-team round: two arrows each for three ends.

The teams were: Alistair Whittingham and Andrew Oldcorn, Simon Needham and Paul Broadhurst and David Ireland with DJ Russell. The winners were the team with the most points after three ends and the prize went to Simon and Paul.

Simon and David also donated their travel expenses for the day to Prostate Cancer UK.

Meet Stuart, our newest film star

Stuart Barby is officially a movie star – and in an award winning film, no less.

He is the focus of On Target, a short film by Chris Marks which entered into this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Photo: Chris Marks with his award.

Festival organisers set a short film challenge for new and emerging film-makers based on the theme of 70. Chris knew that the Olympic distance is 70 metres, that the sport can be very visual and that Stuart was one of Scotland's top archers. Not a bad place to start.

Chris said: "My aim was to try to capture the concentration, the extreme focus that comes in the moments before releasing an arrow. I was trying to get a sense of tension building and building and then a great release when the arrow is shot. I wanted the audience to be holding their breath right up to the point when the clicker goes off.

"By slowing down the action and filming in extreme close up I tried to convey that sense of concentration and I think that comes across quite well in the film.

"I didn't want to make something that just looked like a sports film and I wanted to avoid producing something that looked like a cider advert.

"I hope the film will have a wider appeal beyond fans of the sport. And in that way then perhaps it might widen interest in archery and inspire some people to have a go at the sport themselves."

And it certainly inspired the festival judges. They unanimously agreed that On Target should win the most innovative use of the theme award.

The film will shortly be available to view on the Scottish Archery website.

Get out there: How a single step can lead to success

One small step can sometimes lead to much bigger things. At least that's what Austrey Archery Group has found out.

When a neighbouring village carnival committee asked it to run a have-a-go in Warton, it accepted the challenge and members were kept busy for three hours.

Austrey's Vice-Chairman and coach Nige Jones said: "We met plenty of local people and groups. Many just wanted the thrill of shooting a bow and went away with a big grin on their face. The day was a success but there was more to come."

That success led to another, running a have-a-go at the first Thorpe Country Fair. This time members were on their feet for seven hours but said it was a fantastic – if tiring – experience.

Then a youth group got in touch. Some of its members had shot at the Warton Carnival and wanted to set up a have-a-go for the group. It too proved a great success.

Nige said: "So often we seem to hear the words 'I didn't know there was a club nearby' or 'I have always fancied trying archery but didn’t know where to go'. It pays to get out there to promote your club and our wonderful sport.

"Make the most of those small local events – it could lead to greater things and it brings local groups together."

Getting a little quirky

Not every Robin Hood is straightforward. Some can be a little quirky. Just ask Gill Ferguson of Atkins Archers.

She was shooting at Royal Richmond Archery Club's Pagoda Shoot when her arrow passed through the nock and entered the end of the shaft of her target companion's arrow. Then it re-emerged from the side of the shaft, leaving the arrows conjoined at a very strange angle.

Her target companion graciously declined any financial compensation, allowing Gill to keep both arrows as a keepsake of the day and her first Robin Hood.

And there must be something in the water at Atkins because another member also shot a Robin Hood. This time it was 13-year-old Shelby Taylor who was shooting at 40 yards during a club tournament.

Sometimes arrows don't wait around to be photographed after a Robin Hood. This was certainly the case for Keith Lobban of Shetland Archery Club.

The pin nock of an ACE was shoved down the arrow by another at 50 metres. Then the guilty arrow bounced back and landed on the ground in front of the target. And Keith was left counting the cost as both the arrows involved belonged to him.

And there has been a spate at Yateley Archers too. Recurver Darren Grattan achieved his with the first two arrows of the indoor season.

While compounder Joshua Sandy waited until the club's annual open competition.

Diamond day: Club turns 60 in style

Congratulations to Stourbridge Company of Archers. It has turned 60 – and it is celebrating in style.

The club, which has grown from four members to more than 70, marked its anniversary at its annual open American tournament. More than 80 archers took part and each was rewarded with a small memento to mark the diamond jubilee while winners received special commemorative glassware.

There was a face from the past too. Founder member Gary Sykes, a former British and English team manager and national champion, was the special guest. He made the presentations, plus a 40-years' service award to Club Captain Bob Hanson.

And there was no chance of going hungry as Club Chairman Martin Woodhouse joined forces with Jeremy Wakefield to run an afternoon-long barbecue. All the proceeds went to the Midland Air Ambulance.

It was just one event during a year of fun at the club. Other events have included social and quiz nights, barbecues – and there are plenty more to come.

Club Secretary Michelle Hall said: "As one of the oldest clubs in Worcestershire, SCOA owes much of its longevity to the enthusiasm and hard work of its members, both past and present and long may this continue."

Thanks Martin

Photo: Martin, left receives his award.

Tireless Martin Ingram has been rewarded for all his hard work for Yelverton Bowmen with an Archery GB volunteers’ award.

The Records Officer is also a field captain, offers coaching advice and repairs equipment at the club. He received the award from Club Chairman Richard Burridge who said that without Martin’s help the club would not run as smoothly as it does.

Go head2head, anywhere

World Archery has introduced a new archery app that lets archers from around the world compete head to head, no matter where in the world they are, the time zone or their ability – and it's free.

The head2head app lets players register, upload bow profiles and challenge other players to live matches. The arrows an archer shoots in real life are recorded in the app, either end-by-end alternately, or all in one go, while his opponent does the same. (You can even ask for picture evidence.)

Over time, players build up a global head2head record – and you can even challenge Olympic and World Archery champions past and present in historical replay head2head contests.

World Archery Secretary General Tom Dielen said: "Archery is a global sport, practised by people of all backgrounds, languages and nationalities. The head2head archery application aims to connect archers through competition.

"We’ll be further developing the app through user feedback. Join the head2head archery community today and help shape the future of digital archery competition."

Features:

Live match scoring. Match record database. Historical matches. Invite and challenge friends. Opponent finder. Push notifications.

It is IOS and Android compatible and you can find out more at World Archery Head2Head: worldarchery.org/head2head.

Win National Series places: And help archery's charity

Do you want to give people in disadvantage the opportunity to try our wonderful sport – and be in with a chance of winning guaranteed entry into each leg of the 2017 National Series? Then read on.

The Archery Foundation, a registered charity, will be running two raffles at the National Indoor Championships at Stoneleigh. Both raffles will be drawn on Sunday 4 December.

The first will secure a guaranteed entry to the 2017 National Series. You can get tickets for this draw before and at the event. Details are available at The Archery Foundation: www.thearcheryfoundation.org.uk.

The second raffle will be on the Sunday, with ticket sales during the day. If anyone would like to donate prizes for this, archery-related or general, please let us know by using the "contact us" facility on the website. Both raffles will be drawn on the Sunday.

The Archery Foundation is dedicated to raising funds and providing grants to projects that will take archery into areas of disadvantage – whether social, economic or cultural, and where there is under-representation within our sport.

If you would like to help by promoting the Foundation over the weekend and selling raffle tickets, the Foundation would be delighted to hear from you. You can volunteer by using the contact form on the website, posting to its Facebook page or emailing kath.fitzpatrick@icloud.com.

Fitting tribute to Keith

Forest of Bere Bowmen gathered to pay tribute to former member Keith Mills by shooting the round he worked out the handicaps for: the Chester.

They were shooting for a trophy given by his widow, Gwen, and tackled three sets of four-dozen arrows, each set at different distances.

It gave members a chance to try something a little different as well as remembering Keith, who gave many years of dedicated service to the club.

Lots of members took part and, despite it being a relaxed shoot, the standards were very high.

The winner was Hetti Parkes with a score of 1,642 and the trophy was presented by Mrs Mills.

Obituaries

Kenneth Arton

Kenneth Arton, who started shooting for his school team at the age of 11 in 1937, has passed away.

During his long archery career he helped to found Gerrards Cross Archers, became a regional coach and pioneered coach-training courses. In 1953, unable to find any helpful literature, he compiled his notes on equipment maintenance and published Some Bowyers Notes. That year he injured his shoulder and had to stop shooting.

In 1956 he had a whistle thrust into his hand as he watched a tournament near Stoke Poges. It was the start of his judging career. He went on to help set up Britain's first formalised judging scheme in the country for Southern Counties Archery Society and, in 1969, they took the scheme nationwide. He became an International Judge in Grenoble in 1973 and retired in 1993. He was appointed Judge Emeritus by SCAS and, in 2010, by Archery GB.

His contribution to archery was recognised by: the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal for Services to Sport, Presidency of Buckinghamshire Archery Association, the 1997 Hartwell Trophy for archer of the year and, in 2010, he was elected President of The Society of Archer Antiquaries.

Joan Reynolds

Former British team member and 1958 Grand National Archery Meeting champion Jane Reynolds has passed away.

She was the first woman to win the Scottish Championships for three successive years during the 1950s but her UK shooting career was halted when her husband was posted to Malta. She continued shooting there and kept in touch with Archers from Falcon Bowmen. In 2008 she was asked to be Lady Paramount at the GNAM, 50 years after winning the event.

Dan Doxey

Derbyshire Archery Club is to pay tribute to Dan Doxey, who passed away recently, by naming its 2017 open longbow event after him.

Dan, who had played county class cricket and was a useful footballer before representing Derbyshire as a longbow and recurve archer, also shot field with Duvelle Bowmen. He introduced the longbow event into DAC's calendar in 1998. His wife, Maureen, is to be invited to be Lady Paramount at the renamed tournament that, the club hopes, will keep his memory alive.

Valerie Ward

Valerie Ward, the founder of Lutterworth Archery Club, Leicestershire, in 2002 and was its Chairman and coach until 2012, has passed away.

She remained as Social Secretary until 2013 and was an honorary member, involved in club activities and attending social functions. The keen clout archer had been a member of Welland Valley Archery Club and was County Treasurer of Leicestershire & Rutland County Archery Association for many years.

She will be sadly missed by the club and county, her husband Alan and their family.

History

Older than you think: A look back at indoor championships

Arthur Credland is Archery GB's official historian – and he wants to hear from you. Contact him at historian@archerygb.org.

Sunday 27 January 1957 marked the start of National Indoor Championships as we know them today. But their origins lie much further back than that.

Bingley Hall, Birmingham, played host to the 1957 championships. The event had been organised by the West Midland Archery Association, comprising the counties of Hereford, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Photo: Indoor Championship, Birmingham 1957.

It was a cavernous venue, with a glass roof and concrete floor and was rather cold, with duffle coats and flasks of hot tea and coffee much in evidence. More than 200 contestants shot eight-dozen arrows at 30 metres. They were divided into two groups and shot at an 80cm, 10 zone target. The eventual champions were Mrs Corby of Nuneaton, with a score of 720 and Dr Ashcroft with a score of 845.

But the first significant indoor tournament had taken place more than 50 years before at Olympia in London. It was held on 6 and 7 March 1906 and organised by C.G.P. Pownall of the Royal Toxophilite Society. Twenty-five men and 90 women assembled at 11 targets to shoot a double York and a double National over two days. The judges were Colonel Walrond and H. H. Palairet.

Photo: Shooting at Olympia in 1906.

It was a hot day, the doors were open and the lighting was poor but Mrs H. Spencer shot 675, with 135 hits and C.J. Perry Keane scored 724, with 166 hits. An unexpected participant was William Fergie, bowyer to the Royal Company of Archers, who presented six prize arrows, as did Aldred and Buchanan the London bowyers.

The contest was arranged under the auspices of the Winter Club founded the previous year to provide indoor sport in the winter season. Membership cost five guineas for men and women paid three guineas. Members could receive instruction in croquet, lawn tennis, football, bicycle polo, putting, bowls, cricket, hockey, squash and rifle-shooting. The committee included a number of titled gentlemen, senior military officers and luminaries such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a keen cricketer and pioneer of skiing. How long the club continued is uncertain but the indoor archery competition was not repeated.

Partnership news

Teamwork: Archery GB and National Trust join forces

The partnership aims to reach 26,000 people annually and attract newcomers to the sport. It was launched at the National Trust's Speke Hall in Liverpool by Rio Paralympics silver medallist John Stubbs.

Family archery events have been held at 15 National Trust places across England over the past few months and visitors have been receiving guidance from National Trust staff about using Arrows archery equipment.

Mel Handford, Sports Partnership Manager at the National Trust, said: "Working with Archery GB, we hope to inspire thousands of families to try archery at our places. In the past our places would have been the site of battles between armies. Now the only fight will be between parents and their kids as they challenge each other to hit the gold."

David Reader, Head of Development at Archery GB, said: "We're excited to be working with the National Trust to help bring archery to a wider audience, who may not have had the chance to try it before. While modern archery uses plenty of cutting-edge technology, the bow and arrow has been around for thousands of years, and therefore it seems like the perfect fit to offer the sport in the National Trust's historic settings.

"We're aiming to spread the word that archery is a fun and inclusive sport, which is very easy for beginners to pick-up. This also means that it is well-suited to delivering on a 'have a go' basis."

More information about the partnership is available on the National Trust website.

Juniors

An inspiration? Well we think so.

Hillingdon Archery Club turned in a great performance at the London Youth Games, finishing third out of 19 boroughs. But, more importantly, the experience has inspired three young club members.

Twelve-year-old Himaaya Peiris is a veteran of the Games. She began in 2012 and has won gold every time – but that is not what makes them so special to her.

She said: "The fact that there are so many archers out there to socialise with, and compete with is really comforting. You can be reassured that there will always be people behind you with experience to lift you back up again when you need it. The London Youth Games has a

unique environment that makes it very enjoyable. There's always that competitive air about it and that’s what really boosts me.

"Every time I do the Youth Games, there's always this excitement bubbling inside of me building up to the day. It's just such an important competition to me."

And she has some advice.

"I think what’s important for any athlete to remember is that when you enter a competition it's important to focus on yourself to do your best. If you pressurise yourself into getting a certain score or beating that one athlete, you're never going to perform your best because you’re always enclosed in those barriers.

"I find that doing the best I can, and focusing on myself is better for me. Getting stressed out about other people does nothing that I can benefit from. At the end of the day, enjoying your sport is what matters."

It was Brandon Scully's second year in the team, but turning 12 changed everything for him. "It meant I would be shooting longer distances, so I had to train really hard to keep my scores up to give the team the best chance. And it all paid off. We got the bronze medal and missed out on the silver by only seven points.

"I am really proud of the team and was glad that I could be a part of it. I am hoping to go on to bigger things with my archery and maybe even shoot in the Olympics one day. That is my goal."

Games debutant Tito Rossi was proud that his team finished third – and frustrated. "It was my first time and I enjoyed every minute of it – especially the part where I did the best on my boss at 50 yards.

"When we won bronze I was amazed and sad. We were in the top three but only seven points away from second. But overall it was a fantastic experience; I learned a lot and had loads of fun."

Every moment counts: Maia completes 24-hour marathon

Being surrounded by rabbits, soaring temperatures and a little brother squirting you with water. Sometimes shooting can be difficult.

At least that's what 15-year-old Maia Daborn found as she completed a sponsored 24-hour solo shoot to help raise enough cash so she could go on a scientific expedition to Greenland with her school.

Maia, who passed her level 1 coaching exam earlier this year and is eagerly waiting to get her certificate on her 16th birthday, shot a total of 77-dozen arrows. To break things up, she varied the rounds between Bristols, Staffords, Worcesters, Metrics and St Nics, following Archery GB shooting rules.

The Whitehill Archer was allowed short, strictly controlled breaks but needed the support of family, friends and her coach Ciaran Finn – particularly when the temperature hit 33 degrees. That's when the helpful little brother stepped up.

A full moon and floodlights helped during the night – and loud music managed to get rid of curious rabbits. And she proudly wore a Hampshire Archery Association Coach polo shirt presented by Colin Stopher as she shot her last arrows.

Maia has raised almost £1,100 towards the trip by setting up a crowd-funding page. The trip, scheduled for July 2017, costs £3,500 and involves spending three weeks living on the ice. During that time she will take part in scientific fieldwork linked with the school curriculum and the development of enterprise and leadership skills.

Off to the palace: Sisters join SportsAid's big day

Eleanor and Louisa Piper have been busy making some influential contacts, including Christine Ohuruogu, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sharron Davies and the Duchess of Cambridge.

Photo: Eleanor and Louisa with the Duchess of Cambridge, Christine Ohuruogu, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sharon Davies and other SportsAid athletes.

The sisters, who are part of the Archery GB Southern Academy supported by Sport England, were invited to the SportsAid 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Kensington Palace.

They were there because they, along with another 18 archers, receive support from SportsAid. And they had the chance to chat with the Duchess as well as giving Beijing Olympic champion and London 2012 silver medallist Christine a quick archery lesson.

The Duchess, who has been the Patron of SportsAid since 2013, praised the charity for ensuring there is a strong pipeline of inspirational heroes and said: "The brilliance of SportsAid is in really understanding just how much athletic competition gives to our country as a whole."

Junior reporters

Do you like the idea of becoming an Archery UK reporter? Find out how in the winter edition of Archery UK – but in the meantime, send us your stories so we can get a sneaky peek at just what you can do.

Email us at magazine@archerygb.org.

Development

Calling all clubs: Things are about to change...

A new national system for archery range registration and assessment will be introduced in April 2017 and all clubs will be affected.

Until now, clubs have registered their facilities centrally with Archery GB and have used judges to assess their ground if they required any dispensation. However, the Judges Committee has announced that judges will no longer be able to carry out this service. That has prompted a review of how archery ranges are registered and assessed around the country.

Archery GB needs better facility data to:

Help clubs and counties plan their activities. Service our insurance provider better. Assess the needs and demands for the sport. Access external funding for facility work. Help the public find the right club and shooting range for them. Improve our internal processes and procedures. Answer queries related to planning issues.

So from the 1 April 2017 every Archery GB club will be required to register their shooting ranges (outdoor and indoor) detailing;

Location.

Shooting capacity. Access arrangements. Rules of Shooting compliance.

