County of Warwick Archery Association
Affiliated to West Midlands Archery Association and Grand National Archery Society
News and Results
For and about Warwickshire Archers
£100 off coaching courses
CSW Sport are offering a £100 bursary to go towards level 1 coaching qualifications and £200 bursary for level 2 or 3 coaching qualification, so if you have been interested in doing a coaching qualification in archery now may be the time to do it. In order to qualify you will need to deliver coaching within Coventry, Warwickshire or Solihull based on the councils regions. This would be a great opportunity to get more qualified coaches in the county so please let fellow club members know about the opportunity. The next window for applications opens on the 14th June.
For more information see http://www.cswsport.org.uk/CoachBursaryScheme1 June 2010
Craig Bowley shows form at Evesham
At the recent opening event of the Archery GB national series event at Evesham on the 16th May Craig Bowley from Meriden finished the day in 2nd place, Craig qualifies in 10th place with a score of 601 and then won the first 4 matches convincingly which put him in the semi finals where he was to face Simon Terry, Craig didn’t let Simon deter him though and easily beat him winning the semi’s 6-2, unfortunately after taking the initial lead against Larry Godfrey in the final, Larry came back to win the match 6-4. This puts Craig second in the overall race for places at the Grand Final in September. Other archers from Warwickshire in Gents Recurve are Lee Williams (17th), Stuart Wood-Edens (33rd ), junior archer Jacob Vick (33rd) and Bob Lowe (33rd). In the Gents compound category Adam Ravenscroft qualified in an impressive 3rd place with a score of 668, but was unfortunately knocked at in the second round so was placed 17th , Chris White finished in 5th place, Colin Geenes (8th), John Robbins (9th), Gavin Shaw (17th) as well as Brett Walker that also finished 17th. In the ladies Recurve Naomi qualified in 1st place with a score of 619 but was unfortunately knocked out in the ¼ final to finish in 8th place and in the ladies Compound Phillipa Lowe finished in 17th place.
26 May 2010
Warwickshire Archers Shine at Walsall FITA Star
A number of Warwickshire archers competed at the Walsall FITA star held at Lilleshall on 1st and 2nd May. After a week of bad weather forecasts the weather turned out to be pretty good with it being calm on the Saturday and their being no rain on the Sunday, although their was a bit of a breeze. In the Ladies Compound Category Phillipa Lowe (Meriden) shot excellent with a score of 1312 Saturday and 1287 on Sunday, in the Gents Compound Category Colin Geenes achieved his first 1350 FITA star with a score of 1353 on Saturday and 1322 on Sunday, Gavin Shaw (Meriden) competed Saturday and shot 1342 but did not compete on Sunday. In the Recurve Category, Craig Bowley (Meriden) finished 12th with 1196 on Saturday and 1208 on Sunday. Naomi Folkard (Leamington) also competed but only shot the Saturday as she was leaving for the 1st stage of the World Cup the following day, she shot a score of 1318 and was leading the field at the end of the day. Junior Jacob Vick (Meriden) also had an excellent weekend with scores of 1183 and 1161 and finished 5th in junior Gents Recurve category.
19 May 2010
Warwickshire archers gain medals at Kirby Muxloe FITA
Seven County archers competed at the Kirby Muxloe FITA on the 25th April, with some excellent results from Philippa Lowe (Meriden) who came second in the Ladies Compound Discipline with a score of 1316, Lee Williams (Meriden) who came third in the Gents Recurve with 1242 and Paul Taylor again from Meriden who came third in the Gents Compound with 1350. Other county archers include in the Gents Recurves, Bob Lowe (Meriden) and Chris Trolan (Meriden) with Scores of 1138 and 1108 respectively, in Gents Compound, Gavin Shaw (Meriden) and Colin Geenes (Meriden) with Scores of 1339 and 1329 and in the Gents Longbow category Stuart Tounge also from Meriden came 3rd with a score of 370.
Download the Full results here19 May 2010
Flying Start to Season for Folkard
Folkard at the 2009 World Games in Korea
Leamington’s two times Olympic archer made an excellent start to the outdoor season winning the ladies recurve competition at the Meriden Archery Club’s Easter pre-season FITA Star Tournament with an excellent score. With the first GB and Commonwealth Games selection shoots coming up in mid April, the event attracted a large number of GB and England archers and competition was fierce. The shoot also incorporated the Warwickshire county trials and therefore many of the best county archers competed.
The competition involved the FITA round of 12 dozen arrows, with 3 dozen at each of 4 distances (90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies and juniors). Although the variable winds were tricky at times, and the ground was very wet underfoot, it remained dry throughout and shooting conditions were fairly good.
Folkard finished on 1308, with a massive lead over Rebecca Martin (Trent Valley) second on 1195, and Joann Lunt (Saints and Sinners) 1194. Folkard, who has been training hard over the winter making changes to both her equipment and shooting technique, was pleased with the result.
The top scores in all sections were high. Former Olympic bronze medallist Simon Terry (Chorley) achieved a magnificent 1348 in the men’s recurve; GB top ranked compound for many years Chris White (Rugby) shot 1394; and Andrea Gales (Woking) a GB lady compound scored 1373.
Local archers shooting were:
Recurve ladies – Naomi Folkard (Leamington) 1308 (1st), Karen Atkins (Bowflights) 1126 (10th); Natalie Gee (Sutton Coldfield) 1097 and Leah Innocent (Coventry) 1056.
Compound Ladies – Philippa Lowe (Meriden), previously an England recurve international in her first big compound competition, 1279 (11th); Janette Ross (Meriden) 1260 (13th); and Margaret Nixon (Meriden) 1201.
Recurve Men – Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers) 1265 (2nd); Lee Williams (Meriden) 1245 (5th); Craig Bowley (Meriden) 1216 (8th); Bob Watson (Meriden) 1149 (pb); Bob Lowe (Meriden) 1139; James Folkard (Leamington) 1124; Brian Tustin (Leamington) 1105; Mark Ellis (Meriden) 1098; Stuart Wood-Edens (Meriden) 1081; Chris Earp (Leamington) 1061 and Stan Ross (Meriden) 954.
Compound Men – Chris White (Rugby) 1394 (1st), Andy Rikunenko (Redditch and Leamington) 1389 (2nd); Adam Ravenscroft (Bowflights) 1344 (9th); Mark Cowburn (Meriden) 1340 (10th); Gavin Shaw (Meriden) 1338 (11th); Paul Taylor (Meriden) 1334; Trevor McHaffy (Meriden) 1274; James Scott (Leamington) 1262 and Jon Nixon (Meriden) 1212.
Junior Men Recurve – Jack Brookes (Sutton Coldfield) 1168 (pb) (2nd) and Jacob Vick (Meriden) 1100 (4th).
Junior Men Compound – Henry Scott (Leamington) 1174 (2nd).
1 April 2010
Warwickshire County Field Championships
The County Field Championships took place on Sunday 28 February at Meriden, on their newly created field course.
The Gents Recurve competition was won by Meriden's Stuart Wood-Edens with a score of 392, closely followed by Brian Tustin and Steve Partridge, both of Leamington.