In addition clubs will be asked to complete a short survey on their facilities to enable Archery GB to build a picture of the number of clubs that meet the minimum standard of the facility strategy.

This will be a relatively short process where clubs will self-certify in the first instance, it will be mandatory to register all shooting ranges and Archery GB will log and process all registrations centrally. Registration will be required every three years and clubs will only be able to do this online.

Any club with a query or which requires a dispensation will be able to request a site visit from Archery GB and an assessor will be arranged to inspect the ground. Any club that requires an assessor will be required to pay a flat rate fee, plus travel expenses to cover the cost of the visit. The process begins on 1 April but clubs will have six months to register their ranges. Any club that does not will be sent one reminder. Failure to register after that will mean that the ground is not registered with the insurer and shooting by Archery GB members will be compromised.

If you have any further questions please call 01952 677 888 or visit the Facilities section of the Archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/facilities.

Supporting disability archery

Fifteen disability archery groups have been awarded Archery GB funding to help get more people involved in the sport.

Five ontarget clubs, three schools, a County Sports Partnership and three community groups are among those sharing £6,000 to enhance the archery experience, provide more highly-skilled coaches and improve opportunities for individuals and groups to get involved.

One of them, Southfields Archery Club, is working with Metro Blind Sport and Wandsworth Council to increase the number of hours it shoots, provide equipment specifically for visually impaired archers and further educate coaches.

North Tyneside Council will use its funding to create a new inclusive archery session open to the community. It will enable anyone who previously thought archery was not accessible to take part and, eventually, shoot in a regular weekly session. The council has worked with Killingworth Archers and local disability organisations to ensure success.

The funding was awarded thanks to Sport England’s investment in Archery GB’s Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017, and the Worshipful Company of Fletchers.

There is more support available for clubs and coaches too.

A new handy guide has been developed. It offers the advice you need to ensure people with disabilities can participate in archery at all levels. The guide aims to highlight good practice within the sport.

It is written for archers, club officials and tournament organisers and uses scenarios of actual experiences of disabled archers to highlight issues and show how to avoid problems.

The next Pass It On disability awareness course for coaches and volunteers will be held at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 3 December.

The course is geared at giving coaches and volunteers extra confidence and expertise in dealing with disabled people taking part in archery activities. It will help you develop your skills and knowledge and push your coaching abilities just that bit further.

The Handy Guide and further information for Pass It On can be downloaded from the Disability Archery section of the Archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/disability.

Make your club great, and we can help

As part of the Great Archery Clubs campaign, we are hosting a series of workshops to explore what makes a great club.

The workshops, which are being are run in association with Sport England's Club Matters, are open to anyone involved in managing a club. The aim is to help you explore new ideas and collaborate with others on issues important to you.

They are being held on:

Saturday 29 October at Hilton Manchester Airport. Saturday 12 November at Hilton Cobham (Surrey). Sunday 13 November at Hilton Bristol.

For further details and how to book, visit the Great Archery Clubs section of the Archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/greatarcheryclubs.

Great Archery Clubs is a new campaign to showcase and share the best of what is happening in archery clubs across the UK.

The aim is to discuss how every archer can have a great experience at their club. Every ontarget club has received a support pack bringing their committee and members right up to date with all of Archery GB's headline programmes designed especially for clubs.

And we need you to get involved. We want to hear from archers, coaches and committees so that we understand about coaching in clubs and can shape the support we offer.

You can help by completing a survey. There are three available so please complete the one relevant to you – and you will be in with a chance of winning one of three £100 vouchers to spend on archery equipment in our prize draw.

The surveys are:

An archer's experience of receiving coaching. Your experience of being a coach. A club's experience of providing coaching.

You can find them on the Archery GB website. Just go to Support>Clubs>Great Archery Clubs. The results will go towards informing Archery GB's future coaching strategy, one of the commitments made in the Strategic Plan 2016-20.

Introducing Arrows

An optional course has been set up for teachers and adults who want to deliver fun Arrows archery experiences for children.

No experience is needed to use or organise an Arrows event – but if you want a practical opportunity to familiarise yourself with the equipment, resources and activities, the course is available.

It lasts 1.5 hours and up to 15 learners can take part (with a minimum of six). The cost to organise a course is £100. You can find out more at the Arrows section of the archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/arrows.

Archery included

Archery has been included in the physical section of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and young people can include the sport at gold, silver and bronze levels.

The guidance for young people can be found on the junior pages of the Archery GB website and at the D of E website: www.DofE.org.

Oxford makes it three

Oxford Archers has taken its third ontarget Club Competition title in a row, beating Six Town Company of Archers in a thrilling final.

Four teams – Oxford, Redhill Archers, Bowmen of Walker and Six Towns – were at Lilleshall for the final stages of the competition, where teams of two compounders and two recurve archers went head-to-head. They shot three rounds of two-dozen arrows with archers scoring points in a team round, a pairs round and an individual round.

Arran Coggan, Development Manager (Participation), said: "I would like to thank the archers, clubs and the judges involved in this year's finals, and all the clubs involved throughout the year.

"As the person in charge of delivering this competition, it is great to see that clubs are keen to take part and to see the number of clubs involved increase year on year. I hope more get involved next year."

Sixty-two clubs took part in the competition, an increase of 37 per cent on 2015.

A junior version was also piloted, with Redhill taking on Six Towns. The format was the same, except the archers shot at 30 rather than 50 metres. Six Towns took the honours.

300: ontarget hits milestone and Invictus Bowmen reap reward

When Invictus Bowmen signed up to ontarget, it became the 300th club to join the programme. To celebrate, Development Manager Arran Coggan went to meet the members – and hand them a £300 grant.

The club, in Peterborough, began shooting in April and is supported by local sports provider Vivacity. The founders are all volunteers at Vivacity's disabled archery group and are committed to being totally inclusive. At the moment, 40 per cent of the members are disabled.

Invictus's aim is simple: to create a club where members can be as competitive or social as they want, where all are welcome and where anyone with special needs is an integral part of the mainstream club. The driving force is inclusivity and there are always experienced archers and qualified coaches ready to help with advice and encouragement.

Club Secretary Di Searle said: "We want to be seen as a community club that welcomes everyone and accommodates all who wish to take part. Our short-term membership goal has been met and we have full beginners' courses."

The longer-term aim is to ensure that all members individual needs and expectations are catered for and the club is being supported by Vivacity, the county sports partnership Living Sport, Sport England and Club Matters. It has now applied to become an ontarget Community specialism club.

Arran said: "Overseeing the ontarget programme has given me a unique insight into clubs across the UK. I receive a warm welcome at every club, but Invictus Bowmen has created such a community of archers and I wish the club every success."

Di said: "We feel as though we have won the lottery by becoming the 300th member of ontarget. We have a member who recently competed at the Warrior Games as part of the UK contingent and who will trial for the Invictus Games 2017 in Canada.

"So with our current impetus, our dream goal is Tokyo Olympics 2020. Watch out for Invictus Bowmen members. With our current enthusiasm who knows where it will lead us?"

Teaching the teachers

Teachers now have even more chance to learn how to lead fun, safe and successful archery sessions in schools.

Existing Instructor Award tutors were recently invited to attend an orientation event to enable them to deliver the Archery GB Teacher Award. The result is that there are now around 20 tutors that can deliver the new course, which continues to be promoted to the primary and secondary school network to encourage more archery within schools.For further information about the award visit the Coach Archery section of the Archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/coach.

New products: Some of the latest archery products on the market

Mathews Halon-X Compound Bow

Crossover bow built to perform in the field or on the range. Measures 35in axle to axle and features the new perimeter weighted mini Crosscentric™ cam system generating speeds up to 330 fps. Available at Clickers Archery: www.clickersarchery.co.uk. Costs £999.

Elevation Mathews Nerve field quiver

High quality in the lightest, slimmest profile. Available at www.clickersarchery.co.uk. Costs £64.50. Available as a package with core release pouch and a pro shooter's belt. £89.50.

Elevation Mathews Transition hip quiver

The Transition line of hip quivers feature Elevations innovative Diamond-Lock and Comfort-Tec technologies for the most durable, balanced experience. Available at Clickers Archery: www.clickersarchery.co.uk. Both fits cost £52.

Bohning fletching tape dispenser and replacement tape

Dispenser automatically separates backing from tape. Built-in brake button and winding crank. Refillable. Costs $20.63 (around £15.80). Tape designed for feathers and Mylar vanes. Works on all shaft surfaces. Costs $18.38 (around £14) for refill three-tape pack. Available at Bohning Archery: www.bohning.com.

Gas Pro Patriot edition kit

Photo: Countries in order from the top: Belgium, Netherlands, China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Korea, Spain, USA, Brazil, Great Britain.

Thirty-six mixed coloured 2 inch recurve-efficient vanes and 12 small sized wraps decorated with the national flag. Special edition to celebrate Rio and only available until 31 December 2016. Available from Archery Sporting Services: http://alternativess.com and JVD: www.jvd.nl, among others. Costs: around £20.

Big weekend

Absolutely loved it: That’s the big weekend verdict

More than 80 clubs and organisations around Britain united this summer. Their aim? To introduce as many people to archery as possible as part of the Big Weekend.

And, if the reactions from the public are anything to go by, they more than succeeded.

In the immediate aftermath of the event we heard from Trent Valley, Melton Mowbray, Six Towns, Killingworth Archers and Wilford Bowmen. But what about the rest of the 80-plus clubs and organisations that took part?

Sittingbourne Community College Archers offered a fun-packed weekend of Arrows archery, target and mini-clout, complete with medals. And it left many wanting more, asking when the next Big Weekend was going to be.

Cleadon Archers opened its event at 10am – and worked non-stop for the next six hours. And if members wondered if their work was appreciated, the club received this email at the end of the day:

"Would just like to say thank you all very much for organising an open day today to try archery. My husband, myself and our 10-year-old son took part and absolutely loved it. The instructors were excellent and had amazing patience even with me, a 40-year-old mother who has never shot an arrow in her life. We all got a real buzz out of it. Thanks to all involved."

Bannockburn Bowmen got an equally positive response from those who took part in its event at Strathallan Park, Bridge of Allan, while Norfolk Bowmen were also rewarded with a thank-you email. It said: "My brother and I attended your open day and would like to once again say what a fantastic time we had! So much so that we are seriously considering taking up archery as a hobby with yourselves."

There was a great turnout for Archery Adventure's event in Halesworth, Suffolk, while Clwydian Bowmen had to extend its have-a-go because it proved so popular.

It is a new club, so it was a great way of getting known in the community as well as boosting its beginners' courses. And the most satisfying thing members did? To show wheelchair users, partially sighted people and children that, with a little work, they could shoot on equal terms with everyone. It led to one wheelchair user deciding to join the club there and then.

Jersey Archery Society's first Big Weekend event coincided with a visit from Archery GB Performance Talent Coach Harry Healey. He spoke to visitors about the sport – as well as running performance-coaching sessions for the club. It proved a great hit. More than 120 people tried archery for the first time and many have signed up for beginner's’ courses.

It was Kirby Muxloe's first time too – and the club turned it into a festival of fun with face painting, archery demonstrations and a bouncy castle. It left visitors wanting more – so much so that they came back on the second day.

There was a slow start for Hitchingbrooke Archery Club – but things quickly picked up, with lots of people trying the sport and lots wanting to find out how they could get involved. And perfect weather meant that Mounts Bay Archery Club members were almost overwhelmed by people determined to try archery.

Deer Park's event was a roaring success, while a brother and sister who visited the Bowmen of Pendle and Samlesbury agreed on two things – it was fun and they wanted to do more.

The verdict of one visitor to Waterside Archers in Hampshire, pretty much summed up their day: "Went around three times with my son and daughter, all of us enjoyed it. Quite therapeutic actually."

Peacock Archers near Cambridge had to call time at 5pm – but there were still people eager to have a go, learn more about the club, and the sport. And 12 people signed up after Priory Bowmen's big day.

Members at Kirton-in-Lindsey had to compete with other events going on in the town. But it did not stop their Big Weekend from being a huge success. A blind member proved that it is

a sport for all, while juniors showed off their skill. There were also talks about different types of bow as well as a clout shoot and longbow speed shooting.

They attracted more than 200 visitors – including a Stormtrooper and a European eagle owl – and 10 people signed up for beginners’ courses on the spot.

Bad weather drove Stockton Archers and their visitors inside but that did not put anyone off having a go and trying out the Arrows kit.

Ramsey Ravens had a "crazy time" during its Big Weekend. There was a have-a-go, plus a shoot for family and friends. It ended when members were joined by friends from Fakenham Bowmen, Nene Bowmen and Corby Archers for a fruit and veg shoot with the ultimate aim of shooting a grape.

The Chairman of the District Council was among those shooting at Louth And District Disabled Archery Club's event – and it had an unexpected consequence. Soon after, local schools invited the club to put on have a go sessions and it is now in talks to set up satellite clubs.

Universities and Colleges

Pure determination: Records tumble at BUCS Championships

Words: Nicola Turner and David WilliamsPicture: Malcolm Rees

The rain might have been pouring but nothing was going to stop students from across the nation competing in the British University and Collegiate Sport (BUCS) Championships.

And they were rewarded with record-breaking performances as they fought for BUCS medals and points for their universities.

Warwick's Tom Hall and Birmingham University's Rebekah Tipping proved unbeatable in the World Archery 1440, followed by a 720 and head-to-head rounds. Tom also claimed a new BUCS record of 1,283 for the 1440 round.

He said: "This weekend was all about hard work paying off." Rebekah said: "This is my fifth year of student archery and my ninth BUCS, I have a few bronze and silver medals but it is amazing to finally come away with gold."

Edinburgh won the men's non-compound team event with a record-breaking score of 3,550. Warwick took the women's team title.

Edinburgh's compounders also had a good championships. Sarah Prieels and Harrison Ooi shot BUCS records to claim both the individual honours and the two-person team event gold. Emily Williams (South Wales) won her sixth BUCS Championship gold in the women's longbow event with Alex Newnes (Aberystwyth) taking the men's honours. Jennifer Mankin (Sussex) and Jon Gordon (Swansea) took the barebow titles.

BUCS also includes novice teams for those that have been shooting less than a year. Loughborough University fielded a strong novice team that beat Birmingham and last year's winners Southampton to the top spot.

Field

Added edge: Watership Down hosts vital qualifier

Photo: European 3D silver medallist Michaela Lake and Steve Burke prepare to shoot.

Watership Down may be synonymous with rabbits and adventure but it is becoming just as well known for Overton Black Arrows' annual field tournament.

The record status shoot was held at the aptly-named The Warren in Kingsclere, Hampshire, site of the 1982 World Championships. And there was an added edge as it was the penultimate qualification event for archers competing to represent Great Britain at the World Archery Field Championships in Dublin.

The archers who went on to be selected for the GB team included seven defending or past world champions as well as four Olympians. They were:

Barebow

Senior: Jessica Nilsson, Joanne Walker, Victoria Williams, Robert Mallon, Jason Meehan, James Annall.

Junior: Sophie Benton, Craig McCreery.

Recurve

Senior: Amy Oliver, Naomi Folkard, Lisa Cooper, Alan Wills, Jonathan Shales, Mark Nesbitt.

Junior: Patrick Huston, Ollie Vobe, Joe Fairburn, Bryony Pitman.

Compound

Senior: Tracey Hill, Daisy Clark, Hope Greenwood, Chris White, Matt Arnold, Tapani Kalmaru.

Junior: Dean Hamilton, Jamie Cole, Jamie Cole, Rebecca Lennon, Lucy Mason.

Best in their field: Laughs and fierce competition at British Champs

More than 160 junior and senior archers gathered in Northern Ireland to take part in the 2016 All British and Open Field Championships.

They were greeted by sunshine, heavy showers and a warm welcome from hosts Ballyvally Archers. The shoot, at Greenmount College, County Antrim, was fiercely contested – but there were plenty of laughs and comradeship over the two days.

England took the Home Nations trophy and, among our new champions were married couple Victoria and Stuart Barby, as well as a strong showing from the host club. Compounder Duncan Busby received the Jack Secombe award.

You can find all the results, plus those from the UK Junior Field Championships, at GNAS Field Archery UK: www.gnasfield.co.uk.

Coming up soon

2 October: UKRS Essex and Open Field Championships (Arrowhead), Chelmsford.

8-9 October: UKRS Ballyvally Coolnacran I, Whyte’s Estate, Loughbrickland. UKRS Cheshire and Open Field Tournament, Mouldsworth.

6 November: UKRS Surrey Field Championships, Mickleham, Boxhill.

19-20 November: UKRS Ballyvally Coolnacran II, (Arrowhead), Whyte’s Estate, Loughbrickland.

For full details about these competitions – and the rest of the field tournament diary – please see the Tournament Diary.

If you are holding an event and want to advertise it in Archery UK’s diary pages, it's easy. Simply contact Karen Hodgkiss at karen.hodgkiss@archerygb.org and she can help you with everything you need to know.

Clout

Three times the fun: Archers battle for Tri-Clout glory

Each year, archers flock from all over to take part in the UK's only three-day clout event – and 2016 was no exception.

Hosted by Neston Company of Archers, day one featured a double two-way clout. The second day was taken up with a double one-way clout, the Cheshire Clout Championships and Open and the fifth English Archery Federation Clout. The tournament finished with a double World Archery Metric clout.

Each year there are national records to aim for, as well as tassel badges and separate six-clout end badges. The results also count towards the JAWS award scheme.

Anyone who enters all three competitions is eligible for the Supreme Clout Award. It is open to longbow, barebow, recurve and compound archers – and this year it was won by Steve Harrison of Goldcrest Archers.

You can find all the results at Cheshire Archery Association: www.cheshirearchery.org.

No flag is safe

Photo: Caoimhe Heaney with the wounded flag.

When Caoimhe Heaney was preparing for Ballyvally's annual clout shoot, she was hoping to do well. She was not expecting to make the best shot of the day – but she did.