The Gents Compound was won by Adam Ravenscroft of Bowflights with 516. Second was John Robbins and third Mark Cowburn, both of Meriden.
Download the Full Results here.
1 March 2010
Success for Warwickshire Archers at National Indoor Champs
Warwickshire’s top internationals compound Chris White (Rugby) and Naomi Folkard (Leamington) both put in excellent performances last weekend at the National Indoor Championships at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
Archers shot the FITA 18 round of 5 dozen arrows at a small 3 spot face over 18 metres, which was followed by a head to head knock out competition for the top 32 qualifiers in each category.
Folkard qualified in first place with an excellent 570. Fellow Olympians Charlotte Burgess (Bruntwood) and Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) qualified in second and third places respectively with 567 and 558. In the head to head elimination rounds of 12 arrow matches, Folkard was the highest scoring archer in every round up to the gold final. She beat Ashleigh McCloud (LoughboroughUniv) 114 to 88, Jenna Derraven (Gwent) 114 to 111, Emma Downie (Edinburgh Univ) 115 to 107, and Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 115 to111. This brought her into the gold medal match against Burgess, which finished 110 to 113. Although disappointed with second place, Folkard was pleased with her day’s shooting as she was using new equipment and has recently made changes in shooting technique in preparation for the coming outdoor season. Third place went to Becky Martin (Trent Valley), and Williamson finished fifth.
White qualified in fourth place with 586, behind James Bingham (Birstall) 590, Andy Rikunenko (Redditch) 590 and Philip Glover (Mayflower) 588. He shot extremely well in all his matches, beating Paul Athersmith (Telford) 117 to 112, Ben Hunt (Cleve) 118 to 108, and Jon Nott (Wyre Forest) 119 to 116. In the semi final, after tying on 117 against Bingham, he went through on a single arrow shoot off. He shot against Rikunenko for gold, winning 118 to 115. Bingham finished with bronze.
Another local archer, Philippa Lowe (Meriden) was competing in the ladies’ compound competition. Formerly a recurve archer who shot regularly for England, Lowe has recently converted to compound, and did well to qualify in 20th place. Unfortunately she lost her first match against Lynda Oliver (Dearne Valley) 111 to 113, which maintained her position in 20th place.
22 February 2010
Good Shooting at County Championships
The senior County Indoor Championships were held yesterday, in conjunction with both the County and Regional Junior Indoor Championships, at the Harry Mitchell Sports Centre in Warley. The national record status event, involving the Portsmouth round of 5 dozen arrows shot at a 60 cm face over 20 yds, was well attended by West Midlands archers, and, although no records were broken, some good scores were shot.
The senior championship winners were, for the ladies, recurve Natalie Gee (Sutton Coldfield) and compound Janette Ross (Meriden) and for the men, recurve Brian Tustin (Leamington) and compound Adam Ravenscroft (Bowflights, Birmingham). Ravenscroft set a new county record with 592, which is only one point off the current national record.
The junior county champions were Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) and Jacob Vick (Meriden).
The Quantum club from Handsworth, Birmingham, was particularly well represented at the event, its team including 19 youngsters, most of whom are pupils at King Edwards School in Handsworth. Some are relative novices, but they all shot well and a considerable number earned awards.
Download the Full Results here.
3 February 2010
Leamington's Folkard Doing Well Indoors
Leamington’s Olympic archer Naomi Folkard has been maintaining competition practice indoors over the indoor season, with good results.
Last month she won the Welland Valley FITA 18 (5 dozen arrows at 40cm 3 spot face over 18 metres) with an excellent 568. She also won the Sherwood Archers FITA 18 event with 567, ahead of fellow GB internationals Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 533 and Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) 526. In her second shoot at Sherwood, which did not count in the competition, Folkard scored 574.
Last week she competed in Nimes in a FITA 18 and head to head event, which was well attended by archers from all parts of Europe and USA. The competition was fierce with 150 recurve ladies taking part in Folkard’s class. She finished 13th, unlucky to go out in the 1/8 round to old rival and eventual winner of the competition, Berengere Schuh from France.
Folkard has recently obtained sponsorship from Recaro, manufacturers of racing and child seats.
Harry Moreland - died 22nd November 2009, aged 89
Harry will be remembered as a man who devoted much of his life to the sport and hobby of archery. He was a founder member of the Coventry Archery Club in the 1950s and one of the first in that club to achieve the status of Master Bowman. He was also well respected as a coach, helping not only members of his own club but many other archers in the county and region.
Harry was a very practical and inventive man and in applying his skills to the sport he developed and made many things such as sights, bowstands and serving tools as well as producing some excellent bows.
Even when arthritis meant he could no longer shoot competitively Harry continued to coach and his help will be remembered for years by many archers.
Mick Friend - died 11th November 2009, aged 64
The News of Mick’s death in November came as a shock to all the archers in Warwickshire and beyond who knew him. He seemed to be ever-present at Meriden, and it still feels very strange to a lot of us to arrive and not see him there. Mick loved archery in all its forms, and he was particularly fond of shooting clout with both barebow and longbow. The club’s clout shoot on 27th December became a fitting memorial to him.
He served on the Meriden committee as Treasurer for a great many years, and he also employed his skills and knowledge doing the same job for the county for nearly as long, and when he finally persuaded the committee to let him retire, he left a hole which was not easy to fill. People like Mick truly are irreplaceable, and he will be missed for a long time to come.
Warwickshire Archers Prominent in UK Rankings
In the recently published end of season national target rankings a remarkable 15% of the archers in the top 10 belong to Warwickshire clubs. Two of these, Chris White (Rugby) and Naomi Folkard (Leamington) actually topped the rankings in their category.
White has topped the men’s compound rankings for the eleventh consecutive year, and Folkard has now headed the ladies’ recurve list nine times. White 31 and Folkard 26 both started archery at a very young age and have been shooting for GB regularly, with great success, since they were juniors. Both are top all round archers competing internationally, not only in outdoor target, but also indoor target and field archery. For Folkard it is a particularly great achievement to stay at the top this year, as she has been working her way back into competition after shoulder surgery last December, and she is still shooting a bow of lower than usual poundage.
The rankings are based on best scores over the season in 3 FITA rounds, 2 FITA 70 rounds and 2 Olympic round matches.
Competition in the men’s compound rankings was stiff. White finished on 5888 points, but Duncan Busby (Blackthorn) was not far behind on 5861. Other Warwickshire compounds featuring in the top 20 were John Robbins (Meriden) 9th on 5764 and Garry Fowler (Meriden) 20th on 5668.
In the ladies recurve rankings competition was not quiet so fierce. Folkard, with 5476, had a more comfortable lead over fellow Olympian and Athens bronze medallist Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) 5423. Philippa Lowe (Meriden) on 5119 finished 9th. Lowe has recently converted to the compound bow and hopefully will give Warwickshire a representative near the top of next year’s ladies’ compound rankings.
In the men’s recurve section Warwickshire’s highest representative was Jon Shales, who went up one place on last year, finishing 6th with 5407. Former Olympic bronze medallist Simon Terry (Chorley) topped the list with 5630. Lee Williams (Meriden) finished 10th with 5308 and club mate Craig Bowley 20th with 5108.
County Team Manager James Scott (Leamington) has arranged a programme of intensive coaching for Warwickshire archers over the winter and is optimistic for further improvements in 2010.
Three Warwickshire Archers Have Eye On World Field
While the Warwickshire county team were competing in Shropshire, three of its top archers, with an eye to next year’s World Field Championships to be held in Visegrad, Hungary, in July, were competing in the Cheshire and Open Championships at Mouldsworth in Cheshire. Chris White (compound) from Rugby, Naomi Folkard (recurve) from Leamington Spa and Jon Shales (recurve) from ‘V Archers all opted for a weekend of field archery on one of the country’s most difficult courses with the intention of getting early qualification scores for next year’s World Field Championships. All three performed well in the two day competition and achieved qualifying scores. Each day involved 24 target FITA rounds, with unmarked distances on Saturday and marked distances on Sunday.
In the men’s compound competition White took the lead on Day 1 with a superb 417, a new national record. Liam Grimwood (Blackthorn) finished the day on 408 and Tapani Kalmaru (Castle) with 404 lay in third place. With 403 on Day 2 White increased his lead to gain first place overall with a massive total of 820. Grimwood finished second with 797 and Neil Wakelin (Grampion Suffolk) came up into third place with 793.
In the ladies’ recurve event Folkard took a hefty 29 point lead on Day 1. With 351 points she was a ahead of former European Field Champion Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 322 and Caroline Jobson (Mossley Hill) 306. With 332 on day 1 Folkard increased her lead to take gold with a total of 683. Oliver (642) finished second and Jobson (582) third.
Competition in the men’s recurve event was more intense. Shales took a narrow first day lead with 364, ahead of Alan Wills (Sellafield) 363 and Pete Frost (Birstall) 348. However, Shales’ 339 on Day 2 didn’t match Wills’ 352, and he dropped back to silver position. Wills took gold (715), Shales silver (703) and Frost bronze (680).
The weekend scores put all three Warwickshire archers into contention for GB places in next year’s World Field Championships. All three are former medallists in World Field Championship events.
Top Performance by Warwickshire Archers at Regional Intercounties
The Warwickshire team last weekend had a successful day shooting at the West Midlands Regional Inter-counties match, despite the absence of some of its best archers.
The event was hosted by Worcestershire at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire. Each of the five counties, Hereford, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, was allowed to field up to 24 archers, with the best in each discipline making the teams: 5 men and 3 ladies in the recurve team; 2 men and 1 lady in the compound team and 1 man and 1 lady in the longbow team. All archers shot the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds, 3 dozen at each of 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies. Weather conditions were good, although it was windy towards the end.
Warwickshire won the recurve match, the team comprising Leah Innocent (Coventry) 1194, Karen Atkins (Bowflights, Birmingham) 1140, Natalie Gee (Sutton Coldfield) 1088, Lee Williams (Meriden) 1253, James Folkard (Leamington) 1174, Brian Tustin (Leamington) 1150, Mark Ellis (Meriden) 1131 and Pete Lowe (Meriden) 1131. Warwickshire’s combined score of 9261 put the team well clear of Shropshire 9099, Staffordshire 9039, Worcestershire 8586 and Herefordshire (incomplete team) 2665.
The Warwickshire compounds with 3965 had to settle for second place behind Worcesteshire (3986). The Warwickshire team comprised Philippa Lowe (Meriden) 1283, Garry Fowler (Meriden) 1345 and Brett Walker (Meriden) 1337. Staffordshire finished third on 3906, Shropshire fourth on 3286 and Hereford, a man short, fifth with 2277.
Staffordshire narrowly won the longbow event with 795. Warwickshire with only one longbow shooting, Stuart Tongue (Meriden) finished last.
Prestigious Roy Matthews medals awarded for the best individual performances went to a number of Warwickshire archers: Leah Innocent (Coventry) third lady recurve with 1194; Philippa Lowe (Meriden) second lady compound 1283; Lee Williams (Meriden) first gent recurve 1253 and Garry Fowler (Meriden) second gent compound 1345.
Other Warwickshire archers shooting, but not making a team, were: recurves Wendy Baird (Meriden), Bob Lowe (Meriden), Stan Ross (Meriden), Dean Holmes (Meriden) and Pete James (Meriden); and compounds Janette Ross (Meriden), Dawn Leide (Leamington), Paul Taylor (Meriden) and Pete Raynor (Meriden).
Warwickshire Archers both take Silver in National Series Grand Final
Naomi Folkard & Chris White
Chris White (Rugby) and Naomi Folkard (Leamington) last weekend both took silver in the Grand Final of the new National Series held in front of a very large crowd on the terraces of Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre,with the Shropshire hills as backdrop.
After the completion, over the summer, of the five rounds of the series, White who shoots compound and Folkard, a recurve archer, headed the points table in their disciplines. With only the top four qualifiers in each discipline going through to the Grand Final, and the lure of substantial prizes including $1000 for each gold medallist, competition was guaranteed to be intense. All of the Beijing Olympians (recurve archers) had qualified and some of the country’s top compounds. The head to head structure of the competition made for some exciting confrontations.
Each match involved ends of 3 arrows, each archer shooting in turn with 20 seconds per arrow. 2 points were awarded for a win and 1 for a draw, and the first to reach 8 points was the winner. Conditions, particularly for the lighter recurve bows, were tricky, because of strong swirling winds.
White has put in some remarkable scores this year, only last weekend breaking the National record for the gents FITA with an outstanding 1415. He started well with an 8-4 victory in his semi final match against James Forbes (New Century Bowmen). This brought him into the gold medal match against Duncan Busby (Blackthorne Bowmen) who had knocked out clubmate Liam Grimwood in his first match. Both men shot superbly with just the occasional 9. The match was close throughout and went to 7 ends, but the honours in the end went to Busby 8-6. Grimwood took bronze.
Folkard’s first match was against Swedish number 1 and Edinburgh University student Jenny Jeppsson. Naomi won convincingly in 5 ends 8-2. However the wind was particularly difficult during this match and both girls shot some low scoring arrows. In her last end Jeppsson was unable to get one arrow off within the 20 second time limit and inevitably lost the end. The other ladies’ recurve semi final produced a surprise result when Charlotte Burgess beat fellow Olympian and Athens Olympic bronze medallist Alison Williamson. Burgess maintained her superb form and went on to beat Folkard 8-2. Jeppsson beat Williamson to take bronze.
Folkard said: “It was a brilliant event. It was fantastic to have top level competition on one’s doorstep and this is a great way to prepare for international competition. I am just very disappointed not to win.”
Folkard wins Pioneering Ipswich International Event
Last weekend Ipswich gave the world its first look into the future by hosting the first major tournament to use the new head-to-head scoring system announced last month by FITA, the sport’s world governing body. A pioneering shoot giving a taste of next year’s international events, it attracted many top archers. It was the first open shoot in the UK to offer money and other prizes, the total value being in the order of £3000. Leamington’s Naomi Folkard won the ladies’ recurve event after a battle with five times Olympian and Athens bronze medallist Alison Williamson. A second Warwickshire archer, Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers) took third place in the men’s recurve competition.