In fact, the 16-year-old was the only archer to hit any of the clouts. And she did in style. When the archers walked down the field to retrieve their arrows, Caoimhe's was still stuck in the red flag at 140 yards.

As well as winning the club's top clout trophy, Caoimhe also took home a £30 prize – as well as bragging rights for the next 12 months.

Coming up soon

1 October: Hampshire Clout Weekend, Exbury.

8 October: UKRS Fakenham Bowmen Clout (Tassel), Norfolk. The Bowmen of Lytchett Clout Weekend (Tassel), Wareham.

15 October: UKRS National Clout Championships (Tassel), Bradford.

16 October: UKRS Bowmen of Rutland Clout Championships, Stamford.

23 October: UKRS Shropshire County and Open Clout, Newport.

29 October: UKRS Middlesex Visitors and County Clout Championships, Ashford.

6 November: UKRS Northants Senior and Junior Clout, Kettering

For full details about these competitions – and the rest of the diary – please see the Tournament Diary.

We need your help

We are planning a clout special for the next issue of Archery UK. And we need your help.

We want your reports and pictures - and we want you to tell us why you love clout. Send them to magazine@archerygb.org as soon as you can after your event and we will do our very best to get them into the next edition.

Flight

Taking flight: Tony smashes UK distance record

Photo credit: Paul Hadley

Archers gathered at Leeds Airport East for the 2016 National Flight Championships were treated to something rather special: the longest shot ever recorded in the UK.

Forty-two archers from across Britain were at the former RAF Church Fenton and, between them, claimed three national and five world records. But the furthest shot of the day was made by Tony Osbourne of Pepperstock Archers and was an incredible 1,073 yards and 11 inches.

And for those who think only a heavy bow (and brute force) can win a flight shoot, think again.

Tournament organiser Tony Bakes said: "In the men's target recurve, the 35lb class winner with a distance of 421 yards would have come third in the 50lb bow class, losing out by only three yards to the second placed archer.

"In the target compound class, the furthest distance recorded was 748 yards off a bow with a peak weight of only 45lbs, beating all in the 60lb class by a distance of nearly 70 yards. So I think that answers the question."

He thanked judges Peter Turner and Tony Tideswell, Lady Paramount Chris Mernin and all the volunteers who helped make the event such a success.

Going that extra mile

Words: Tony Bakes

What is it that pushes an archer to drive for four to five hours at a time just to shoot 24 arrows? The answer is surprisingly simple.

Give a group of children a few bamboo poles and some string. What is the first thing they make? A bow and arrow. And when they have made that, what is the first thing you will

hear? Probably: "I bet I can shoot further than you." Even talking to non-archers, the first question is invariably: "How far will it shoot?"

This is flight archery at its simplest and is something that can be practised by anyone. No special equipment is needed. All bow types can experience flight. And once you have a taste for it you develop a constant need to go that extra yard – and with every extra yard gained, the next becomes more difficult.

Flight shooting is an important and traditional part of archery. It has always been a test bed and its innovation has benefited archery in all its forms. For example, we were the first to use carbon arrows in the 1970s.

Most archers will have never tried their bow to see how far it will shoot. This is a chance for all archers, whether they shoot target, field or whatever, should know the true power of their bow.

For more information, contact tbakes@tbakes.karoo.co.uk.

Why flight?

"I am an archer who started in target archery. However, I have physical health issues and tire quickly, meaning I can't keep up with a whole day of competitive shooting. In flight shooting I get time to recover between ends without tiring.

"When I first tried flight archery, it appealed to me instantly. It is as technical as you want to make it. You can push yourself and your equipment to the limit and you compete not only against others but also yourself.

"You can feel a greater ownership of your performance in flight because you spend so long crafting your own arrows and choosing a bow that suits you. Flight archers are all extremely friendly and helpful. Everyone wants to see everyone else succeed which is fantastic and people share their knowledge to help others get the best out of their equipment and themselves."

Elaine from Cardiff

National tournaments

What a journey: Final pieces fall into place for Grand Final

All the drama of The Nottingham Building Society National Series Grand Final was being played out as Archery GB was going to press – but it was quite a journey for the archers who earned their shot at glory at Wollaton Hall.

The final pieces fell into place when Bronte Archers hosted the final stage at Apperley Bridge near Bradford.

Recurver Tom Hall secured his place at the top of the series rankings by taking gold with a 6 to 2 win over Olympian and reigning champion Patrick Huston who had qualified in 39th place. He battled through to silver – but had done enough to secure his main aim – a spot in the grand final. The women's gold went to another Olympian, Naomi Folkard after a showdown with Vlada Priestman.

Compounder Adam Ravenscroft topped the standings but had to settle for second spot in stage six. He was beaten 143 to 141 by Neil Brigewater, number two in the standings.

Eighth seed Lizzie Foster beat top qualifier Lucy O'Sullivan in the quarter finals of the women's competition then defeated Michelle Sword to land a place in the final against Pauline Burfitt, and claim gold with a 138 to 136 win.

Archers earn their place in the grand final by accruing points over at least three stages of the National Series. The points are awarded to the top 32 at each tournament and, once they have all been totted up, the top eight in each category go through to the Nottingham final.

Photo: Stage one action at Evesham. Picture: Malcolm Rees.

So how does that work? Recurver Bryony Pitman made her intentions clear from the start by winning both stages one and two, beating Amy Oliver into second place on both days. That set up a battle royal. Amy went on a winning streak with Bryony hot on her heels. And Olympian Naomi Folkard returned from Rio in fine form to take stage six gold and third place in the standings to ensure she would be defending her title at Wollaton Hall.

In the recurve men's competition, Jonathan Dyke took first blood but then Keiran Slater and Ashe Morgan made the running. But Edinburgh University's Tom Hall was in the mix too – and by stage five was second in the rankings. That changed at Apperley Bridge where victory took him straight to the top.

The quality of British archery has been reflected in the compound competitions. Matt Arnold and Carl Richards set the early pace but then two stage wins propelled Adam Ravenscroft to the top of the standings. And he has stayed there, despite challenges from defending champion Neil Bridgewater and Simon Froggatt.

There was some serious competition for the women's title too. Hope Greenwood lead the rankings after consistently good shooting and a stage win. But other winners include Sarah Prieels, Lucy Mason and Susan Corless – and they too were eyeing the title, along with all the other finalists.

The eight finalists in each category were:

Men's compound: Adam Ravenscroft, Neil Bridgewater, Simon Froggatt, James Mason, Matthew Arnold, Carl Richards, Chris White, Duncan Busby.

Women's compound: Hope Greenwood, Lucy Mason, Pauline Burfitt, Sarah Prieels, Isabelle Carpenter, Susan Corless, Andrea Gales, Michelle Sword.

Men's recurve: Tom Hall, Kieran Slater, Alex Smith, Alberto Zagami, Michael Judd, Ashe Morgan, Patrick Huston, Louis Perkins.

Women's recurve: Amy Oliver, Bryony Pitman, Naomi Folkard, Sarah Bettles, Sally Gilder, Emily Bryant, Alyssia Tromans-Ansell, Rebecca Martin.

Wishes do come true: Perfect conditions for longbow championships

Fine, calm weather topped the wish list as archers gathered for the English and Open Senior Longbow Championships. For once, the great British summer obliged - and it resulted in some stunning performances.

Sheila Hudson set a new national record on her way to taking the women's title at the event, hosted by Sherwood Archers at Southwell in Nottinghamshire.

Cliff Gadd is the new men's champion with masters' titles going to Catriona Charters and Roger Spellane. There were also four English Archery Federation Rose award claims.

English Archery Federation Chairman Marc Grady said: "This has once again been a tremendous Championship, with all English regions solidly represented. The numbers of those wishing to compete in this National Longbow Championship are increasing each year and we are continuing to draw the best archers in the country.

"I am very much indebted to Richard Coats and his team at Sherwood Archers for all of their hard work in hosting this year’s tournament and for agreeing to host again in 2017."

You can find out more about the Championships at the English Archery Federation website.

Masters of their craft: 130 show why they are among Britain's best

The UK Masters more than lived up to its name as some of our best archers battled in high temperatures to be recognised as Britain's best.

Three days of top competition were seen at the UK Masters, with more than 130 archers taking full advantage of the opportunity to be part of the invitation-only event at Lilleshall.

Picture: Emily Williams.

As well as top level competition, a new world record was set by Steve Prowse in the VI round with a score of 1,268.

The UK Masters titles were based on performances over the three rounds. After two days of intense competition, the overall winners were:

Recurve: Naomi Folkard and David TimminsCompound: Hope Greenwood and Neil BridgewaterLongbow: Sheila Hudson and Robert TwiggBarebow: Jacqueline Gould and John Dalton

A change for the better

A format change made all the difference at this year's Euronations tournament, hosted by Archery Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare.

Sixty-three archers from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Guernsey shot World Archery 720 qualification rounds followed by mixed team and individual head-to-heads.

The mixed team format was particularly popular. It was used to determine the overall mixed team places and the recurve and compound combined team awards.

Scotland put in a strong performance to win the overall Euronations trophy as well as the combined recurve and compound team awards. England took the men's recurve title and Ireland won women's recurve and men's compound honours.

Individual recurve titles went to Ireland's Maeve Reidy and England's David Timmins while the compound champions are Scotland's Hope Greenwood and Harrison Ooi.

After hard-fought qualification rounds in the second day of competition, Ireland's Connor Hall and Rachel Foley won recurve head-to-head honours, England’s Carl Richard was the top male compounder and Hope Greenwood took the women's title.

Week to remember

British summertime, a stunning backdrop and the chance to shoot with friends for a whole week. Can you think of a better way to spend your time?

The archers who flocked from around Britain to take part in this year's Dunster Week certainly could not. And they were well rewarded.

Target events at the 61st Dunster Week were held in the grounds of the National Trust-owned Dunster Castle in Somerset, while Allercott Farm hosted the field events. The week included clouts, 3D big game rounds, Western rounds and Somerset's county championship. It ended with the Grand Western 141st Championship meeting.

And records fell. Jacqui Gold set a new barebow 60-metre long Metric and double Hereford UK record while Alan Holder took single and double two-way clout honours at 180 yards.

There were longbow records too. Sophie Woolcock holds the new double Hereford record and Dicky Summers was not to be denied, breaking the single two-way clout record.

You can find all the results at the Somerset County Archery Association website: www.somersetarchery.co.uk.

Bigger than ever: Combined indoor champs set to grow

Photo: Last year at Stoneleigh. Picture: Robin Maryon

This year's Junior National Outdoor Championships was the biggest ever – and now the Combined National Indoor Championships are set to follow suit.

Last year the Junior Indoor Championships, Back to Back and National Indoor Championships took over one hall at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. This year it is going to take over two.

On Saturday 3 December, Hall 1 will host the JNIC while Hall 2 – the one we used last year – will be dedicated to the Back to Back. On Sunday both halls will be in use for the National Indoor Championship.

So why make the change? The reason is simple: to meet demand. Using both halls will mean more targets – and the chance to offer more entries in our premier indoor competitions.

There will be 48 more places per discipline in the Back to Back and there will be approximately 680 spaces available over two sessions on the Sunday. There will also be lots more space for trade stands.

Our top counties are

It took tough competition over three rounds to decide, but we now know who reigns supreme after the 2016 National County Team Championships.

The final results were made up of qualification and head to heads plus a World Archery 1440.

So who are our champions? More than 240 archers competed in 29 teams at Lilleshall and the overall victors were:

Men's recurve: Kent. Women's recurve: Warwickshire. Men's compound: Hampshire. Women's compound: Eastern Area. Men's longbow: Kent. Women's longbow: Devon and Cornwall.

Tournament organiser Robert Potts said: "There were more teams competing this year than in previous years. It was a tough weekend and competition in all the disciplines was very close.

"We look forward to seeing more team entries next year from other counties as the event continues to grow in popularity.

"Well done to everyone who claimed WA Target and Star awards over the course of the weekend, especially in the challenging weather conditions on Sunday afternoon."

By invitation only

Some of Britain's brightest prospects gathered at Lilleshall to test their skills at the UK Junior Masters invitational shoot.

Any archer who gained Junior Master Bowmen status in the last year was invited to attend and get a flavour of top-flight competition.

They started with a 720 ranking round and then went head-to-head – exactly as the Olympians did in Rio. It led to tense competition, nail-biting moments and dramatic shoot-offs. Then they did it all over again to find a single winner for each bow type.

On Sunday they shot a round robin series of head-to-heads to determine their rankings and the top four archers in each category went forward to compete for medals.

The weather throughout rivalled Rio and the event proved popular with both archers and parents who said that they had learned a lot.

If you were there and have any feedback that might improve the competition, the Junior Committee would love to hear from you. It is your event and it would love to know what you think.

You can contact the committee via the Chairman at chairman.junior@archerygb.org.

A date with history

Photo: Derek Lovell takes the first shot at GNAM.

The Grand National Archery Meeting might be one of Britain's most historic tournaments but it was brought right up to date as archers went head to head to become the 2016 champions.

The GNAM was first shot in York in 1844 but Lilleshall is now the regular host, allowing some of Britain's best to shoot UK record status Rose York, Hereford and National rounds plus a UK record status long National round over three days.

The Spedding Challenge Cup for the highest aggregate score with a recurve or wood bow over three days was won by Shelley Hurst of Bradford University and the top handicap day awards went to Alison Williams of Wirrall Archers and Martin Bale of Rivernook Bowmen.The double Hereford basic score titles went to: Shelley Hurst (recurve), Sophie Woolcock (longbow), Jane Lawrence-Tuck (compound) and Sarah-Ruth Hubbard (barebow).

The ultimate aim Olympian Patrick inspires at JNOC

More than 330 archers lined up at the biggest-ever Junior National Outdoor Championships – and some of them found themselves shooting alongside probably the most famous junior in Great Britain.

Patrick Huston represented Great Britain, along with Naomi Folkard, at the Rio Olympics. He was at the JNOC as Lord Patron – and, at 20, still ranks as a World Archery junior.

So he had a go at breaking a British record and, although he did not quite succeed, had a great time trying. "Why not?" he said. "The best thing you can do is compete. It’s the best way to improve your archery so that's what I need to do and that’s why I’m here.

"It's an absolute pleasure to be the Lord Patron of the Junior National Outdoor Championships. It's great to see the kids out enjoying themselves and competing. I'm doing my best to inspire the next generation and it's really great to see the enthusiasm that they have.

"I've really enjoyed it and it's really nice talking to all the kids and seeing how happy they are and I'm happy if I can inspire them."

There were 91 targets spread over Lilleshall's archery field and neighbouring football pitches along with two small villages made up of neatly arranged tents. And the atmosphere crackled with excitement as juniors from around the UK put themselves to the test.

If Patrick hoped to inspire the stars of the future, he succeed with many of Saturday's Junior World Archery 1440 Star winners going on to clinch JNOC titles on Sunday.

The perfect mix

What do you get when you combine the British Target Championships and stage five of the Archery GB National Series? The answer is hard-fought competition and superb shooting.

It was a fantastic weekend for Olympian Amy Oliver. On day one, the recurve second seed powered past Michelle Kiddy, Eva Henderson-Hirst, Rebekah Tipping and Sarah Bettles and beat Edinburgh University's Johannah Meyer 7 to 3 to take gold. Bryony Pitman won bronze.

There was a battle royal in the men's gold final. Seventh seed Richard White went head-to-head with Tom Hall, ranked fourth. And it was nip and tuck all the way with Tom finally winning 6 to 4. Jason Reif took bronze.

Day two was a World Archery 1440 round – and Amy again triumphed with a four-point lead over Bryony Pitman and Rebecca Martin in third. The men's honours went to Ashe Morgan, with Michael Judd second and Tom Hall third.

Compounders Simon Froggatt and Sarah Prieels reigned supreme in their categories on both days. On Saturday, Simon beat top seed Adam Ravenscroft to take the head-to-head competition, with Chris White in bronze spot. On Sunday he beat Shaun Teasdale into second and Harrison Ooi into third place.

Sarah beat Lucy Mason to gold on Saturday with top seed Hope Greenwood taking bronze. A day later she beat Andrea Gales and Kirsty Robb to the top spot.

Sixth seed Robert Twigg took stop spot in Saturday's longbow competition, ahead of Edward Pike and top seed Cliff Gadd. But he could only take silver on Sunday as Cliff lived up to his ranking. Patrick Revell took third spot.

There was another battle in the women's competition. Second seed Sophie Woolcock took the honours over Sheila Hudson on Saturday but the top seed beat Sophie into second place on Sunday. Julie Cousins won bronze on both days, with Kayleigh Baylis in fourth.

On Sunday, John Jones took the barebow title, beating Kevin Cooke into second place.

Performance

Tough – but worth it: World Cup silver and Rio qualification

Photo: Podium stars Adam and Daisy with winners Colombia and bronze medallists Italy. Picture: World Archery.

Daisy Clark and Adam Ravenscroft showed exactly what they could do during stage three of the Hyundai World Cup in Antalya – and came within a point of taking mixed team gold. And Naomi Folkard secured a second Olympic place in the Rio quota event.

It was a tough campaign for the compound silver medalists. It began with a shoot-off against top seeds Denmark, which they won by a single point, before notching up a 155 to 153 victory over Spain. They beat France 156 to 155 in the semis before second seeds Colombia edged the final, winning 151 to 130.

In the team events, compounders Daisy, Naomi Jones and Lucy Mason beat second ranked Denmark 218 to 211 but were denied a place in the semis by eventual bronze medallists Indonesia.

There was disappointment too for our women recurvers and compound men. Naomi Folkard, Amy Oliver and Bryony Pitman were denied a quarter final place by Germany while compounders Adam, Duncan Busby and James Howse fell foul of South Africa.

Adam also delivered one of the strongest individual performances of the tournament. He beat teammate James Howse only to be denied a quarter final spot by Mike Schloesser. Duncan Busby’s hopes were ended by Russian Alexander Dambaev and Simon Froggatt's by Majid Gheidi of Iran.