The two day event involved a FITA 70 (6 dozen arrows at 70ms) on Saturday and head to head elimination matches on Sunday. The current system of 12 arrow matches was replaced with sets of arrows, for which there were 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for losing. In the early eliminations the higher scorer over 3 sets of 6 arrows went through, but in the quarter finals onwards it was the best of five sets of 3 arrows.
Folkard qualified in second place with 644, just 2 points behind Williamson (Long Mynd). In her semi-final match Folkard met the third placed qualifier, Abbie Fisher (Fakenham). She had a fairly easy win in 4 sets, 26 to 9, 27 to 8, 22 to 23, and 27 to 14, which gave her 6 points to 2. This put her into the final match against Williamson who also won her semi final 6 2. Williamson started strongly with a maximum score of 30 for her first set, which gave her two points when Folkard only shot 27. However, Folkard came back to level the score in the second set which she took with 26 to 23. The third set was tied 23 points each. Folkard went ahead in the fourth set getting 2 points from a 29 to 24 win. She got a further 2 points in the fifth and final set when she won 25 to 24. She therefore took the final match by 7points to 3. In place of a gold medal or trophy, the usual competition award, Folkard was delighted to win £100, a set of Easton X10 arrows and a Merlin adjustable ‘V’ bar mount.
Shales qualified in first place with an excellent 657, ahead of Tom Barber (Thorpe Hamlet) 648. Despite easy wins in the early head-to-head matches he lost his semi final match to fourth place qualifier, and eventual winner, Mike Peart (Deben) by 6 points to 2. However, in the bronze match he beat 19th place qualifier John Marcello ( (Braintree) 6 points to 4. He won prize money of £50, equal to the cost of the tournament entry fee).
Folkard said: “It was a great weekend, with valuable support from sponsors, and the event was well organised. It was good experience to try out the new format and I was in need of new arrows!”
Brian Tustin wins County Champs
The Warwickshire Outdoor County Championship shoot was held today at Leamington on a cool, blustery but dry day. The wind was particularly tricky around the middle half of the shoot and kept scores down but there was still a new county record claimed (unconfirmed as yet). Gentlemen shot the York and ladies the Hereford.
Brian Tustin of Leamington won the Gents Recurve trophy with a score of 1002, followed by Andrew Shreeves of Warwick University on 938 and Pete Hunnisett of Leamington on 880. James Scott of Leamington took the Gents Compound trophy with 1036 and Stuart Tongue of Solihull won the Gents Longbow with 217, beating the County record by 17 points.
The Ladies Recurve trophy was taken by Angela Cave of Leamington with 772 and the Ladies Compound by Janette Ross of Meriden with 1127.
The Team trophy (3 gents and 1 lady recurve) was won by Leamington (Brian Tustin, Pete Hunnisett, Paul Roberts and Angela Cave) with a total of 3466.
Birmingham Club Hosts Maiden Shoot
Quantum Archers last weekend (31 August) very successfully hosted their first open shoot at King Edward VI School in Handsworth. The club was founded in 2002 and does a lot of work with juniors at a number of local schools.
For their first event Quantum chose the Windsor round of 9 dozen arrows, 3 dozen at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards. Juniors shot the Junior Windsor round over shorter distances - 40, 30 and 20 yds. A very strong headwind made for tricky shooting conditions and kept scores down, but it was a pleasant warm day and the rain kept off.
Results were as follows:
| Windsor | ||||
| Gents Recurve | 1st | Brian Tustin | Leamington | 866 |
| 2nd | Denis Folkard | Leamington | 840 | |
| 3rd | Dave Taylor | Sutton Coldfield | 774 | |
| Ladies Recurve | 1st | Kathy Folkard | Leamington | 827 |
| 2nd | Mary Kelly | Quantum | 627 | |
| 3rd | Jennifer Mousley | Sutton Coldfield | 433 | |
| Jr Gents Recurve | 1st | Jack Brookes | Sutton Coldfield | 822 |
| Gents Longbow | 1st | Derek Smith | Sutton Coldfield | 286 |
| Gents Compound | 1st | Simon Stone | Leamington | 932 |
| 2nd | William Vincent | Kings Heath | 864 | |
| Gents Comp (Ltd) | 1st | Martin Richmond | Sutton Coldfield | 822 |
| Junior Windsor | ||||
| Junior Ladies | 1st | Rebecca Chim | Quantum | 813 |
| 2nd | Sally Sam | Quantum | 628 | |
| Junior Gents | 1st | James Mascall | Sutton Coldfield | 530 |
The shoot was well organised and thoroughly enjoyed by all.
European Gold Medal Glory for Chris White
Warwickshire archer Chris White (Rugby Bowmen) last week won the men’s compound gold medal in the European Field Championships at Champagnac in France.
White, a former world field champion, qualified in second place with 814 for the 24 targets of unmarked distances together with 24 targets of marked distances, shot over two days. Dejan Sitar (Slovenia) was the top qualifier with 821. White came up against Sitar in his semi final head to head match. It was a close match but White came out on top with 66 to 65. This brought him up against Morgan Lundin, a former World and European Champion, but White, on top form, won convincingly 64 points to 61.
Another Warwickshire archer and former world recurve field champion Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers) also put up a good performance in Champagnac, qualifying in second place with 725, behind Michele Frangilli (Italy) 763. Unfortunately Shales went out in his second round head to head match, but finished in sixth place.
The two Warwickshire archers came together in the men’s team event with barebow Robert Mallon, and qualified in third place. They beat France 95 to 92, but lost their semi final match against the eventual gold medallists Italy, 46 to 61. This put them into the bronze medal match against France, but they lost 49 to 55 to finish in fourth place.
Warwickshire’s other top international field archer and former world bronze medallist Naomi Folkard (Leamington) was unable to compete because of heavy international commitments in target archery.
Folkard's Recovery Continues in Shanghai
Korea's Yun waits while Folkard shoots
Leamington archer, Naomi Folkard, put in an excellent performance last week in the World Cup Event in Shanghai. After surgery on a shoulder injury last December she is still shooting a bow of around 10lbs lighter draw weight than most of her opponents, putting her at a considerable disadvantage. Nevertheless Folkard finished in eighth place in a field which included most of the world’s top lady archers.
In the qualification round, a FITA round of 12 dozen arrows with 3 dozen at each of 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres, Folkard finished in 9th place with an excellent 1332. The top three places were taken by Ok Hee Yun (Korea) 1388, Hyun Jung Joo (Korea) 1370 and Berangere Schuh (France ) 1360. GB team mates Alison Williamson and Charlotte Burgess were further down the field with 1300 (29th) and 1292 (40th) respectively. In the 12 arrow head to head knock out matches for the top 64 qualifiers, Folkard had a first round bye and then beat Gina Gonzalez (Mexico) 97 to 94 in the second round. This unfortunately brought her up against fellow Brit Burgess who had just shot well to put out the eighth qualifier Karina Winter (Germany). Folkard came out on top 103 to 99 which put her through into the quarter finals where she was to meet Yun, the top Korean. Yun produced the highest score of the event, a massive 116, and Folkard’s 98 left her in eighth place.
The British ladies qualified in eighth place in the team event. Having beaten Japan 203 to 197, however they came up against the formidable Korean ladies and bowed out with 208 to Korea’s 216. They finished in 7th place. Korea went on to take gold with Russia taking silver and Italy bronze.
Folkard has now returned to the UK after a month in the Far East where she also won the bronze medal in the field archery event of the World Games in Taipei. She said: “I am very pleased with the way my shooting is going. My scores are going up and I am now looking forward to the World Target Championships in Korea at the beginning of September. Although I am still using a relatively lightweight bow, I know that I can compete”.
White Smashes National Records at Target Champs
Chris White (Rugby) won the men’s compound event at the British Target Championships held last weekend at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre. I n the process he smashed the national records for the single and double York rounds. A second Warwickshire archer Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers) won the men’s recurve event.
The event over two days involved the men’s York round and the ladies Hereford each day. Both rounds are testing, the York involving 6doz at 100 yds, 4 doz at 80 yds and 2 doz at 60 yds, and the Hereford involving 6doz at 80 yds, 4 doz at 60 yds and 2 doz at 50 yds. Conditions were good and scores were high.
Fresh back from the World Games where he gained a bronze medal for field archery, White was on top form. On Saturday he shot 1290 putting 10 points on to the existing national record. On Sunday he shot 1286, giving him a combined total of 2576 which put a massive 58 points on to the national record for the double York. Second place in the men’s compound championship event went to James Bingham (Birstall) 2560, and third place to Duncan Busby (Blackthorn) 2556. Adam Ravenscroft (Bowflights, Birmingham) was 8th on 2498.
In the men’s recurve competition Jon Shales took first place with 2336, ahead of Mike Peart (Deben) 2311 and Jon Manning (Burleigh) 2310.
Karen Atkins (Bowflights, Birmingham) put in a good performance (2157) to finish 9th in the ladies’ recurve event.
Jacob Vick wins junior Field gold medals
On the weekend of 25th and 26th July, Meriden’s Jacob Vick shot the (GNAS) Junior UK Field Championships. The venue near Neath in Wales is a newly laid out course incorporating uphill, downhill and across slope shots – made even more difficult by persistent rain on the second day. Shooting the FITA Mixed Combination Round – 12 unmarked distances and 12 marked distances each day – Jacob won the Recurve Under 15 Championship. This event was also the Home Nations Junior Field Championship and Jacob was in the team representing England.
Immediately after this, Jacob shot the (IFAA) European Field Archery Championships (EFAC 2009 - coincidentally in Wales between Abergavenny and Monmouth) – a five day shoot, over 3 different, 28 target courses, shooting Field, Hunter and Marked Game rounds. Treacherous conditions underfoot lead to the cancellation of the third days (Marked Game) round. Despite the difficult conditions, he shot very well to win his class (Freestyle Recurve Junior under 17).
Medals for Folkard and White in World Games
Naomi in action in the qualifying round
Warwickshire archers Naomi Folkard (Leamington) and Chris White (Rugby) will both be returning with bronze medals from the World Games held last week in Kaohsiung, Taipei. They were competing for Great Britain in the 8 man field archery team, Naomi shooting the recurve or Olympic bow, and Chris the compound.
The Games are held every four years for a wide variety of non-Olympic sports such as canoeing, squash, karate and rugby. They were first held in the USA in 1981. It was anticipated that this year’s event would be the biggest yet with approximately 4500 athletes from 99 nations. In field archery there were a limited number of places which were allocated on a quota system based on the results of the 2008 World Field Championships. This meant that only the world’s best field archers were competing in Taipei.
The archery competition was over 3 days, with a 24 target FITA round over unmarked distances on the first day, a 24 target FITA round over marked distances on the second day and head to head matches for the top 4 archers in each discipline on the third day. The course set around the beautiful Chengcing Lake was designed to be challenging with ever changing shooting conditions – different sized targets at varying distances on varying terrain, including steep slopes and woodland. Just before shooting started torrential rain added to the difficulty of the course. Alan Wills, another GB team member and former silver medallist in the event said after the first day that it was very hard. “This is the heaviest rain I have shot in. I have never been so wet.”
Folkard finished Day 1 in third place with 343 points, behind Jessica Tomasi (Italy) the reigning world champion 356 and Carole Ferriou (France) World Games winner of 2001, 347. Lisa Unruh (Germany) 2008 World Championship bronze medallist, finished in fourth place, also on 343 but with fewer golds than Folkard. On Day 2 Folkard shot superbly amassing 349 points for the marked course. Tomasi shot 338 and Ferriou and Unruh were well behind on 319 and 314 respectively. This brought the two day totals to 694 for Tomasi, 691 for Folkard, 666 for Ferriou and 657 for Unruh. These were the top four qualifiers going through into the semi final head to head matches. Despite a miss at the first target by Ferriou when Folkard went into an early lead, she was unable to capitalise on this when Ferriou came back strongly to win 51 to 48. This left Folkard fighting for the bronze medal against the other losing semi-finalist, Unruh. Both archers were neck and neck, 28 to 27 to Unruh at the half way point. In the next end the German increased her lead 42 to 38. However, in the final end Folkard shot 6-3-4 to Unruh’s 3-2-3 which brought her victory and clinched the bronze medal by one point, 51 to 50. Ferriou meanwhile beat Tomasi for gold.
White showed his class convincingly throughout the men’s compound competition and was unlucky to gain only the bronze medal. Competition was strong, but White finished first on both the unmarked and marked courses. With 413 for the unmarked he was ahead of Kevin Wilkey (USA) 412, Marko Jaervenpaeae (Finland) 411, Alessandro Lodetti (Italy) 407 and Sander Dolderman (Netherlands) 407. He again led the field on the marked course with 405. Rod Menzer (USA) was second with 404, Dolderman was third also with 404, Lodetti fourth with 402 and Wilkey fifth with 398. White was therefore well ahead on total qualifying score with 818. Dolderman came in second on 811, Wilkey third on 810 and Lodetti fourth on 809. White met Wilkey in the semi final but lost by 63 to 60. In his bronze medal match against Dolderman, White started well with 6-6-5 and 6-6-5, but Dolderman did even better with 6-6-5 and 6-6-6 to lead 35 to 34. However, the Dutchman had trouble with the third target and his 5-4-4 to White’s 5-5-5 left him trailing 49 to 48. Dolderman pulled back a point at the last target so that they tied on 64 points, which left them to do a single arrow shoot off. They both shot a 6 and therefore had to shoot again and this time White shot a five, but Dolderman could only make four, so conceding the bronze medal to White. Gold went to Wilkey who had won his semi final match against Dolderman on a tie-break.
The other Warwickshire archer in Taipei was Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers). He put in a good performance and finished 8th in the men’s recurve event with 698.
Folkard who will be travelling direct to Shanghai for a target archery World Cup event said that although she was disappointed not to win gold she was pleased with the result. “I had surgery for a longstanding shoulder injury last December and I am still shooting a bow below my normal draw weight. My primary objective is to win a medal in the London Olympics and this is certainly a step in the right direction.”