There were tough matches too for Naomi Jones who beat Evelien Groeneveld of the Netherlands only to be denied by Italy's Marcella Tonioli, Daisy Clark, beaten by India's Lily Chanu Paonam, Lucy Mason and Andrea Gales.

In the recurve competition, Sally Gilder beat Italy's Claudia Mandia 6 to 4 and American Mackenzie Brown 6 to 2 but she had no answer for Russia's Ksenia Perova, who went on to take silver.

Amy Oliver beat teammate Bryony Pitman before falling victim to Bombayla Devi Laishram of India and Naomi Folkard beat France's Laura Ruggieri 6 to 0 before being knocked out by Turkey's Begunhan Unsal. But she had done the important job. The event also included the last qualification event for Rio. Naomi finished second – and secured Britain a vital spot in the Olympics.

Patrick Huston beat Ukraine's Sergeii Makarevych 6 to 2 before falling victim to Russian Bair Tsybekdorzhiev and there were early exits for Kieran Slater and Ashe Morgan.

Double delight: Silver and bronze at 3D Champs

Great Britain claimed two medals at the European 3D Championships in Mokrice-Catez.

Instinctive archer Michaela Lake vanquished Sweden's Ulrika Backman 24 to 15 in the semis to secure a gold medal match against Heldis Zahlberger. And she put up a great fight but the Austrian edged it to take the European title. Backman won bronze.

And there was bronze for our women's team of Victoria Barby (compound), Jessica Nilsson (barebow) and Emily Williams (longbow). They had earlier beaten France 179 to 176 to land a semi-final against top seeds Italy.

It was neck and neck all the way but the favourites finally edged it by three points to set up a gold final with eventual champions Sweden. That left Britain facing Austria for the last medal – and our girls were in no mood to be denied. They put in a stunning performance to secure a 176 to 171 victory.

Picture: World Archery Europe.

There was frustration for compounder Gary Cole as his title ambitions were thwarted at the last moment. He was ranked third and maintained his position for most of the competition only to be edged into fifth spot and out of individual medal contention. Fellow compounders Victoria Barby finished 19th and Phillip Tucknott 31st.

Lizzy Rees was our highest placed barebow archer, finishing eighth in the competition. Jessica Nilsson was not far behind in tenth spot with Jason Meehan 20th in his category and Adam Strachan-Stephens 30th.

And there was some good shooting in the longbow competition. Emily Williams finished 13th, three places ahead of Lesley Sleight while Richard Powell and Steve Burke ended 20th and 28th respectively. Both the women's compound junior team of Bayley Sargeant, Rebecca Lennon and Abbie Spinks and cadets Lucy Mason, Isabelle Carpenter and Layla Annison finished their competitions in second place.

Step up Lucy: Compound cadet is European champion

Photo: Lucy Mason takes aim. Picture: Dean Alberga.

The British national anthem rang out in Bucharest as Lucy Mason became a European champion. And a superb performance by our young stars put us fifth in the results table at the 2016 European Youth Championships.

Lucy took the compound cadet gold medal after beating teammate Layla Annison, top seed Elisaveta Koroleva and Croatia's Amanda Mlinaric. The final step to European glory was when she saw off the challenge posed by Estonian Liseli Jaatma in a hard-fought contest.

Recurve junior Bryony Pitman was also aiming for a European title. After knocking out Moldova's Elisaveta Miron, Russia's Valeria Mylnikova, Frenchwoman Melanie Gaubil and Czech Marie Horackova, she went up against Spain's Adriana Martin. Bryony battled hard but the Spaniard edged it, leaving the Briton with a silver medal and some fantastic memories.

There were other silver medals too. The top two seeds - Turkey and Great Britain - went head-to head in the compound cadet men's team final. And there were only two points in it. Adam Carpenter, James Howse and Jake Walsh put in a terrific performance but the Turks just edged ahead to take the title.

Strong breezes proved costly as compound juniors Rebecca Lennon, Bayley Sargeant and Abbie Spinks faced Russia in their gold medal final. Russia took an early lead but Great Britain pulled back and edged ahead. Then the wind picked up and Russia coped better to take the title.

And to complete the medals haul, both our recurve cadet women's team of Eva Henderson-Hirst, Eleanor Piper and Alyssia Tromans-Ansell and our compound junior men - Matthew Hall, James Howell and Luke Ralls – won bronze.

There was even a trophy as cadet compounder Adam Carpenter won the Europa Cup and cadet recurver Eleanor Piper came second in her category.

Almost there: Students go close against the rest of world

Eleven students journeyed to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar ready to take on the world. And two of our teams made it to the quarter finals of the World University Archery Championships.

The compound mixed team of Elizabeth Foster and Jordan Mitchell beat Germany 151 to 142 but then came up against second seeds – Turkey – in the quarter finals. Elizabeth and Jordan shot well but it was the Turks who progressed to the next stage and went on to take silver, beaten 157 to 156 by Korea. Malaysia won bronze.

And Russia proved too powerful for recurvers Sally Gilder and Tom Hall, denying them a place in the quarter finals. Korea won gold in a shoot-off with France and the bronze medal went to Japan.

Elizabeth Foster, Stephanie Clason and Rebecca Blewett made it to the quarter finals of the compound women's team event after beating Mongolia 218 to 191. But then they came up against in-form second seeds India. And they almost made it to the semis. In the end, India won by a single point then went on to take the gold medal, beating Russia 228 to 220. The USA claimed bronze.

Our compound men, Jordan Mitchell, Phillip Tucknott and Harrison Ooi, went out to India and the recurve men, Robert Gray, Tom Hall and Jack Masefield, lost out to Japan in a close match.

There was frustration for compounder Jordan Mitchell in the individual competition. He beat Russian Chingese Rinchino 139 to 138 but then came up against another Russian, fourth seed Alexander Dambaev, and was denied a quarter final place, losing 143 to 144.

Teammate Phillip Tucknott beat Mongolia's Sodnompil Jargalsaikhan but could not get past Mohd Juwaida Mazuki of Malaysia. And Harrison Ooi defeated France's Jean-Baptiste Cortese but could not overcome second seed, Russian Viktor Kalashnikov.

Things could not have been closer for Elizabeth Foster in the women's competition. She tied with ninth seed Lee Yujin after a stunning performance, forcing a shoot-off. Elizabeth shot an eight – but the Korean hit the X.

Stephanie Clason defeated Mongolian Gonchigsure Tuvshinjargal but fell victim to Germany's Janine Meissner. And Rebecca Blewitt was beaten by Singapore's Ang Hwee Ying.

The recurvers fared little better. Tom Hall, Jack Masefield and Robert Gray all went out in the first round, as did Sally Gilder and Jaspreet Sagoo.

California dream

Some of Britain's brightest hopes went out to the USA to prepare for the European Youth Championships – and they arrived home with gold, silver and bronze medals.

They were shooting in the SoCal Showdown and found themselves facing the USA men's Olympic team, Mexico, Colombia and Canada. But it did not put them off.

Tom Howse won individual 70m senior recurve gold, Jack Masefield took silver and, along with Alex Smith, they won team bronze after being beaten by the USA in the semis.

There was gold for the recurve cadet of Ryan Pinder, Joe Fairburn and Louis Perkins while Thomas Nairn combined with another team to take silver.

Pathway manager Ceri Ann Davies said: "Huge congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in developing our future Olympic archers this cycle. We are proud of everyone. Well done GB."

Drama, fun and, most importantly, friendship

Sunshine (mostly), shooting, fun, friendship – five words that sum up Archery GB's successful 2016 Youth Festival. And there was plenty of drama too.

Picture: Malcolm Rees.

There was a truly international edge to the week-long festival at Lilleshall as archers from Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands became part of a 160-strong band of young athletes. Friendships were forged but the competition was never less than top-class.

That standard was reflected in the number of shoot-offs needed to decide matches – and that included the finals.

Ollie Vobe and Jonathan Tate went head-to-head for recurve cadet gold. It was nip and tuck all the way, forcing the shoot-off. Jonathan shot an eight, but Ollie hit the nine. Ryan Pinder took bronze with a tough 6 to 4 win over Louis Perkins.

Georgia Maryon took the women's title, beating Thea Rogers 6 to 2, while Amy Gott eventually beat Eleanor Cole 6 to 4 to take bronze.

The other gold medal shoot-out was between compounders Luke Ralls and James Howse. Both finished on 144 but James edged the shoot-off to claim the title. Adam Carpenter took bronze with a four-point win over Sweden's Isak Carlsson.

Four points guaranteed compound gold for Abbie Spinks, beating Rebecca Lennon into second spot. And Lucy Mason took bronze with a win over Sarah Moon.

There was a battle royal for junior recurve women's gold. Rebecca Martin and Bryony Pitman went head to head and Rebecca edged it 6 to 4. Jaspreet Sagoo took bronze with a

7 to 1 win over Emily Bryant. Jack Masefield took the men's title, with Ryan Holden in silver spot and Callum Platt winning bronze with a 6 to 4 victory over Tom Alexander.

Gold in the women's cub category had already been decided when Imogen Newby beat Penny Healey 7 to 1. But yet another shoot-off decided bronze as Charlotte Hempsall eventually edged past Shaimaa Abdelhalim. Roman Quinton beat Thomas Susca to men's gold with Riley Spencer-Nice taking bronze.

In the mixed teams competition, recurve junior top seeds Emily Bryant and Eleanor Piper beat second placed Eugenia D'Arcy and Callum Platt to gold. Cheryl Loorents and Alyssia Tromans-Ansell took bronze.

There was drama as shoot-offs also decided the cadet medals. Lauryn Jewkes and Luke Stocks edged gold over Katrina Brown and Keith Hammond while Leah Bannister and Nicole Burdett had earlier beaten Alex Body and Oliver Tse to bronze.

Oliver Phillips and Riley Spencer-Nice beat Shaimaa Abdelhalim and Penny Healey to take cub honour with Marco Costanza and Charlotte Hempsall in bronze spot.

Picture: Robin Maryon.

Compound youth mixed team honours were also decided by a shoot-off, with Sam Jeram and Alexander Taylor pipping top seeds Darah Moon and Liam Upfold to gold. The bronze medal was won by second seeds Abbie Spinks and Matthew Wong.

In the team competition, Rebecca Lennon, Lucy Mason and Iulia Petre beat Saffron Cullen, Harriet Fletcher and Bayley Sargeant to women's gold while Carla Ayling, Jenny Bryan and Maddison Codling took bronze. The men's title went to Jacob Caine, Dean Hamilton and Alexander Taylor with a 225 to 213 win over Thomas Howse, David Taylor and Nathan Thomas. Liam Upfold, Jake Walsh and Matthew Wong won bronze.

In the recurve competitions, juniors Anne Lilley, Louisa Piper and Alyssia Tromans-Ansell defeated Cheryl Loorents, Harlie Mason and Jaspreet Sagoo to take the women's title while Eugenia D'Arcy, Emily Gill and Eva Henderson-Hirst edged a shoot-off to take bronze. Men's gold went to Tom Alexander, Jack Masefield and Ryan Woodhouse who beat Christopher Cooper, Rhys Harper and Callum Platt 5 to 1. The bronze went to Ryan Holden, Nick Roos and Daniel Talbot.

Cadets Oliver Gordon-Brown, Maxwell Harding and Lewis Haslam beat Hayden Ledwick, Luke Stocks and Daniel Thompson in a shoot-off to take the men's honours while Rhian

Costall, Amy Gott and Megan Tinker beat Lauren Bann, Rhiannon Easton and Lauryn Jewkes to the women's title. Bronze medals went to Keith Hammond, Alexander Harrison and Sam Young and Charlotte Llewellyn-Smith, Monique Pascall and Caitlin Rentell.

Shaimaa Abdelhalim, Imogen Newby and Joshua Smith beat Marco Costanza, Stephen O'Connor and Thomas Susca 6 to 2 in the battle for cub gold. Charlotte Hempsall, Oliver Phillips and Riley Spencer-Nice edged a shoot-off to take bronze.

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Submissions

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Email: magazine@archerygb.org

Please note we cannot print letters sent to us without a name and address or an email address (although we can withhold the address if you wish). Letters may be edited for publication. Please try to keep them to 250 words if possible. Letters containing personal attacks will not be published.

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Prize

An IS 60 R 15-45x60 scope by Opticron's IS range of spotting scopes has recently been updated so that all models are now fully rubber armoured. This ensures the best protection for your scope.

Our prize is worth over £270.

Should archers be licensed?

I've been doing archery for almost two years now and recently bought a new compound bow. A work colleague asked if I needed a licence to own and use it and was shocked when I said no, especially as he's just had to get a licence for his air rifle.

He was even more shocked when I said that anyone can go on to the many archery supply websites and buy numerous kits without any prior knowledge or experience.

We have all seen media images where animals have been shot and injured with arrows and, more than likely, the culprits will never be caught. I have seen someone shooting arrows at trees in a busy area with a relatively powerful bow. When I challenged the shooter I was told politely where to go.

Air rifles must now be licensed and shotguns have been for ages. Even dogs have to be microchipped. So, should archers be licensed?

Should all major components (compound bows, risers, limbs and arrows) be manufactured with some sort of serial number, data tag or microchip on them? Should archery supply shops and websites only sell to archers that are licensed and a member of registered archery club/governing body? The equipment can be registered on a central database before delivery to the customer. If that person comes to sell his equipment on, the details must be changed on the database.

The majority of people I have spoken to all agree this would make archery even safer. It may also cut down the crime and help return lost or stolen equipment to the right owner.We have the technology. Can I recommend we consider this?

Grant Mitchell, Cupar Bowmen

Other letters:

What rounds?

I shoot at a small club called Great Rissington Archers in the Cotswolds and was introduced to competition archery by shooting imperial rounds. I have been doing that for a few years but I have been put off shooting metric rounds.

The reason is that I did not understand what rounds I should be entering into, especially as I have just gone from recurve to compound.

I think it would be a good idea to maybe run a piece about explaining the rounds that clubs and archers could keep for further reference. If archers don't fully understand they are less likely to take part.

Paul Honour

Editor's reply

Many thanks for getting in touch – and it's good news. We have been thinking about doing just that for a while and it is planned for the winter edition.

Why the checks?

It is very noticeable at all recent tournaments that judges are now required to inspect all bows before all competitions, both Archery GB and World Archery rounds.

While I have no problem about having my kit inspected, I am very interested in finding out the reason behind this and how, as a coach, I am supposed to disseminate information about kit inspection when there is no guidance or rule about inspection in the Rules of Shooting.

For instance, at a recent tournament shot under Archery GB rules, I presented two unstrung longbows for inspection, to be told they needed to be strung. Why? Where in the Green Book do I find this?

In the past year or so my wife and I have come across several instances where judges seem to be using rules and guidance that is contrary to the rules of the round being shot. It is as though there are Rules of Shooting for archers to follow and another set of rules for judges to impose.

I’m not one for upsetting the apple cart and I'm willing to comply with polite requests to conform but I can see a time when my principles will be tested and I will be asking judges 'why'?

Ian Norwood, Riverside Archery Club

Chairman of Judges' reply:

The rules of shooting provide that at WA events there will be a formal equipment inspection and, more recently, the judges have been directed to conduct a formal inspection at all record status events.

There has been no change in the rules as they provide that the judges can inspect any archer's equipment at any point during the shoot. This is formalising the process to ensure that all archers begin the day with equipment that meets the rules.

The rules on equipment are quite clear, however there are some subtle differences between WA and Archery GB bow styles that archers and judges have to be aware of.

The judges will inspect the equipment in accordance with the rules and interpretations available at the time.

If you want to ask the judges why they are checking for certain things, that's great, it helps everyone learn and judges really don't bite (very hard). If you have a concern then speak to the Chairman of Judges at the event.

Clarification please

Would it be possible to have clarification on coaching from the line at Metric events please? My understanding was that you could coach an archer from the line as long as the archer does not respond.

While I am sure we don't want lines of parents shouting at their children, if there is an opportunity to quickly help your child and it is not banned, then it should be allowed as long as you are not disturbing the other archers.

At the Junior National Outdoor Championships, I had a quick word to my children if I saw something wrong and this seemed to be perfectly acceptable during Saturday's Metrics. My understanding was further enforced by the announcement on the Sunday that no coaching was allowed from the line, being that it was an Imperial round.

However, the following week the children were shooting another Metric competition and I was taken to one side by one of the judges and told I couldn't coach from the line as it was not allowed in the rules.

As always in a situation like this I abided by the judge's ruling. Looking into this subject it seems to be a bit ambiguous as to whether this should be allowed or not, and therefore I feel this could be clarified better.

Adam Joyce

Chairman of Judges' reply:

From what you say, the process at the JNOC was quite correct. World Archery permits coaching while the archer is on the line, providing it does not interfere or affect another archer. In reality this is generally spotting arrows or a few motivational words rather than complete shot coaching.

Archery GB rules do not permit this. Therefore the fact it was permitted on the first day and not the second is correct.

The difference comes with the difference between World Record Status and UK Record Status or non-record status events.

If an event has WRS, while there are not world records for our Metric rounds, the WA rules apply to the event so the Metric rounds are run under the same conditions.

If an event is UK Record or non-record status, no matter what the round is, then the Archery GB rules apply and no coaching is permitted.

Welcome to Archery UK's Advice Zone

If you have any questions, this is the place to be.

In every issue our experts are on hand to give recurve, compound, barebow and longbow advice. So if you want to know something, email your question to magazine@archerygb.org and we will pass it on to Lucy, Patrick, Duncan, Jackie or Dean.

Working out for archery 4: Glutes and legs

Archery is fantastic – but it is quite easy to pick up injuries. In the final part of our series compound star Lucy O’Sullivan has some more tips for getting – and staying – archery fit.