Win at Bradford increases Folkard's lead in National Series
Jenny Jeppsson, Naomi Folkard and
Alison Williamson at a recent shoot
A win last weekend at the Bradford world record status double FITA Star tournament puts Leamington’s Naomi Folkard at the top of the table in the new National Series event, and gives her an excellent chance of a place in the Grand Final at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in October.
The two day competition at Bradford involved shooting the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds (3 dozen at each of 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the women). Folkard proved that she is back to her best form following shoulder surgery. She followed a superb 1320 in breezy conditions on Saturday, with 1287 in Sunday’s more difficult winds, to finish first in the ladies’ recurve competition on 2607. Fellow GB internationals Charlotte Burgess and Amy Oliver were second and third respectively with 2540 and 2520.
In the National Series archers must shoot 3 of 5 specified tournaments to compete, and are awarded points according to their finishing positions, down to 16th place. The third event at Bradford put Folkard at the top of the overall standings on 85 points, 30 points clear of fellow Olympian Alison Williamson, who although she did not compete in Bradford, still lies in second place. The top four archers in each section after the five events will go through to the Grand Final.
Other Warwickshire archers doing well in the National Series are compound Chris White (Rugby) and recurve Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers). At Bradford Chris snatched a dramatic late victory from Welsh teenager Tapani Kalmaru, with James Forbes taking third place to bring his National Series tally to 71 points and maintain top spot. However, White’s victory brought him up into second place with 60 points. Shales, who did not shoot in Bradford, has dropped back from fifth place to sixth.
Folkard, White and Shales are all currently in Macau, part of the 8 man GB team preparing to shoot in the field archery competition in the World Games in Taiwan next week.
Good Performances by Warwickshire Juniors at Nationals
Henry Scott receiving his bronze medal
from John Wilson of the GNAS
Juniors from the Leamington, Meriden and Sutton Coldfield clubs last weekend shot at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire, in an annual event comprising a junior FITA Star tournament on Saturday with all of the 12 dozen arrow FITA and metric rounds, and the Junior National Championships on Sunday with the 12 dozen arrow York, Hereford and Bristol rounds. Youngsters could shoot distances appropriate for their age.
On Saturday the best performance by a Warwickshire youngster came from 13 year old Henry Scott (Leamington). Shooting the Metric 3 round for under 14 boys he scored an excellent 1247 to win bronze. Michael Brian-Harris (Paignton) was 1st with1313 and Frankie Keenan (Links, Scotland) was 2nd with 1265. Henry’s score was a pb and a new club and county record. Jacob Vick (Meriden) was not far behind with 1243, which gained him fifth place. Both Henry and Jacob made the West Midlands boys recurve team which won the regional competition with a score of 5017, ahead of Grand Western 4944 and East Midlands 4889. The other members of the team were Paul Beardmore (Stafford) 1271 and Jason Relf (Malvern) 1256.
Also shooting on Saturday were Jack Brookes (Sutton Coldfield), 11th in the boys recurve Metric 2, Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) 11th in the girls recurve Metric 3, and Michael McCarthy 11th in the boys recurve Metric 4.
In the Championships on Sunday both Henry and Jacob, shooting the Bristol 3, again performed well. Michael Bryan-Harris was the clear winner with 1236, and Robert Gray (Welbeck) was second with 1188. There was a close battle for bronze, which in the end went to Jacob with 1170. Frankie Keenan was 4th with 1186 and Henry 5th with 11 64. Both Jacob and Henry again made the West Midlands mixed recurve team, together with Rebecca Martin (Trent Valley) 1216 and Lora Ankers (Chase Archers) 1200. The team with a combined score of 4750 had to settle for silver, finishing behind Southern Counties who amassed 4798 points.
8 year old Isobel Roberts (Leamington) put in an excellent performance to win the under 9 girls recurve Bristol 5 with 1164. She shot a six-gold end at her furthest distance, and raised her pb by 18 points. Her sister, 13 year old Bethany, shot the under 16 girls Bristol 3 and achieved a very creditable 1132 (a pb by 38 points) to finish 9th.
Other Warwickshire youngsters shooting were Jack Brookes (Sutton Coldfield) 15th with 1106 for the Bristol 2, Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) 17th with 997 for the Bristol 3, Jamie Warner (Meriden) 28th with 1002 for the Bristol 2 and Michael McCarthy (Leamington) 16th with 337 for the Bristol 4. Jack, together with Jacob Vick, Henry Scott and Bethany Roberts made up the mixed Warwickshire team which with a combined total of 4572 points took third place in the inter county event. Staffordshire was 1st with 4680 and Essex and East Suffolk 2nd with 4648.
All in all it was a successful weekend for Warwickshire juniors!
Another Good Performance for Folkard
Leamington’s Olympic archer Naomi Folkard had a break from the more serious competitive archery last weekend when she attended the prestigious competition, organised by the Royal Toxopholite Society, for the prizes given by the Worshipful Company of Bowyers at the Society’s shooting ground, Archers Lodge in Buckinghamshire. Attendance at this historic annual event (this was the 99th competition) is by invitation. Archers, including GB and England internationals were invited to join with RTS members to have a relaxed and enjoyable day’s shooting in very pleasant surroundings.
Archers shot the traditional 12 dozen arrow rounds – the York for the men and the Hereford for the ladies. – with 6 dozen arrows at the longest distances (100 yds and 80 yds respectively). Folkard, who is preparing for the World Games in Taipei later this month (field archery) and the World Target Championships in Shanghai in September shot well, showing that she making a good recovery from the shoulder surgery which kept her out of competition earlier this year. She won the ladies’ recurve award. Her score of 1224 for the 144 arrows included 109 golds. Former GB international Gill Newland was second with 1158. Folkard’s mum Kathy Folkard was happy to finish 6th with 1018.
Andy and Julie Rikunenko who shoot for Redditch, but are also members of Leamington, were competing. Andy, another GB international, won the men’s compound competition with 1264, and Julie was 5th compound lady with 1134.
Wins for Folkard & White in Second Round of National Series
Warwickshire was well represented last weekend at the Grand National Archery Society’s Summer Tournament at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre. The event which comprised a FITA 70 round of 6 dozen arrows at 70m followed by a ‘fun’ team event on the Saturday, and a 12 dozen arrow FITA round on Sunday, was also the second of five rounds of the new National Series, which will conclude with a grand final in October when some valuable prizes will be at stake.
In the Saturday event Leamington’s two times Olympian Naomi Folkard finished in first place with 635, ahead of Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh University Alumni) 627 and five times Olympian Alison Williamson (Long Mynd) 619. On Sunday, Folkard again headed the recurve ladies with 1305 for the FITA round (3 dozen arrows at each of 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres). Williamson was a close second with 1302 and Jeppsson third with 1286. Folkard, still not fully recovered from a shoulder operation last December, was pleased with her performance: “I have recently been able to make another step up in the draw weight of my bow and my scores are continuing to improve”. In the inaugural leg of the National Series held last month at Evesham she took second place to Williamson, losing out in a final 12 arrow head to head match. However, the weekend’s result means that Folkard and Williamson now share the lead in the overall standings.