So, where are we? We have worked through your rotator cuffs to prevent injury or aid rehabilitation. Then we worked the back to make sure you are super strong when holding and pulling back your bow. Then we looked at the chest and core, your stabilising muscles.

But what's next? It is your roots. You cannot stand still and shoot without strong legs and glutes. There are hundreds of leg exercises and variations, including side lunges, forward lunges, single leg jumps, double leg jumps and specific bum workouts. So let's keep this simple. Let's limit it to five movement patterns.

Work with them and try them all as a double leg, single leg, jumping or lateral exercise. Have fun and, as long as you are working those legs, your body will thank you. If you want to go further, there is plenty of information on the web. Some exercises have already featured earlier in the series, so treat them as a bit of revision.

1. Squats

A favourite exercise – but you must do it right or you can cause a knee injury.

Figure 1: Start and finish of the squat; standing. The bar must be on your back, not your neck. Pull your shoulder blades together to puff up your chest and lift the bar from the squat rack.

Figure 2: Descent and end. Move back a couple of steps and place your feet hip-shoulder width apart with your feet slightly pointing out. Move from the hips first, pushing them back and then bend your knees. At the bottom of the squat try and get the top of your legs parallel to the floor, and keep the weight into your heels. Hold for a second and then rise to the standing position, tensing your bum at the top.

When you descend to the bottom of a squat you must pull your chest up and rock your body weight into your heels. If needs be, sit down on a bench and stand up again.

Reps:

Three sets of five reps or, if you are doing this single leg on to a bench try three sets of 10 reps. Control the movement on the way down.

2. Deadlift

Outlined in section two but here it is again, just in case.

Figure 3: Start of the deadlift. Bar is on the floor. Bend your knees and keep your arms outside of your knees. Ensure the back is flat, chest is up and pull the shoulder blades together.

Figure 4: The middle part of the deadlift. Ensure the back is still flat (straight), head is down and chest is puffed up. Pull the bar close up to your legs, leading with the chest.

Figure 5: End of the deadlift. Push your hips forward into the bar, the bar should brush your shins and thighs but not scrape them. Always keep the shoulder blades pulled together (so that you don’t pull your lower back or get back pain). Then do the processes in reverse until you are back at the start.

Reps:

Three sets of five to eight reps. Control the movement on the way down.

3. Stiff-Leg deadlift (Romanian deadlift)

Much like the deadlift except you start from standing and lower as far as your back and hips will allow.

Imagine your hips are on a pivot: your legs stay straight but your body lowers. To go back to the start position, lead with the chest and push your hips forward to the bar.

Figure 6: Start and end of the stiff-leg deadlift. Ensure the back is flat (straight), chest is up, pull the shoulder blades together. You must keep your back flat.

Figure 7: The middle part of the stiff-leg deadlift. Ensure the back is still (straight), head is looking down and chest is puffed up. Keep the bar close to your legs, leading the

movement by pushing the hips back first and lower your body down as if trying to get to your back parallel to the floor.

The bar should brush your thighs but not scrape them. Always keep the shoulder blades pulled together and, if you are struggling, only lower the bar to the top of your knees.

Reps:

Three sets of five to eight reps. Control the movement on the way down.

4. Rear-foot elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)

This is the hardest form of this single leg exercise. You can also do a single leg split squat or lunges.

Split squats are when you get your legs to 90-degree angles and drop your knee down to the floor and up again in a piston motion. Lunges are the same but you physically lunge your leg forward and backwards into position each time. You can YouTube these.

Figure 8: Standing, start by keeping your chest up, holding the weights in either hand beside you, pulling the shoulder blades together and getting one foot up on to the bench. Move the hips back first and lower your body down as if trying to get to your back parallel to the floor.

Figure 9: End by dropping your back knee towards the underneath the bench and keep your front leg and knee at a 90-degree angle. Hold at the bottom for a couple of seconds and return to start position, pushing from the ground off of your front leg heel.

Reps:

Three sets of six to eight reps. Control the movement on the way down.

5. Hip extension (hip lift or glute bridge)

Figure 10: Start of the hip extension. Ensure the back is flat and lie on the floor. Place a weight on your pelvis, bend your knees and keep the weight into your heels.

Figure 11: Squeeze your bottom and lift up your hips in the direction of the ceiling and your chest. The weight of your body will move into your heels and you should feel it in your bum.

Nutrition: Measure for motivation

Words: Jackie Wilkinson

The old management maxim "what gets measured, gets done" works for sport too. It's human nature to want to improve. Fitness apps are all the rage. Ask people with a pedometer how much they walk and they will say it's more since they got one.

I have kept training records for years using a chart I created when on the GB field team. It lets me see immediately the training I've been doing and the effect it has on my performance.

Use a measurement method that motivates you. Gold stars can be great – they're not just for youngsters. Some people like tables of numbers – or graphs of the money they save when you stop smoking.

For eating well, give yourself credit each time you have a drink of water, snack on nuts, eat some vegetables or cook fresh meat or fish. Be observant, catch yourself doing something right and measure only what's good. As you build up the nutrient-rich, natural foods, bad foods will automatically get squeezed out.

Celebrate and reward yourself for eating well, perhaps with a fun activity or day out. Find out more at Jackie Wilson's Nutrition Coaching website: www.learntoeatwell.co.uk and find the chart in Jackie's book, Succeed in Sport.

Top Tip: Measure what you do right.

Ask the experts: Questions and Answers

Some help please

The Advice Zone's mission is simple: to help you. So when Sheelagh Howard got in touch, asking for advice from Lucy, Patrick, Duncan, Jackie and Dean, they were more than happy to help.

We think that Sheelagh's attitude is amazing – and that her question (and the experts’ answers) could help and inspire members. So here it is.

Question:

Three years ago I had a double mastectomy and all the associated treatments and drugs to control things. I am approaching 70 with bad knees and now have absolutely nothing in the front except skin. So I have to rely totally on my back to control the movements of my bow arm. During the time of my treatment a lot of muscle power was also lost and now there are so many exercises that are either beyond me, or that seem to put my back under too much pressure.

I really, really want to keep up my archery and am increasingly fed up with not having the balance between back and front to keep my bow arm still when executing the shot. How do I achieve this?

Some young fit thing suggested working out at a gym but when I spoke to a gym trainer he laughed (I know trainers are not usually like this) and said no way would he allow someone of my age who had gone through what I had attempt anything so strenuous and that I should seek more specialist advice.

So, please guys, I know it will take time and effort on my part, but do you have any suggestions? I have one of those stretchy band thingies but nothing to attach it to pull on other than me. After all the operations I went on the Level 1 coaching course, just to stay involved. It is great coaching, especially juniors, but I want to get back to doing some reasonable shooting as well. Can you help?

Our experts say:

Jackie: I admire Sheelagh for wanting to carry on with her archery and am glad she hasn't been put off by the reaction of the man at the gym.

I don't know the extent of her operation and what muscles she has left. If she's able to exercise, I would think starting some of Lucy's exercises (bench press, pecs) using very light dumbbells (or tins or bottles of water) could be a cautious approach. Or even doing angled press-ups against her kitchen worktops so that she uses just a percentage of her body weight.

Lucy: What a legend. And I am totally disgusted that someone turned her away. Without seeing her I would suggest light loads and doing things such as single leg squats on to a sofa and up again. And using things like tin cans for bench press is a great start.

I would definitely suggest swimming. That will help build up muscles without any strain and will help her archery.

Dean: Wow, the determination and drive that Sheelagh has to continue shooting is truly inspiring.

The only advice I can offer is to speak to Paralympic Coach Mike Peart or another specialist para-coach. I've seen how ingenious they can be with adaptations for archers on the Para programme. Mike also has access to specialist physios who could offer correct medical led advice.

Duncan: Sheelagh is certainly an inspiration. Such love for the sport could teach us all a few things.

I agree with what the other guys have said about working out, it would definitely need an expert to work with her face to face in order to work to her individual needs. Some very light work with a stretch band could be beneficial, if she makes a loop out of it and draws it like a bow, this will gently work out her shooting muscles and help to build stamina. Equipment wise, I don't know what style of bow she shoots but a light weight compound bow with a high let off could allow her to continue shooting to a reasonable level without the need of much physical strength.

Patrick: I advise doing a range of angled exercises with a stretchy band. Buy a collection of them (found in Amazon with five colours along with attachments for doors etc – called Thera-band).

Then do press style exercises with the lowest resistance in a variety of angles. These presses can be done standing up with the band attached to a door or lying on the floor with the band around your back. This way the muscle should develop in its full range. If the lowest band is too heavy then begin by doing presses with just the arms themselves to build up strength.

Compound

European Field champion Duncan Busby is here to help with queries on form, equipment and technique.

Go the distance

Q: I'm having difficulty hitting longer distances outdoors. I'm already pulling 60lbs and I don’t have a particularly short draw length so I should have enough arrow speed. Why am I having this problem and what can I do about it?

A: This is a common problem for many archers. It is usually caused by low poundage or shorter draw lengths but it can also be due to other factors.

Shooting heavy arrows will affect your ability to hit longer distances. They can be much slower than a lighter shaft as their increased mass causes them to lose speed and height as they travel further down range. If you are using a heavy arrow you could try switching to a lighter alternative. Look out for ones that are specifically made for target or field archery. These are usually all-carbon or carbon-aluminium composite, as they're generally much lighter and better performing than pure aluminium shafts.

Your peep height is also crucial factor. A low peep can be rather restricting and raising it will give you better sight marks. It will affect your reference point so this is not always advisable, but if you feel you could shoot consistently with a lower reference point it can be a great way to gain more distance.

Make sure your bow is correctly tuned; checking your nock height and centre shot is essential to ensuring arrow flight is straight.

You could also try moving your sight closer to the bow. This is particularly useful if you have your sight set quite far out on a long extension bar. Remember that the closer in your sight is set the further the distance you'll be able to reach. However you may lose magnification and your scope can appear too big in your peep sight so you'll have to judge how far to move in your sight without negatively affecting your sight picture.

The nitty-gritty of release aids

Q: My release aid has recently started feeling gritty when it's cocked and fired. It even caused me to misfire at one point. Does this mean it's worn out and needs replacing or is there another reason?

A: Most quality releases are designed to last for many years and withstand thousands and thousands of shots before wearing out, so unless your release aid is over 10 years old and is very well used this is unlikely to be the issue.

A more likely cause is a build-up of grime in the release mechanism. This can accumulate over time and can cause the internal parts of the release to become jammed or stop them moving freely. It is easy to fix and once your release is cleaned it will feel like new again. Don't do this yourself as the internal parts can be tricky to re-assemble and contain many small springs that are easily lost or damaged.

Most companies will also void any warranty on the release if it has been incorrectly serviced, so take your release to your local archery shop. If it cannot help it can send it back to the manufacturer for a full overhaul. You can find more tips at Duncan Busby Archery: www.duncanbusbyarchery.com.

Recurve

Olympian Patrick Huston answers your recurve questions.

Dropping the bow arm

Q: I find I'm dropping my bow arm quite often on my shot. How do I fix this as my coach at the club is always telling me about it?

A: Dropping a bow arm is one of the easiest things for a coach to pick up on and is really not as big a flaw as many think. There is an archer on the GB squad who pretty much throws his arm to the floor when he finishes the shot.

Dropping your bow arm is normally a symptom of something else, assuming you know you should keep it straight and let the bow swing. This usually boils down to one of two things. Either you are leaning back and disengaging supporting muscles around the front shoulder, or your front shoulder is too high, with the same effect. Both of these situations cause the shoulder it be a lot less stable and if you don't have major muscle development it becomes difficult to support the weight of the bow on follow through.

A high front shoulder requires strengthening with bow training exercises to build the muscle to hold it properly in place. Have a look at Patrick Huston's you tube channel: www.youtube.com/MrPatrickHuston for videos on this. Leaning back requires diligent practice and awareness to rectify, combined with good bow strength.

Other than that the only vital thing in a shot is that at the moment of the clicker dropping your rear arm moves backward and the front hand moves forward/left.

Longbow

Fancy getting into longbow but want to know more? Or do you have a question about equipment or technique? Then longbow archer and coach Dean Hirst is on hand to help.

Who can help?

Q: I have just completed a beginners' course at my local archery club. One of the coaches showed us a longbow. I'm hooked. Unfortunately this is a small club and no one here shoots a longbow. Where should I seek advice?

A: Fundamentally, shooting a longbow is the same as shooting the recurve and the club's coaches should be able to help you with this. The main differences are:

1. The bow weight needs to be heavier than that or a recurve, to reach distances. The limbs are less efficient and arrows are generally heavier.

2. The handgrip is a different shape. The recurve has a pistol style grip that puts your hand in the correct position. The longbow relies on you holding it loosely at a 45-degree angle in the V formed between thumb and first finger.

3. The longbow is physically longer than a recurve, sometimes giving more string clearance issues and greater chest contact. Learn about chest and arm rotation and perhaps wear a chest guard.

4. Arrows leave a longbow off the side of the bow and flex around it. Recurve and particularly compound bows have cut outs or shoot-throughs on the risers to allow the arrow to leave truer from the bow, so allowances have to be made for this.

5. Longbow arrows are rested and shot off your first finger, recurve bows have a rest to hold your arrow in place.

A recurve coach is more than capable of assisting you. The basics – stance, arm and chest rotation, drawing, anchoring and release - are the same. And don't be tempted to buy a bow that is too heavy to draw or control.

Gripping dilemma

Q: The handgrip on my bow is leather, wrapped around in a spiral. When shooting on a warm day, my hand gets sweaty and quite sore. I've seen some bows with braided or sewn on grips. Which is the best?

A: The three bows I use most frequently each have different grips, so:

Leather spiral wrap. It can get sweaty and occasionally the spiral separates, requiring it to be renewed or re-wrapped. It is basic but you get a direct feel of the bow action.

Sewn leather grip. Slightly more comfortable feel, first finger can identify the same stitching position along the front seam of the grip, allowing for the same hand position each time. I'm not so keen on the thickened top edge of the leather as it is usually doubled over and tucked under. It looks good but can interfere with the arrow clearing the bow. I cut it off.

Braided material grip. Less sweat and a better grip – but extra friction which can make your hand sore if shooting a lot of arrows on a session.

You can also get rubber grips but I suspect they cause a lot of friction.

Which bow?

Q: Which are best: laminated longbows or yew self bows?

A: This really is a matter of choice. All longbows feel and act differently and some will suit your style of shooting better than others.

I have two full compass yew bows (55 and 60 lbs). They are lovely to shoot, comfortable in the hand. But yew does not have the same punch as a good laminate bow, so I don't use them for serious tournaments.

I use yew for demonstrations, fun and occasionally for clout and definitely feel a sense of history.

Laminated bows are so varied and, to some degree, the more expensive the bow wood, the better it performs. Laminated longbows tend to be far more efficient so you can get more arrow speed from a lighter bow. Bamboo-backed bows are even quicker.

It can be as varied as choosing a car. One bow may not suit all purposes – but you have to start somewhere. No doubt, like most of us, you'll end up with a collection of bows. I use and enjoy all of mine and shoot the one best suited for the purpose at the time.

Membership

We’re on the case, but we need your help

Photo: Graham Harris receives honorary life membership from Derrick Lovell.

Every sport relies on volunteers and the Minister for Sport has asked all national governing bodies to do more to recognise the work of their unsung heroes. We are more than happy to oblige.

In fact, if you were at this year's AGM, you know that we are already on the case. Since we started moving the AGM around the country, more emphasis has been placed on our volunteers and many more awards are now being made.

Photo: 2016 Hartwell Trophy winner Chris Battersby.

But we need your help. The awards are presented at the AGM which, next year, will be held on 8 April at the Crowne Plaza in the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. We will have gold, silver and bronze plaquettes to award – and what we need you to do is nominate your hard working volunteers by writing a short citation. The Awards Panel will do the rest. We are hoping hope to present between 10 and 15 awards.

There are also several specific prizes. The Hartwell Trophy is awarded for exemplary service to archery over the past 12 months. The Gussy Trophy, given by the late Michael Bentine, goes to the wheelchair archer of the year. The Toxophilus Trophy is for the best archery magazine, e-zine or on-line newsletter and there are two Archery GB Trophies for the best websites.

Photo: Jane and Peter Curnock receive a bronze plaquette from Archery GB Vice-President Richard Custance.

We are changing things for 2017, however. In the past we have worked hard to keep the names of the winners under wraps so that the awards came as a surprise. But, of course, there is an element of risk to that approach and, because they were not aware, not all of the prizewinners have been present to pick up their trophies. So, from now on, we will be getting in touch with award winners to let them know and providing them with personal invitations to the AGM.

Nomination Forms can be found at the website at Documents>Governance>AGM. Please make your nominations before 1 January.

Disabilities

Fresh targets: New para records introduced

Archery GB is introducing its first suite of UK national records for para-archers.

The records are available to any archer who has a national or international classification of W1, open (standing and W2 combined), VI B1, VI B2 or VI B3. (VI B2 and VI B3 combined).

The rounds for physically impaired archers are: World Archery (WA) 1440, WA 70 metres (recurve), WA 50 metres (compound), compound match 15 arrow pass and WA 18 metres round indoors. Records may also be claimed for the imperial rounds of York (men), Hereford (women) and the Portsmouth.

Visually impaired archers may claim records for the WA outdoor round, the WA 30 metres and the WA VI indoor rounds. Records may also be claimed for the Portsmouth round indoors.

Record claims are made in the usual way, except an archer must submit a copy of their classification to membership services within 21 days. That will be logged so further copies will not be needed for other claims.

Claims can be made for the Indoor rounds from 1 October 2016. The first records will be published in April 2017. The dates for the outdoor rounds are 1 April 2017 and October 2017.

Further information can be found in the Disability Archery section of the website.

Rules revised

Part 11 of the Rules of Shooting has been rewritten to improve the inclusive nature of the sport and acknowledge the difference between participation and competition.

Where participation is the focus, the Rules have a light touch approach. An archer may self-declare his or her disability and use any dispensation from the Rules as long as it is safe for all concerned.