Rugby’s compound archer Chris White also had an excellent weekend. 705 for the FITA 70 gave him second place behind Duncan Busby (Blackthorn) 708 and ahead of Liam Grimwood (Blackthorn) 704. However, in the gents FITA round he scored 1398 to take first place, ahead of Busby 1390 and Grimwood 1389. Unfortunately White gained no points from the first leg of the National Series.
Other Warwickshire archers putting in good performances over the weekend were:
Recurve Men – Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers) 643 (5th) and 1300 (4th): Craig Bowley (Meriden) 634 (7th); and Lee Williams (Meriden) 622 (9th) and 1238 (9th)
Recurve Ladies – Philippa Lowe (Meriden) 596 (7th) and 1182 (11th)
Compound Men – John Robbins (Meriden) 692 (8th) and 1380 (7th)
Folkard Selected for World Championships
Archery GB last week announced the team for this year’s FITA World Championships, to take place in Korea at the beginning of September. The team, determined after 4 days of selection shoots, will comprise the same six archers, including Folkard, who represented Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics. They will also be going to the fourth and final leg of the FITA World Cup tournament in Shanghai in August.
Folkard will be travelling to Shanghai direct from the World Games in Taiwan where she will be competing in the GB field archery team in July.
Leamington Archers Dominant at Stratford
Leamington archers turned out in force for the annual Whitbread Western tournament organised by Stratford Archery Club, and they returned with an impressive number of medals. The round was the Western of four dozen arrows at each of 60 and 50 yards. The gents recurve event was closely fought by Leamington archers Chris Earp and James Scott. Earp finished first with 798 points out of a possible 964, and Scott, was a very close second with 794. Other Spa club mates in the same class were Denis Folkard, 748, Paul Roberts 747, Phil King 746, Pete Hunnisett 714 and newcomer Simon Lapworth 596.
The ladies recurve event was won by Leah Innocent (Coventry) 772.
In the compound bow class, another newcomer to the Leamington club, Simon Stone, shooting his first tournament, was first with 836 points. Also shooting compound was Dawn Leide who was second lady with 814. Meriden’s Janette Ross won the ladies event with 828.
Leamington juniors also had a good day. Thirteen year old Bethany Roberts was first recurve girl shooting the adult distances with 627. Shooting the shorter junior distances were Henry Scott, first boy with 808, Ben Thompson, second with 689, and Annabel Thompson first girl with 768. Eight year old Isobel Roberts, the club’s youngest member, also shot scoring 630.
Silver for Warwick at University Championships
Warwick University archers put in some excellent performances at the British Universities and Colleges Sport Championships last weekend at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire to take silver in the team event.
Experienced archers shot the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds, with 3 dozen at each of 4 distances (90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for the ladies), while the novice archers shot shorter distances. With students from all parts of Britain participating, it was a very enjoyable social event, but competition was nevertheless keen. Conditions were good, facilitating some good scores.
The men’s recurve event was won by George Harding (Nottingham) 1237. Second was Jamie Adams (London) 1218, and third was Craig Bowley (BCU) 1201. Chris Wells (Warwick) with 1197 was hard on their heels to finish in fourth place, and Colin Geenes (Coventry) was fifth with 1164. Other good performances by local students came from Chris Butler (Warwick) with 1131 and Steven Johnson (Birmingham) 1120.
The ladies’ recurve competition was dominated by Edinburgh, with Jenny Jeppson and Kyshiea Steele taking the top places with 1268 and 1153 respectively. The best performance form a local girl came from Julie Chenery (Warwick) 1081.
In the team event Edinburgh as usual dominated, taking first place with 4650 points, a substantial lead over the opposition. Warwick, however, came in second with 4462, well ahead of Southampton who were third with 4103. The Warwick team comprised Chris Wells (1197), Chris Butler (1131), Julie Chenery (1081) and Alex Stuart (1053).
In the Novice events, recurve Andrew Shreeves (Warwick) put in a particularly good performance to take second place with 1068, behind Chris Fry (Nottingham) 1107.
The event was very well organised by Warwick University, supported by a large group of archery friends and former students.
Convincing Win for Warwickshire
The annual match between Warwickshire and Leicestershire was held last weekend at Leamington as part of the 158th Leamington and Midland Counties Meeting. It was a successful day for the senior and junior teams, both of which won by large margins, despite the absence of a number of their best archers.
Archers shot the traditional 12 dozen arrow British rounds, the York (100, 80 and 60 yds) for the men, the Hereford (80, 60 and 50 yds) for the ladies and Bristol rounds with distances according to age group for the juniors. These are somewhat testing rounds, with 6 dozen arrows at the longest distance, 4 dozen at the second distance and just 2 dozen at the shortest distance. The very hot, but breezy conditions made shooting quite difficult and kept scores down.
The Warwickshire teams went into an early lead, which they increased throughout the day. The seniors finished with a final score of 15007 to Leicestershire's 13959, and the juniors won by 5447 to 5127.
Making the senior team were:
- Ladies Recurve - Philippa Lowe (Meriden) 1108; Karen Atkins (Bowflights, Birmingham) 1028 and Kathy Folkard (Leamington) 962
- Gents Recurve - Lee Williams (Meriden) 1037; Dean Holmes (Meriden) 1018; Colin Geenes (Leamington and Meriden) 974; Tom Kemp (Leamington) 967; Stan Ross (Meriden) 961 and Brian Tustin (Leamington) 959
- Ladies Compound - Janette Ross (Meriden) 1230 and Carolyn Busk (Meriden) 1014
- Gents Compound - Paul Taylor (Meriden) 1199; Brett Walker (Meriden) 1190; John Robbins (Meriden) 1188; and Clive Jeacock (Meriden) 1186
Also selected to shoot for Warwickshire, but not making the team were Wendy Baird (Meriden) 954; Natalie Gee (Leamington) 908; Margaret Nixon (Meriden) 815; Stuart Wood-Edens (Meriden) 943; Bob Lowe (Meriden) 921; Peter Raynor (Meriden) 1174 and Jon Nixon (Meriden) 1066.
Making the junior team were: (all recurves) Jacob Vick (Meriden) 1162; Isabel Roberts (Leamington) 1142; Bethany Roberts (Leamington) 1094; Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) 1055 and Jack Brookes (Sutton Coldfield) 994.
Annabel Thompson (Leamington), Amy Walton (Bowflights, Birmingham), Michael McCarthy (Leamington), Steven Chetwynd (Meriden) and Jamie Warner (Meriden) were also selected to shoot for Warwickshire but did not make the team.
The next county match will be a three way match against Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in August.
Folkard, White & Shales win British Field Champs
Leamington's Olympic recurve archer Naomi Folkard, Rugby's compound Chris White and 'V' Archers Jon Shales last weekend won their respective sections of the All British Field Championships, held at Rotherfield in East Sussex. The testing two day event involved the 24 target FITA rounds with unmarked distances on the first day and marked distances on the second.