In record status competition archers may also self-declare their disability and, if the disability is obvious, dispensation is automatic. In cases of doubt, any relevant documentation is acceptable as evidence. In competition any dispensation cannot give an advantage over other archers, so a mechanical release aid would not be allowed with a recurve bow.

Under these rules the dispensation card is no longer needed. Just completing the medical form is now acceptable evidence.

Archery UK: Word version

We want everyone to have access to Archery UK, so we have added another way for you to keep up to date with all our news.

We already have a PDF version that can be downloaded by visually impaired readers, using a screen reader such as JAWS. Now we have a Word version too, which is being supplied with the help of volunteer Sheena McCullagh, a member of Bristol Bowmen and Golden Phoenix Archers.

Accessing the Word version of Archery UK is easy. All you have to do is go to the Archery GB website, select Support, then Marketing and the links are there.

And if there is any more we can do to help, just get in touch with us at magazine@archerygb.org.

Board

Neil confirmed as Chief Executive: Looking forward to new challenges

Photo: Neil Armitage in action at the AGM. Picture: John Percival.

Neil Armitage has been confirmed as Archery GB's Chief Executive by its Board of Directors.

He had held the position of Interim CEO since December 2015 and lead the development of the new strategic plan and the successful day-to-day running of the organisation.

Mark Davies, Chairman of Archery GB said: "Following a competitive, transparent and rigorous recruitment process, assessing 41 applications from Vancouver to New Zealand and Colombia to Sweden, I am delighted that Neil has agreed to join us on a fulltime basis.

"Neil has done an excellent job in leading the organisation through a period of transformation. His extensive experience in the governance of membership organisations and working with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial partners, will be extremely valuable as we continue grow the organisation and deliver our strategy.

"Neil has 15 years of management experience and has sat on the board of several organisations in both executive and non-executive capacities. Neil has already been busy strengthening our relationships with our external stakeholders and his appointment has received the full support of UK Sport and Sport England, our major funding partners."

Neil said: "I am honoured to be the next CEO of Archery GB. I am looking forward to continuing the good work I've already started, with a focus on engaging with our membership, attracting new people to our sport and working with, and recognising our many dedicated and talented volunteers.

"Archery is a fun, inclusive and accessible sport with a huge amount of opportunity for growth. These are exciting times for our sport and together with our committed team of staff and volunteers, I am confident we can deliver our strategic ambitions."

Moving forward: Help develop sport in Northern Ireland

Do you want to make a difference to the future of archery in Northern Ireland? The way the sport is structured in the region is changing and you could be part of some exciting new developments.

Archery is thriving. It was recognised as one of the most outstanding spectator experiences at London 2012, Nottingham hosted the 2016 European Championships and our athletes returned from Rio with six medals.

The Regional Body in Northern Ireland displays similar success – Patrick Huston is just back from Rio and there is a strong core of talent. Now the organisation is seeking to prepare for the future by restructuring. It will be led by a Board of Management and become a Company limited by guarantee.

It is looking to appoint the following Directors who will form an interim Board leading to full elections and a new set of Articles at the AGM in 2017:

Independent Chairman. Director (Membership Services). Director (Development). Director (Performance and Coaching). Director (Finance and Planning).

Job description

A full job description is available from the governance documents section of the Archery GB website: www.archerygb.org/documents_governance.php in the Vacancies > Northern Ireland folder. Applications for these roles, from those who live in Northern Ireland, would be welcome.

How to apply

Please send your CV and letter of application by email to nominations@archerygb.org stating the post(s) for which you wish to apply. Important dates

Closing date: Friday, 30 October 2016 Interview date: Saturday, 19 November 2016 (in Belfast)

Making the Board stronger

Archery GB has attracted two more high-calibre Independent Directors to further strengthen the Board.

Board Member Muriel Kirkwood said: "We had a very high quality shortlist and both were the outstanding choices for the posts."

Catherine Wilson will oversee and chair the Audit and Risk Committee and Elisabeth Bellamy will take over as Chairman of the Nominations Committee.

Elisabeth is a consultant and a member of the Law Society's Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. She lives in Knutsford, Cheshire, and trained and qualified as a solicitor.

She has worked for a number of law firms in the UK and in Singapore and became the managing partner of a law firm in Chester, which she ran successfully for many years.

Elisabeth has a particular interest in archery as her son took up the sport several years ago and continues to shoot at a competitive level.

Catherine Wilson is a qualified solicitor who went on to qualify in corporate finance. She has had a long career supporting companies with their finances, scrutinising company accounts and checking due diligence, credit, risk and controls.

Catherine also has NED experience with an international charity and broad high-level committee experience. She lives in Hampshire.

From the Chief Executive

I hope that you have had a successful summer's shooting and, for those of you who have managed to squeeze in a holiday, I hope you have taken a well-deserved rest.

For those of you who do not know, I officially took up the role of Chief Executive from 1 September and I'm in the process of relocating to Shrewsbury to be closer to the office and I look forward to working with everyone involved in our sport.

Many of you may be aware of the changes to the Operations Committee.

The Board has become a strategic board and, as such, has delegated responsibility of operations to the Senior Management Team via the Chief Executive. Our aim is to work closely with each individual committee to discuss the best way forward for our sport and in line with our Strategic Plan, which was presented to members at the 2016 AGM.

Our Strategic Plan commits us to a Coaching Strategy and to support this, a competency-based Steering Group is being established, led by Performance Director, David Tillotson, as a member of the Senior Management Team. This group will consist of insightful and interested parties who can consult and to design, deliver and support a central area of Archery GB work. The consequences of this are that the National Coaching Committee will no longer exist in its current format and discussions are under way to ensure a smooth transition.

I would like to confirm that no changes will be made to other committees without careful consultation and engagement and they will continue to operate as they always have. They will be encouraged and supported to work together in and across areas of common interest.

I have been working closely with the Membership Services Manager, Freddie Collier and the Northern Ireland Archery Society to assist them through some governance challenges. We both attended an Extraordinary General Meeting near Belfast to disband NIAS and replace it with Archery Northern Ireland (Archery NI). The recruitment process has started for the new Archery NI committee and will be managed by our Nominations Committee. New committee members will be recruited on a competency basis and will be required to buy into the Archery GB Code of Good Governance. Archery NI came into effect on 1 October.

We have been privileged to see an outstanding performance by British archers in Rio. Olympians Naomi Folkard and Patrick Huston faced tough competition and, while they did not return with medals, Naomi achieved a place in the top eight, hitting the target set by our funding partners, UK Sport.

Our 11 Paralympians delivered some exceptional performances, returning home with an amazing three gold, two silver and one bronze medal, which means that we have surpassed our UK Sport target of three to five medals.

Archery is an incredibly inclusive sport, no matter whether you do it for competition or leisure and social. Our gold medalist Paralympian Jo Frith achieved her phenomenal result after being inspired as a games maker of the London 2012 Paralympics and I hope her achievement inspires many others to take up our sport and enjoy the archery experience.

Neil Armitage

Records and achievements

Records

World Records: Target Outdoor

Visually Impaired 2/3, Para Archery Men

Steve Prowse, 1440 - 144 Arrows, 1268

Compound Women W1, Para Archery Women

Jo Frith, 15 Arrow Match, 144

European Records: Target Outdoor

Compound, Cadet Women Team

Layla Annison, 50m, 1993 Isabelle Carpenter, 50m, 1993 Lucy Mason, 50m, 1993

UK Records: Clout

Recurve, Junior Ladies

Rebecca Giddings, Single Two-Way Clout, 140 yds, 100 Rebecca Giddings, Double Two-Way Clout, 140 yds, 191

Compound Unlimited, Junior Ladies

Neeve Lomas, Single Metric Clout, 125m, 153

Barebow, Gentlemen

Alan Holder, Single Two-Way Clout, 180 yds, 95 Alan Holder, Double Two-Way Clout, 180 yds, 197

Longbow, Gentlemen

Richard Summers, Single Two-Way Clout, 180 yds, 75

UK records: Field

Recurve

Junior Ladies

Eleanor Piper, FITA Double Mixed Red, 550 Louisa Piper, FITA Double Mixed Blue, 555

Junior Gentlemen

Joe Fairburn, FITA Combined Red, 631

Gentlemen

Alan Wills, FITA Combined Red, 764 Alan Wills, FITA Marked Red, 380

Barebow

Junior Ladies

Phoebe Rose, FITA Unmarked White, 292 Phoebe Rose, FITA Combined White, 566 Phoebe Rose, FITA Marked White, 274

Gentlemen

Robert Mallon, FITA Combined Blue, 702 Jason Meehan, FITA Unmarked Blue, 361 Robert Mallon, FITA Marked Blue, 346

Compound Barebow, Junior Gentlemen

Stuart McCullough, FITA Double Mixed White, 603 Stuart McCullough, FITA Mixed White, 304 Stuart McCullough, FITA Combined White, 558 Stuart McCullough, FITA Unmarked White, 300 Stuart McCullough, FITA Marked White, 258

American Flatbow

Junior Ladies

Anna Catling, FITA Combined Blue, 165 Anna Catling, FITA Unmarked Blue, 97 Anna Catling, FITA Marked Blue, 68

Ladies

Emily Williams, FITA Double Mixed Blue, 404

Gentlemen

Paul Meeson, FITA Unmarked Blue, 301

Traditional, Ladies

Michaela Lake, FITA Double Mixed Blue, 488 Michaela Lake, FITA Combined Blue, 516 Michaela Lake, FITA Unmarked Blue, 274 Michaela Lake, FITA Marked Blue, 242

UK records: Target Outdoor Imperial

Recurve, Junior Ladies

Eleanor Piper, York, 943 Anna Perkins, Junior Warwick, 386

Compound Unlimited

Junior Ladies

Iulia Petre, Bristol III, 294 Victoria Loader, Short Windsor, 972 Hallie Boulton, Short Junior Western, 864

Junior Gentlemen

Elliot Ede, Short Junior Windsor, 960 Liam Peake, Short Western, 856 McKenzie Carr, Short Junior Warwick, 30

Ladies

Anne Rutland, Warwick, 428

Barebow

Junior Ladies

Becky Chilcott, Junior Western, 702 Morgen Dealaselle, Short Western, 556 Becky Chilcott, Junior Warwick, 356 Amethyst Chopping, Short Junior Warwick, 280

Junior Gentlemen

Jarad Tong, Hereford (Bristol I), 938

Ladies

Jacqueline Gould, Double Hereford (Bristol I), 2147 Jacqueline Gould, Double York, 1800 Jacqueline Gould, York, 937 Jacqueline Gould, York, 863 Michaela Lake, St George, 463

Karen Atkins, Long National, 445

Gentlemen

Derek Bett, Double York, 1860 Derek Bett, York, 943 Alan Driffield, Long Western, 627 Alan Driffield, Warwick, 328

Longbow

Junior Ladies

Amethyst Chopping, Bristol V, 967 Amethyst Chopping, Bristol V, 919 Amethyst Chopping, Short Junior Windsor, 804 Amethyst Chopping, Short Junior Western, 547 Rosie Elliott, Bristol IV, 799 Rosie Elliott, Junior Western, 504

Ladies

Sophie Woolcock, Double Hereford (Bristol I), 1172 Sophie Woolcock, Double Hereford (Bristol I), 1098 Sophie Woolcock, Long National, 273 Sheila Hudson, Western, 591 Amanda Biddulph, New Warwick, 64

Gentlemen

Chris Ellis, Double York, 1441 Derek Bridgewater, Long Warwick, 176

Target Outdoor Metric

Recurve, Junior Ladies

Louisa Piper, Metric IV, 1375 Eleanor Piper, WA 60m, 645 Eleanor Piper, WA 60m, 633 Anna Perkins, Long Metric IV, 617

Compound

Junior Ladies

Hollie Smith, Metric III, 1412 Isabelle Carpenter, Compound Match, 144

Junior Gentlemen

James Howse, Compound WA 50m, 697 Michael Rice, Long Metric IV, 530

Barebow

Junior Ladies

Lidia Stamp, Metric V, 1205 Phoebe Rose, 10m distance (80cm face), 343

Junior Gentlemen

Jarad Tong, WA 70m, 479 Jarad Tong, 50m distance (80cm face), 231 Martin Kairys, Long Metric IV, 288

Ladies

Jacqueline Gould, Long Metric (Ladies)/Long Metric I, 594 Jacqueline Gould, 60m distance (122cm face), 307

Longbow

Junior Ladies

Rosie Elliott, Metric V, 1050 Rosie Elliott, 30m distance (122cm face) , 233 Rosie Elliott, 20m distance (122cm face) , 265 Rosie Elliott, 15m distance (80cm face), 248

Ladies

Sophie Woolcock, Double Gents WA 1440, 966 Sheila Hudson, 50m distance (80cm face), 176

Gentlemen

Terry Ives, 90m distance (122cm face), 195 Adrian Jones, 70m distance (122cm face), 251

Achievements

FITA Star: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – 1100

Rogers T, Llantarnam Jnrs, 1101

Junior Lady – 1000

Mitchell T, Jersey Jnrs, 1007

Junior Gentleman – 1100

Donaldson M, Cleadon Jnrs, 1171

Junior Gentleman – 1000

Donaldson C, Cleadon Jnrs, 1090

Senior Lady – 1200

Tipping R, Belfast, 1206 Bettles S, Archery GB, 1204 Loader AH, Andover, 1204

Senior Lady – 1100

Crow J, Newport Pagnell, 1167 D’Entrecasteaux R, Farnham, 1145 Hodgkinson L, Lancaster University, 1140 Cossade E, Oxford University, 1125 Nicholas L, Junction, 1121 Flanagan V, Llantarnam, 1115 Rumary V, Blackpool, 1111 Morris C, Colchester, 1110 Robertson K, Walker, 1107 Smallman M, Wyre Forest, 1105 Carter K, Loughborough University, 1100

Senior Lady – 1000

Langton P, Netherhall, 1092 Sephton K, Guildford, 1086 Smallman M, Wyre Forest, 1076 Cade N, Sleaford, 1057 Inglis F, Edinburgh University, 1057 Valyte J, Southampton University, 1054 Almond J, Pilgrim Boston, 1049 Bell R, Walker, 1044 Flint H, Newcastle University, 1041 Milsom T, Malvern, 1031 Rose C, Sevenoaks, 1025 Fletcher K, Sellafield, 1023 Hannemann A, Cambridge, 1021 Wilby J, Elswood, 1016 Bode A, Aberdeen University, 1012 Smith C, Sherwood, 1012 Reed J, West Essex, 1011 Brown G, Leicester, 1010 Evans C, University of Warwick, 1010 Stephenson R, Rochdale, 1009 Goodwin S, Nottingham University, 1006

Orme M, Supermarine, 1006 Bailey C, University of Bristol, 1001

Senior Gentleman – 1200

Coveney A, Loughborough University, 1218 Emeney S, Archery GB, 1211 Fitzgerald R, Guildford, 1206 Caine A, Old Basing, 1205 Walker G, Gronant, 1203

Senior Gentleman – 1100

Collis D, University of London, 1199 Emeney S, Archery GB, 1195 Berti F, University of Birmingham, 1167 Avins C, University of Birmingham, 1165 Jordan C, Chelmsford, 1154 Wilson K, Pastures, 1145 Corps J, Royston Heath, 1144 Gill S, BWAC, 1143 Sze T, Canterbury, 1142 Hoyle A, Exeter, 1138 Juniper K, Grays, 1133 Watts C, Fast & Loose, 1133 Hawker L, Penicuik, 1128 Johnstone A, Andover, 1125 Adams S, St Mary's, 1124 Richardson L, Loughborough University, 1123 Clark A, Whiteleaf, 1122 Bolou C, Allington Castle, 1119 Thompson L, Loughborough University, 1118 Nicholas D, Junction, 1117 Kendera G, Gravesend, 1114 Parker R, Crystal Palace, 1107 Grunsell L, Aquarius, 1103

Senior Gentleman – 1000

Clark A, Whiteleaf, 1092 Critcher M, Nottingham Trent University, 1091 Littlechild R, Cambridge University, 1091 Roy R, Meriden, 1091 Kolakowski P, Supermarine, 1089 Tserkezie J, Lancaster University, 1074 Seymour R, Supermarine, 1070 Wozencroft A, Loughborough University, 1064 Jibrail J, Loughborough University, 1058 Goldsack A, Lancaster University, 1047 Partington G, Rochdale, 1038 Smith W, Imperial College, 1038 Greensted P, Chelmsford, 1036 Marshall A, C M O, 1036

Pearson G, Selby, 1036 Sze T, Canterbury, 1030 Chong M, Aquarius, 1029 Brown P, Hertford, 1028 Hickman D, Gravesend, 1028 Borrill J, Loughborough University, 1026 Hodgkinson A, Wells, 1025 Burlington T, University of Exeter, 1022 Darby-Smythe S, Pathfinder, 1021 Bland L, Glen, 1013 Weston P, Llantarnam, 1012 Stroud C, Falcon, 1009 Rose A, Sevenoaks, 1008 Beenham R, Nonsuch, 1007 Smart A, Pastures, 1006 Barnett E, Fox, 1005 Khan A, Bradford University, 1003 Peers M, Loughborough University, 1003 Keeler C, Friskney, 1002

Barebow, Senior Gentleman – 1100

Drew W, Allington Castle, 1170

Longbow, Senior Gentleman – 1000

Smith N, Gravesend, 1097

Compound

Junior Lady – 1200

Taylor J, Chichester Jnrs, 1275

Junior Gentleman – 1350

Carpenter A, Barnsley Jnrs, 1367

Junior Gentleman – 1300

Clayton-Smith O, Melton Mowbray Jnrs, 1315

Junior Gentleman – 1200

Clayton-Smith O, Melton Mowbray Jnrs, 1295

Senior Lady – 1350

Must E, Silver Spoon, 1360 Neumann H, Welbeck, 1360 Robb K, Balbardie, 1357

Senior Lady – 1300

Rutland A, Saints & Sinners, 1329 Harris G, Wymondham, 1314 Knight K, Northampton, 1313 Breeze R, New Century, 1307

Senior Lady – 1200

Brown A, Sleaford, 1278 Watson R M, Netherhall, 1269 Smith C, Melton Mowbray, 1253 Buckland A, Sherwood, 1225 Stead Z, Aardwolf, 1219 Hemsley D, Green Lane, 1214 Tilbrook S, Aire Valley, 1211 Alcock L, Hingham, 1209 Challen K, University of Kent, 1206

Senior Lady – 1100

Challen K, University of Kent, 1171 Byrom J, Eccles, 1151 Inglis F, Edinburgh University, 1130 Hemsley D, Green Lane, 1121

Senior Lady – 1000

Child N, BWAC, 1089

Senior Gentleman – 1350

Jeavons R, Lichfield, 1361 Thorn G, Walker, 1359 Fox P, Rutland, 1352

Senior Gentleman – 1300

Moore J J, Swansea University, 1342 Sanghrajka M, Harrow, 1338 Smith M F, Sheffield Hallam University, 1336 Tohovitis G, Welbeck, 1333 Williams P, Dover Castle, 1324 Chan KC, Beeston Rylands, 1322 Sargeant J, Canterbury, 1319 Evans W, Lichfield, 1314 Tate A, Green Lane, 1312 Brown N, Leicester, 1307 Tate J, Green Lane, 1304 Czerniak CJ, Sheffield Hallam University, 1303 Love J, Abbey, 1300 Williams K, Spelthorne, 1300

Senior Gentleman – 1200

Evans W, Lichfield, 1294 Povey R, South Moorlands, 1281 Smith M F, Sheffield Hallam University, 1281 Sanghrajka M, Harrow, 1273 Moore E, Isle of Man, 1268 Weston P, Eccles, 1266 Blair M, Lancaster University, 1255 Helens R, Walker, 1250 Giles S, Nottingham University, 1247 Patterson N, Phoenix, 1239 Hall D, Fakenham, 1235 Brett M, Crown, 1231 Riste L, Surrey University, 1225 Davies D A, 3 Counties, 1225 Potts P, Dover Castle, 1224 Boon C, Barnstaple, 1220 Bowlas M, Bruntwood, 1214 Muskett F, Glen, 1214 Sisson T, Selby, 1213 Hearn M, Maryport, 1209 Fielder T, Canterbury, 1208 Davies-Pyke J, Canterbury, 1207 Evans M, Allington Castle, 1204 Underwood M, Leek AC, 1204 Colledge S, Ivanhoe, 1200

Senior Gentleman – 1100

Potts P, Dover Castle, 1193 Ward S, Soar Valley, 1177 Sinnett-Smith P, Cambridge, 1173 Riste L, Surrey University, 1162 Butler T, Leek AC, 1155 Bolou J, Allington Castle, 1128 Rolfe-Tarrant P, Andover, 1121

Senior Gentleman – 1000

Royal S, Oxford, 1057 Moyse D, Help 4 Heroes, 1018

Fita Silver Star: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – 1200

Ferguson E, Aire Valley Jnrs, 1242

Junior Lady – 1100

Green J, Ditchling Jnrs, 1170 Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs, 1116

Junior Lady – 1000

Cully E, Waterside, 1030 Ditchburn B, Sleaford Jnrs, 1006 Richards M, Llantarnam Jnrs, 1004

Junior Gentleman – 1100

Charlesworth M, Arundown AC, 1165 Cooke I, Llantarnam Jnrs, 1123

Junior Gentleman – 1000

Wright L, Alton & Four Marks, 1054

Compound

Junior Lady – 1300

Moon S, Burton Bridge Jnrs, 1353 Geddes R, Lethen Jnrs, 1332 Codling M, Assheton, 1328 Bryan J, Bramcote Jnrs, 1324

Junior Lady – 1200

Loader V, Andover Jnrs, 1290 Geddes R, Lethen Jnrs, 1285

Junior Lady – 1100

Little H, Waterside Jnrs, 1138

Junior Gentleman – 1300

Wong M, Lethen Jnrs, 1311

Junior Gentleman – 1200

Jones G, Stafford, 1271

FITA Target: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – White

Tinker M, Dearne Valley Jnrs, 500

Junior Gentleman – Blue

Fairburn J, Panda Junior, 608

Junior Gentleman – Black

Rides C, Wolverhampton Jnrs, 599

Junior Gentleman – White

Quinton R, Deben Jnrs, 537 Donaldson M, Cleadon Jnrs, 534 Cooper C, Hellingly Jnrs, 532

Senior Lady – Blue

Vines R, Supermarine, 600

Senior Lady – Black

Carter K, Loughborough University, 552

Senior Lady – White

Morris C, Colchester, 531 Langton P, Netherhall, 519 Inglis F, Edinburgh University, 518 Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs, 504 Hannemann A, Cambridge, 502

Senior Gentleman – Blue

Towle J, A C Delco, 627 Emeney S, Archery GB, 626 Brown M, Old Basing, 614 Ramos P, Braintree, 610

Senior Gentleman – Black

Bland L, Glen, 575 Collis D, University of London, 566 Rees S, University of Birmingham, 565 Thompson L, Loughborough University, 564 Ramos P, Braintree, 563 Sze T, Canterbury, 563 Francis S, Reading, 560 Wilson K, Pastures, 560 Cousins D, Lizard Peninsula, 559 Corps J, Royston Heath, 555 Tinker M, Dearne Valley, 552 Attwood S, Wilford, 550

Senior Gentleman – White

Corps J, Royston Heath, 547 Jibrail J, Loughborough University, 545 Devlin P, The Hertford, 542 Sykes K, West Essex, 541 Francis S, Reading, 534 Hodgson C, Whitburn, 531 Donaldson G, Cleadon, 528 Brown P, The Hertford, 518 Smart A, Pastures, 516 Arkwright M, Norton, 514 Clark A, Whiteleaf, 514 Barnes L, Fakenham, 513 Clampin I, West Essex, 511 Wilson K, Pastures, 509 Charlemagne A, West Essex, 502 Hardman J, Clophill, 501

Compound

Junior Lady – Gold

Carpenter I, Barnsley Jnrs, 682

Junior Lady – Blue

Petre I, Corby Jnrs, 601

Junior Lady – Black

Petre I, Corby Jnrs, 526

Junior Gentleman – Gold

Carpenter A, Barnsley Jnrs, 688

Junior Gentleman – Red

Wong M, Lethen Jnrs, 660

Junior Gentleman – White

Whiting R, Oxfordshire Army Cadets, 505

Senior Lady – Gold

Foster E, Cleadon, 675 Robb K, Balbardie, 675

Senior Lady – Red

Jamieson K, Balbardie, 670 Palmer S, Wymondham, 656 Rose M, Barnsley, 653 Knight K, Northampton, 651

Senior Lady – Blue

Blake E, Aberdeen University, 639 Alcock L, Hingham, 613

Senior Lady – Black

Minto S, Durham, 559

Senior Lady – White

Keith B, Aycliffe, 548 Alcock L, Hingham, 528 Child N, BWAC, 526

Senior Gentleman – Gold

Parvess M, Spelthorne, 681 Chapman W, Glen, 677 Moore J J, Swansea University, 675 Sanghrajka M, Harrow, 675 Taylor E, Banchory, 671

Senior Gentleman – Red

Bramley D, Derwent, 665 Lane N, Bramcote, 662 Thompson A, Spelthorne, 656 Sanghrajka M, Harrow, 654

Senior Gentleman – Blue

Povey R, South Moorlands, 641 Dargue D, Kirton in Lindsey, 638 Patterson A, Mayflower, 635 Davies D A, 3 Counties, 632 Thomason M, Wilford, 619 Colombo M, Wilford, 617 Hall D, Fakenham, 615 Fielder T, Canterbury, 609 Perrett H, Jersey, 609 Platkiw M, Burton Joyce, 601

Senior Gentleman – Black

Bolou J, Allington Castle, 596 Hall D, Fakenham, 594 Scott A, Eagle Bedford, 590

Pardoe C, Dunstable, 581 Cobee P, Bath University, 580 Flint J, Petersfield, 579 Royal S, Oxford, 573 McLean C, Durham, 566 Hoyle A, Exeter, 565 Goddard R, South Oxon, 557 Riste L, Surrey University, 555 Hyland O, Bath University, 553

Senior Gentleman – White

Sinnett-Smith P, Cambridge, 545 Pardoe C, Dunstable, 543 Tudor M, North Cheshire, 514

FITA Silver Target: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – White

Jewkes L, Derbyshire Jnrs, 536 Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs, 529 Cully E, Waterside Jnrs, 524 Green J, Ditchling Jnrs, 515

Junior Gentleman – Black

Quinton R, Deben Jnrs, 598 Uzzell J, Deer Park Jnrs, 581 Maddison W, Norton Jnrs, 562 Hodson-Walker D, Burton Bridge Jnrs, 560

Junior Gentleman – White

Tucker J, Sleaford Jnrs, 531 Donaldson C, Cleadon Jnrs, 521 Gore W, Deer Park Jnrs, 519

Compound

Junior Lady – Blue

Moon S, Burton Bridge Jnrs, 620

Junior Lady – White

Jones P, Belvoir Jnrs, 530

FITA Arrowhead: Field

Recurve

Senior Gentleman – White

Gordon N, Ballyvally, 321

Senior Gentleman – Black

Pegrum K, Ballyvally, 288

Recurve Barebow

Senior Lady – Black

Lake M, Eastbourne, 274

Senior Lady – Grey

Sleight L C, Isle of Man, 239 Mehaffey R, Ballyvally, 228

Senior Gentleman – Gold

McClelland G, Ballyvally, 335

Senior Gentleman – Silver

Fitzpatrick P, Banbridge, 317

Senior Gentleman – Green

Pagan J, Blackburn, 216

Compound

Senior Lady – Silver

Brown H, Kent Police, 378

Senior Lady – White

Brown H, Kent Police, 370

Senior Gentleman – Gold

Wilson D, Bangor, 410

Senior Gentleman – Green

McColl N, Blackburn, 297

Rose: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – 1000

Piper L, Woking, 1046

Junior Gentleman – 1000

Donaldson M, Cleadon Jnrs, 1025

Senior Lady – 1000

Ede H, Bath, 1084 Monteith S, East Riding, 1068 Loader A H, Andover, 1056 Williams K, Exeter, 1040 Nicholas L, Junction, 1030 Sephton K, Guildford, 1030 Smallman M, Wyre Forest, 1026 Lowden-Brown C, Durham, 1020 Sichkarenko A, Hampstead, 1018

Senior Lady – 900

Morris C, Colchester, 995 Van Besouw R, Southampton, 989 Fletcher K, Sellafield, 986 Loader A H, Andover, 964 Whitworth E, Redhill, 950 Evans B, University of London, 948 Woo W V, Enfield, 947 Cade N, Sleaford, 945 Smallman M, Wyre Forest, 937 Hodgkinson L, Lancaster University, 933 Payne S, Nuneaton, 906 Creasey R, Belvoir, 901 Chaudhry S, Exeter, 900

Senior Lady – 800

Parsons K, Ina, 897 Jennings C, Teme, 875 Almond J, Pilgrim Boston, 869 Webster C, Aberystwyth University, 866 Randall L, Tonbridge, 859 Cook W, Corby, 855 Tutuianu A, Bradford University, 849 McCormack E, University of Bristol, 847

Flint H, Newcastle University, 837 Relton K, Heugh, 837 Elsworthy G, Exeter, 834 Cooney S, Swan, 820 Ling-White V, Petersfield, 807

Senior Gentleman – 1100

McDermott E, Jolly, 1114 Crickmore N, Bronte, 1108

Senior Gentleman – 1000

Richardson L, Loughborough University, 1073 Grunsell L, Aquarius, 1038 Brown M, Old Basing, 1028 Emeney S, Archery GB, 1028 Jibrail J, Loughborough University, 1024 Bullen R, Bruntwood, 1012 Heaton D, Kenwith, 1012 Twigg J, Ledbury, 1011 Wright D, East Belfast, 1006 Adams S, St Mary's, 1003 Draper P, Wyke, 1000 Jordan C, Chelmsford, 1000

Senior Gentleman – 900

Snooks D, Tors, 999 Bland L, Glen, 994 Hawker L, Penicuik, 993 Adams S, St Mary's, 986 Dowling D, Bradford University, 977 Hassan H, Aquarius, 976 Hunter N, Harrow, 968 Thompson L, Loughborough University, 962 Wheeler I, Redruth, 962 Marshall A, C M O, 955 Seymour R, Supermarine, 954 Ellis D, Rivernook, 953 Brett I, Sleaford, 947 Goddard R, South Oxon, 932 Hodgkinson A, Wells, 923 Higgins C, Chelmsford, 922 Redbond C, Redhill, 922 Smart D, The Kyrton, 907 Kentish P, Swan, 904 Hawkins N, St Neots, 902

Senior Gentleman – 800

Chong M, Aquarius, 898 Draper P, Wyke, 889

Smith W, Imperial College, 888 Dargue M, Archery GB, 884 Khan A, Bradford University, 865 James D, Soar Valley, 862 Hunt R, Walsall, 858 Keeler C, Archery GB, 855 Walker B, Burleigh, 848 Nicholas D, Junction, 839 Booth R, Minchinhampton, 838 Hodgson C, Whitburn, 838 Thomas A, Cleve, 836 Michael D J, Hereford, 835 Haikney P, Bronte, 833 Buckley C, Colchester, 831 Blumensath T, Southampton, 824 Dunnighan A, Cleadon, 821 Vo A, Andover, 821 McCormack M, Liverpool University, 813 Barber-Redmore M, North Cheshire, 812 Finn DWyre, Forest, 809 Pearson G, Selby, 808 Roy R, Meriden, 805 Dyson K, Windsor Forest, 803

Barebow

Senior Lady – 900

Hubbard SR, Wymondham, 910

Senior Lady – 800

Grace T, Wight, 862

Longbow

Senior Lady – 525

Crowe S, South Bucks, 557

Senior Lady – 450

Young L, Riverside, 491 Pilbeam J, Farnham, 451

Senior Lady – 375

Young L, Riverside, 432 Phillips N, St Kingsmark, 388

Senior Lady – 225

Williams A, Wirral, 254

Senior Gentleman – 600

Du-Crow B, Southampton, 618

Senior Gentleman – 450

Christison M S, Longbow Club, 463 Twigg R, Exmouth, 450

Senior Gentleman – 375

Ship T, Southampton, 410 Newnes A, Aberystwyth University, 389 Thomas S, Fakenham, 380

Gentleman – 300

Kelly N, Southampton, 338 Jasper G, Sway, 335

Senior Gentleman – 225

Argent M, Nonsuch, 285 Kelly N, Southampton, 264 Marritt R, All Abilities Archery, 256 McLenaghan I, Nonsuch, 254 Yates S, Guernsey, 248 Hosegood K, Loco, 247 Chubb N, Coastal, 246 Davis T, Bowflights, 231 Kinsella T, Hampstead, 228

Compound

Junior Lady – 1100

Taylor J, Chichester Jnrs, 1102

Junior Gentleman – 1250

Clayton-Smith O, Melton Mowbray Jnrs, 1268

Junior Gentleman – 1200

Clayton-Smith O, Melton Mowbray Jnrs, 1202

Junior Gentleman – 1100

Taylor A, Silver Spoon Jnrs, 1156 Bourne O, Ashford Jnrs, 1138

Junior Gentleman – 800

Almond T, Pilgrim Boston Jnrs, 839

Senior Lady – 1250

Neumann H, Welbeck, 1258 I’Anson P, Durham, 1254 Must E, Silver Spoon, 1252

Senior Lady – 1200

Rutland A, Saints & Sinners, 1214 Smith C, Melton Mowbray, 1204

Senior Lady – 1100

Chenery J, Burleigh, 1163 Reith J, Green Lane, 1144 Brown A, Sleaford, 1121 Hill S, Brixham, 1118 Buckland A, Sherwood, 1108 Lane K, Bramcote, 1104 Hemsley D, Green Lane, 1100

Senior Lady – 1000

Hemsley D, Green Lane,1067 Tilbrook S, Aire Valley, 1034 Wade J, Trackside, 1028

Senior Lady – 900

Hayward Stott E, Lancaster University, 962 Mason L, Stafford , 918 Child N, BWAC, 917

Senior Gentleman – 1250

Parvess M, Spelthorne, 1250

Senior Gentleman – 1200

Allen D, Bognor Regis, 1228 Qureshi S, Burton Joyce, 1224 Taylor E, Banchory, 1224 Clarke J, Danum, 1222 Kirk E, Friskney, 1218 Devanney A, Aire Valley, 1208 Thomas M, Wirral, 1204 Tohovitis G, Welbeck, 1200

Senior Gentleman – 1100

Moore R, Isle of Man, 1198 Evans W, Lichfield, 1182 Brown N, Leicester, 1178 Longley A, Sellafield AC, 1178 Roberts P, Royal Leamington Spa, 1168 Sisson T, Selby, 1166 Middleton I, Redhill, 1157 Platkiw M, Burton Joyce, 1152 Gould S, South Bucks, 1150 Goodwin D, Rutland, 1149 Williams K, Spelthorne, 1148 Dargue D, Kirton in Lindsey, 1142 Cook D, Walsall, 1136 Honour P, Great Rissington, 1128 Higham J, Maryport, 1124 Davis M, Aardwolf, 1123 Gilroy S, St Mary's, 1114 Wilson S, St Mary's, 1114 Seaton P, Rutland, 1110 Wark P, Chippenham, 1108 Moore E, Isle of Man, 1107 Muskett F, Glen, 1104

Senior Gentleman – 1000

Flint J, Petersfield, 1098 Honour P, Great Rissington, 1088 Smith M F, Sheffield Hallam University, 1082 Hole C, Burnham, 1070 Dargue D, Kirton in Lindsey, 1039 Lewington R, Nuneaton, 1024 Dark T, St Kingsmark, 1023 Rolfe-Tarrant P, Andover, 1021 Almond K, Pilgrim Boston, 1016 Himsworth P, Black & Gold, 1014 Ridler R, St Kingsmark, 1001

Senior Gentleman – 900

Milne C, Abbeydale, 971 Clarkson D, Adel, 963 McLean C, Durham, 945 Brown M, Tyndale, 918

Junior Rose: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – 1250

Spence N, Corby Jnrs, 1260

Junior Lady – 1200

Belshaw E, Burleigh Jnrs, 1216 Shield E, Cleve Jnrs, 1214 Coodye M, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 1210 Strugnell S, Braintree Jnrs, 1209 Palmer F, Wyre Forest Jnrs, 1200

Junior Lady – 1100

Young S, South Wansdyke Jnrs, 1180 Morgan S, Cleve Jnrs, 1170 Stone K, Bath, 1161 Ashton A, Isle of Man, 1154 Hammond J, Woking, 1144 Ivanov K, Balbardie Jnrs, 1144 Powell H, Crowthorne, 1134 Peters M, Deer Park Jnrs, 1126 Shield E, Cleve Jnrs, 1122 Pascall M, Wolverhampton Jnrs, 1116

Junior Lady – 1000

Humphries S, Wilford Jnrs, 1096 Northmore K, Royal Leamington Spa Jnrs, 1086 Dempsey L, Danesfield Jnrs, 1078 Meyrick S, Andover, 1078 Sanday L, Targetcraft, 1072 Bannister L, Wolverhampton Jnrs, 1063 Caie E, Cleve Jnrs, 1054 Hulse J, Audco Jnrs, 1047 Atkinson C, Chessington Jnrs, 1020 Myers-Bennett A, Wigan & Orrell Jnrs, 1016 Punjabi S, Chessington Jnrs, 1007 Rogers L, Nova, 1004 Hodge A, Burscough Jnrs, 1003 Fretwell S, Aequus Jnrs, 1001 Rawlings L, Bowbrook Jnrs, 1000

Junior Lady – 900

Petre E, Corby Jnrs, 991 Fretwell S, Aequus, 986 Darling L, Wilford Jnrs, 983 Kelly T, Cleve Jnrs, 968 Jose J, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 951 McDonald A, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 950

Simpson G, Chessington, 945 Williams G, Danesfield Jnrs, 923

Junior Lady – 800

Hill Z, Stortford Jnrs, 893 Knight R, Ardleigh, 888 Gardiner H, Wigan & Orrell Jnrs, 877 Fuller T, Tonbridge AC, 874 Seaton H, Rutland Jnrs, 874 Newman A, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 863 Harrison K, Cleve Jnrs, 860 Savery A, Royal Leamington Spa Jnrs, 850 Wadsworth J, Rochdale Jnrs, 843 Ditchburn B, Sleaford Jnrs, 837 Gorman H, Selby Jnrs, 813 Haimes S, Kingston Jnrs, 804

Junior Gentleman – 1250

Quinton R, Deben Jnrs, 1256

Junior Gentleman – 1100

Watkins K, Lincoln Jnrs, 1192 Smith J, Meriden Jnrs, 1164 Joyce D, Burnham Jnrs, 1136 Setchfield H, Sagittarii Jnrs, 1130 James J, Soar Valley, 1120 Wright H, Duston, 1116 Theakston T, Leicester Jnrs, 1115 Tapp H, Ely Jnrs, 1108 Powell J, Llantarnam Jnrs, 1102 Tucker J, Sleaford Jnrs, 1102

Junior Gentleman – 1000

Joyce D, Burnham Jnrs, 1094 Skilton P, Blue Arrow Jnrs, 1088 Watkins K, Lincoln Jnrs, 1078 Donaldson C, Cleadon Jnrs, 1048 Mason J, Wellingborough, 1048 Middleton J, Redhill Jnrs, 1046 Binnersley C, Audco Jnrs, 1043 Costanza M, Gordano Valley Jnrs, 1042 Hardy W, Cleve Jnrs, 1029 Wadsworth J, Rochdale Jnrs, 1024 Peppercorn O, Kingston Jnrs, 1023 Imeson L, Pendle & Samlesbury Jnrs, 1011

Junior Gentleman – 900

Moir B, Burntwood Jnrs, 997

Costanza M, Gordano Valley Jnrs, 985 Dace D, Netherhall Jnrs, 964 Wadsworth J, Rochdale Jnrs, 940 Cannell M, Cleve Jnrs, 923 Winstone J, Brixham Jnrs, 919

Junior Gentleman – 800

Weston K, Corby Jnrs, 877 Smith J, Gordano Valley Jnrs, 875 Ashenden D, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 848 Hayman O, Cleve Jnrs, 845

Barebow

Junior Lady – 900

Ramirez A, Andover, 927 Hazelwood E, Avalon Jnrs, 914

Junior Lady – 800

Jones S, Frome Town Jnrs, 882 Wilkinson M, Ivanhoe Knights, 839

Junior Gentleman – 800

Tatum T, Green Lane Jnrs, 857 Richards AP, Hellingly Jnrs, 817

Longbow

Junior Lady – 600

Chopping A, Exeter Jnrs, 919 Elliott R, Chantry Jnrs, 799

Junior Lady – 375

Landon A, Soar Valley, 400

Junior Gentleman – 300

Hyder T, Danesfield Jnrs, 308

Compound

Junior Lady – 1250

Craven M, North End Jnrs, 1294 Moon S, Burton Bridge Jnrs, 1282 Boulton H, Wigan & Orrell Jnrs, 1278 Ede B, Bath, 1272

Fletcher H, Evesham Jnrs, 1266 Hunter H, Bayeux, 1266 Meyrick S, Andover, 1266

Junior Lady – 1200

Petre I, Corby Jnrs, 1248 Geddes R, Lethen Jnrs, 1246 A’Bear C, Deer Park Jnrs, 1240 Dickins I, Nuneaton Jnrs, 1226 Loader V, Andover Jnrs, 1224 Stocks H, Danum Jnrs, 1218 Ashworth R, New Century Jnrs, 1212 Meyrick S, Andover Jnrs, 1208 Chappell G, Deer Park, 1200

Junior Lady – 1100

Noakes D, Rayleigh Town Jnrs, 1164 Walden K, North End Jnrs, 1033 Boulton S, Gordano Valley Jnrs, 1031

Junior Lady – 900

Marshall C, Lace Town Jnrs, 991

Junior Gentleman – 1250

Uzzell J, Deer Park Jnrs, 1258 Ede E, Bath, 1256 Ball Z, Archery GB, 1250 Ridding D, Millom Jnrs, 1250

Junior Gentleman – 1200

Wong M, Lethen Jnrs, 1253 Marshall T, Corby Jnrs, 1248 Hey H, Leicester Jnrs, 1228 Uzzell J, Deer Park Jnrs, 1228 Ede E, Bath, 1214

Junior Gentleman – 1100

McGarry D, York, 1155 Lane T, Bramcote Jnrs, 1118 Quigley O, Rochdale Jnrs, 1108

Junior Gentleman – 1000

Lane T, Bramcote Jnrs, 1070 Quigley O, Rochdale Jnrs, 1032 Robinson O, Blackburn Jnrs, 1016

Junior Gentleman – 900

Ball C, Archery GB, 962 Knapp A, Cleve Jnrs, 949 Wood M, Gordano Valley Jnrs, 930

Junior Gentleman – 800

White R, Danesfield Jnrs, 843

Arrow Award Juniors: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady – Red

Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs

Junior Gentleman – Blue

O’Connor S, Grimsby Jnrs

Junior Gentleman – Black

Smith J, Meriden Jnrs

Grand Master Bowman: Target

Barebow, Senior Lady

Grace T, Wight Hubbard SR, Wymondham

Longbow

Senior Lady

Cousins J, Pastures Hudson S, White Rose Linn M, Chichester

Senior Gentleman

Allan S, North Cheshire Ellis C, High Weald

Compound

Senior Lady

Blewett R, Nottingham University Burfitt P, Chippenham Corless S, Northampton Foster E, Cleadon Must E, Silver Spoon

Senior Gentleman

Howell J, Mayflower

Grand Master Bowman: Field

Recurve Traditional, Senior Lady

Lake M, Eastbourne

Master Bowman: Target

Recurve

Senior Lady

Aubrey W, Pendle & Samlesbury Barton A, Oxford Beasley-Suffolk H, Royal Leamington Spa Gallop V, Hatch

Senior Gentleman

Scott S, Norton

Barebow

Senior Lady

Driffield A, Panda

Senior Gentleman

Holder A, Southampton Mosley C, Aardwolf

Longbow

Senior Lady

Evans S, Cymric

Senior Gentleman

Christison M S, Longbow Club Hibberd W, Derwent Jasper G, Sway McCullogh D, Norton Newnes A, Aberystywth University Peters D, Cheshire Rosenberg B, Stalybridge

Compound

Senior Lady

Breeze R, New Century Holder J, Southampton Lawrence-Tuck J, Woking Palmer S, Wymondham

Senior Gentleman

Chapman W, Glen Fox P, Rutland Haynes S, Jolly H&W Kerr R, Chippenham Lane N, Bramcote Martel D, Malvern Newton S, Canford Magna Price A, Guildford Rudd M, Devizes Sanghrajka M, Harrow Tuck M, Woking

Master Bowman: Field

Recurve, Senior Lady

Agnew S, Archery GB

Compound, Senior Lady

Brown H, Kent Police

Junior Master Bowman U12: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Gabriel M, Stortford Jnrs Palmer H, Wyre Forest Jnrs Shield E, Cleve Jnrs Stone K, Bath Young S, South Wansdyke Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Grandin B, Warfield Jnrs Hardy W, Cleve Jnrs Joyce D, Burnham Jnrs Smith J, Meriden Jnrs Theakston T, Leicester Jnrs Wright H, Duston

Barebow

Junior Lady

Chopping A, Exeter Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Tatum T, Walker Jnrs

Longbow, Junior Lady

Chopping A, Exeter Jnrs Elliott R, Chantry Jnrs

Compound

Junior Lady

Boulton H, Wigan & Orrell Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Marshall T, Corby Jnrs

Junior Master Bowman U14: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Abdelhalim S, Bromley AC Jnrs Barrett E, Howard Jnsr Ferguson E, Aire Valley Palmer F, Wyre Forest Jnrs Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Haslam L, Anchor O’Connor S, Grimsby Jnrs Powell J, Llantarnam Tapp H, Ely Jnrs

Compound, Junior Lady

Bryan J, Bramcote Jnrs Meyrick S, Andover

Junior Master Bowman U16: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Evans H, Burleigh Jnrs Matkin E, Birstall Jnrs Orme A, Supermarine Jnrs Perkins A, Cleve Jnrs Stone M, Bath

Junior Gentleman

Boden J, Silver Spoon Jnrs Charlesworth M, Angmering Setchfield H Sagittarii, Jnrs

Barebow, Junior Lady

Ball E, C M O Jnrs Chilcott B, Audco Jnrs

Compound

Junior Lady

Ashworth R, New Century Jnrs Fletcher H, Evesham Jnrs Loader V, Andover Jnrs Williams J, Cleve Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Hey H, Leicester Jnrs Uzzell J, Deer Park Jnrs

Junior Master Bowman U18: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Green J, Ditchling Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Cooper C, Hellingly Harper R, Gronant

Compound, Junior Lady

Geddes R, Lethen Jnrs Moon S, Burton Bridge Jnrs

6 Gold End Senior: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Piper L, Woking Rogers T, Llantarnam Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Alexander T, Furness Body A, West Essex Jnrs Cooper C, Hellingly Donaldson M, Cleadon Jnrs Harris A, West Essex Jnrs Stephenson O, Rutland Jnrs

Senior Lady

Booth I, Long Mynd Brown G, Leicester D’Entrecasteaux R, Farnham Milsom T, Malvern Monteith S, Albion Morris C, Colchester Nicholas L, Junction Thomason E, Wilford

Senior Gentleman

Billins M, Abbey Bullen R, Bruntwood Charlesworth I, Arundown Collis D, University of London Emeney S, Archery GB Evans L, Lugg Valley Hancock J, Lichfield Hawkins N, St Neots Hunter N, Harrow Hutchins T, Burleigh MacMillan I, Linwood Smart D, Kyrton Sze T, Canterbury Towle J, A C Delco Wright S, Raunds

Compound

Junior Lady

Davis A, West Essex Jnrs Loader V, Andover Jnrs Taylor J, Chichester Jnrs Keith B, Aycliffe Larby J, Newburn Ray L, Anchor Reith J, Green Lane Timperley B, Greenbank Watson R M, Netherhall

Senior Gentleman

Almond K, Pilgrim Boston Arnott M, Sellafield Bowles R, Jolly H&W Colledge S, Ivanhoe Davies D A, 3 Counties Dunham C, Royal Richmond Eddington R, Mere Giles S, Nottingham University

Gould S, South Bucks Grant G, Canford Magna Hall D, Fakenham Helens R, Walker Lablaiks O, Cheshire County Maw R, Wyre Forest Middleton I, Redhill Milnes D, Aardwolf Mitchell J, Aberdeen University Moore E, Isle of Man Pearce M, Bournemouth Pongrac D, Rickmansworth Povey R, South Moorlands Queen M, Phoenix Roberts D, Blandy Jenkins Sanghrajka M, Harrow Seaton P, Rutland Sisson T, Selby Thomas M, Wirral Whittingham D, Cheshire Williams K, Spelthorne

6 Gold End Junior: Target

Recurve

Junior Lady

Ashton A, Isle of Man Barraclough A, Dearne Valley Griffiths O, Abbey Jnrs Ivanov K, Balbardie Jnrs Levitt F, Netherhall Meyrick S, Andover Morgan S, Cleve Jnrs Myers-Bennett I, Wigan & Orrell Ramsay T, Malvern Jnrs Simpson C, Sleaford Maltsters Stamp L, Llandaff City Jnrs Turner R, Stourbridge Jnrs Young S, South Wansdyke

Junior Gentleman

Barrett-Rees J, Blandy Jenkins Binnersley C, Audco Jnrs Middleton J, Redhill Jnrs Nichols L, West Essex Jnrs Powell J, Llantarnam Jnrs Sims T, Bicester Jnrs Tapp H, Ely Theakston T, Leicester Wadsworth J, Rochdale Jnrs

Wright H, Duston

Longbow, Junior Lady

Rawlings A, Bowbrook Jnrs

Compound

Junior Lady

A’Bear C, Deer Park Ashworth R, New Century Jnrs Bolou A, Allington Castle Chappell G, Deer Park Jones C, Wyke Jnrs Loader V, Andover Jnrs Meyrick S, Andover Jnrs Middleton A, Norton Jnrs Tebbs C, Kestrels Jnrs

Junior Gentleman

Ball Z, Archery GB Ede E, Bath Hirst C, Links Jnrs Marshall T, Corby Jnrs Murray J, Lasswade Jnrs Robinson O, Black & Gold Uzzell J, Deer Park Jnrs Wong M, Lethen Jnrs

3 Gold End (Longbow): Target

Junior Lady

Elliott R, Chantry Jnrs Crosby J, Kent Police Neaverson P, Saints & Sinners Phillips N, St Kingsmark Scull V, Exeter Smillie A, Falkirk Tsutsui Y, Royal Richmond Tutty S, Whiteleaf Williams S, Allington Castle Wills W J, Supermarine

Senior Gentleman

Hodgetts R, Saints & Sinners Neill S, Redruth Owen G, Royal Leamington Spa

And finally

The food at the Mediterraneo near British House wasn't great, but I am not sure any of us were bothered on the night of 17 September. It was the only restaurant in the vicinity that could accommodate 23 people at short notice, and we weren't there for fine dining. We were piling in laden with medals for a low-key celebration. Our para team had topped the archery medal table, secured our best result ever, and landed a clean sweep gold, silver and bronze that no other sport had delivered since 1996. We were hardly about to complain about the steak.

The success obviously made us all proud, but two things came out of it. The first – the personal angle – is easy to understand: who can do anything but delight in the achievements and the winning smiles? The second is far less huggable, but no less important: beating our target (of 3 to 6 medals with 1 to 2 gold) should go a significant way to securing important funding for the next four years.

When you consider that nine of our 11-person team were first-time Paralympians, it should be easy to see the link between increasing participation and elite performance – the two ends of the spectrum, which we are tasked to manage. Getting more people involved in archery in the first place means more are likely to go on to compete at the highest level, which means more interest in the sport across the country as great stories like this week's make the mainstream news.

Of course, not everyone wants to go on to compete in the big-time and our aim is to cater to all. Strikingly, I received an email from a Board member about the importance of us not being detached from our membership just as I was in the process of doing two things that underlined how difficult defining "our membership" is: watching a 23-year old para athlete shooting in Rio, and replying to lengthy correspondence from a more senior member back home whose concerns include the move away from the name GNAS.

For both, archery is their sport. Both are our members. Both have opinions and concerns that are equally valid. Our aim is to cater for them equally, so that one can enjoy shooting as they have for decades, and the other look forward to another successful haul in Tokyo in four years' time.

Mark DaviesChairman

Sponsors

We would like to thank the following sponsors and partners.

Long term support of our core programmes

Lottery Funded Sport England

Lottery funded UK sport

Excellence in Sports Coaching

Helping us to raise standards

The Equality Standard: A Framework for Sport

National series finals sponsor and partner

Nottingham City Council

The Nottingham Building Society and Estate Agency

Gold sponsors

Doinker Stabilisers

Hoyt

Easton

Win & Win Archery

Mybo

Leupold

Silver sponsors

Stanislawski

Fuse Accessories

Shibuya

Trading name

Archery GB is the trading name of the Grand National Archery Society, a company limited by guarantee number 1342150 Registered in England.