Folkard, recovering from shoulder surgery and still limited to shooting a relatively lightweight 30 lb bow, led the field both days. She scored 335 for the first day, following it with 336, to give a combined total of 671. This earned her first place for the second year running. Silver in the section went to Caroline Jobson (Mossley Hill), who was some way behind on 602. Bronze went to Hilda Gibson (New Century Bowmen) 577.
White shot an excellent 419 on day 1 to set up a useful early lead, and 403 on Day 2 extended this to give him first place with a total score of 822. In second place was Tapani Kalmaru (Carmarthen) with 807, and third Neil Wakelin (Grampian Suffolk) 804.
Shales also set up a significant lead on Day 1 with a score of 372. His Day 2 score, 333, was the second highest of his section, but his combined score of 705 was sufficient to comfortably give him the championship. Jamie Adams (Clophill) was second on 680 and Tom Duncan (Birstall) was third on 670.
All three Warwickshire archers have earned places in the GB 10 man field archery team going to the World Games in Taipei in July.
Warwickshire Archers Make Good Showing at Meriden
On Bank Holiday Monday (25 May) the Meriden club hosted the World Record Status Stephanie Hall Memorial FITA Star tournament. It was attended by many of the country’s best archers, including top internationals. Weather conditions were good and some excellent scores were achieved for the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds (3 dozen at each of 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres for the men, and 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres for he ladies).
Warwickshire internationals Naomi Folkard and Chris White won the ladies’ recurve and the gents’ compound sections respectively, while other local archers also put up good performances.
In the ladies recurve event Naomi Folkard (Leamington), with a slightly disappointing score of 339 for 30m, finished on 1293, ahead of Philippa Lowe (Meriden) 1253 and former Warwickshire archer Joann Lunt (Saints and Sinners) 1215. Karen Atkins (Bowflights, Birmingham) improving quickly put in a good personal performance to finish on 1168, giving her 7th place. Folkard won the first 3 distance awards, but Lowe took the 30m award with 341.
In the men’s compound event Chris White had a closer battle. He had a superb score of 1408, but was closely followed by Andy Rikunenko (Redditch) 1405 and Duncan Busby (Blackthorne) 1403. John Robbins (Meriden), not far behind, finished on 1392, and Gary Fowler (Meriden) was 9th with 1363. White took the 90m distance award.
Other Warwickshire archers doing particularly well were Janette Ross (Meriden) who finished in fifth place in the ladies’ compound section with 1308; Lee Williams (Meriden) fifth in the men’s compound with 1252 and junior Jacob Vick (Meriden) who shot 1012 for the Metric 1 / ladies’ FITA round.
Leamington Youngster making mark on National Scene
Henry Scott practicing
Leamington youngster, 12 year old Henry Scott, has recently been making his mark on the national junior scene. Following an excellent indoor season in which he won the Junior National Championship for his age group, Henry has started the outdoor season with two significant successes.
For his first open shoot of the outdoor season, Henry travelled up to Warrington for their World Record Status Junior FITA Star. Conditions were good, warm and sunny for most of the day with a slight breeze. Shooting recurve in the U14 Junior Gents category, Henry shot the Metric 3 round of 12 dozen arrows (3 dozen at each of 50, 40, 30 and 20m). He led from the first end, eventually winning the event quite comfortably with a score of 1211, which set a new County and Club record.
Maintaining this top form last week, Henry competed in Kettering Archers’ Record Status FITA, again shooting the Metric 3 round for under 14 gents. The ‘blustery’ conditions were challenging and with stiff competition only 10 points separated the top 3 boys after 50m. Nevertheless Henry shot thoughtfully and used the available time well to pick the best shooting conditions, which meant that he was usually left last on the line. However, showing considerable maturity, he withstood the pressure and stretched his lead to 30 points after the 40m distance. He maintained this lead over 30m and 20m to win with a superb score of 1239, beating his own County and Club records set the previous week at Warrington. Another Warwickshire youngster, Jacob Vick (Meriden) took 2nd place with 1207, and Jon Bull (Targetcraft) was 3rd with 1195.
Henry, who took up archery at the age of 8, is one of a number of promising juniors in the Leamington club who hope to follow in the footsteps of clubmate Naomi Folkard.
Warwickshire Archers selected for World Games
Three Warwickshire archers have been selected for the field archery team to represent Great Britain at the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in July: Naomi Folkard (Leamington); Chris White (Rugby) and Jon Shales (‘V’ Archers).
The World Games involves 32 non-Olympic sports as varied as canoeing, squash, karate, rugby and field archery. The Games were first held in the USA in 1981. It is anticipated that this year’s event, the eighth, will be the biggest yet, involving 4500 athletes and 99 nations.
Selection for the GB field archery team was based on a total of 3 best scores, with a maximum of one carried over from the second part of 2008 and including one designated ‘difficult’ course. Competition has been keen for the team which comprises 2 recurves, 2 compounds and 1 barebow for both ladies and gents, but the three Warwickshire archers earned their places convincingly..
Both White (compound) and Folkard (recurve) have won all their qualifying events. Because of a shoulder injury which has kept her out of competition for 3 months and from which she is still recovering, Folkard has done well to qualify. She is steadily increasing the draw weight of her bow. Although it is still well below the weight she used in the Beijing Olympics, because the maximum distance to be shot in field archery is less, she is well able to compete.
It is a strong field team going to Taiwan, and all three of the Warwickshire archers have earned medals at World Field Championships in the past: White winning gold in 2004 and silver in 2002: Shales gold in 1998 and bronze in 2000 and Folkard bronze in 2006.
| Full Team - | Recurve ladies: | Naomi Folkard (Royal Leamington Spa) and Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) |
| Compound ladies: | Tracey Anderson (Carmarthen) and Christie Westman (Birstall) | |
| Barebow lady: | Victoria Kalmaru (Carmarthen) | |
| Recurve men: | Alan Wills (Sellafield) and Jonathan Shales (‘V’ Archers) | |
| Compound men: | Chris White (Rugby) and Neil Wakelin (Grampian Suffolk) | |
| Barebow man: | Robert Mallon (Pentref) |
Scores at County Trials Auger Well for Coming Season
Warwickshire archers made a good start to the season yesterday with the county’s pre-season FITA competition at Meriden Archery Club. There was a good turnout to shoot the 12 dozen arrow FITA rounds over 4 distances, and in excellent conditions there were some good scores. Six clubs were represented: Bowflights (Birmingham), Leamington, Meriden, Solihull, Stratford and Sutton Coldfield. Unfortunately some of the county’s top archers were unavailable.
Philippa Lowe (Meriden) led the way in the ladies’ recurve competition. With 1217, she was well ahead of Helen Markland (Meriden) 1121, and Wendy Baird (Meriden) 1115. Newcomer Karen Atkins (Bowflights) with 1086 showed considerable promise.
In the men’s recurve competition Lee Williams (Meriden) put in a good 1213. Brian Tustin (Leamington), in second place with 1187 just missed out on a master bowman score. Craig Bowley (Meriden) was third with 1175. James Folkard (Leamington), a former junior national squad member, picking up his recurve bow after a substantial break from serious competition, was fourth with a creditable 1162. Newcomer Chris Earp (Leamington), who only completed a beginners’ course in September, produced a very good 1047 to finish 11th.
John Robbins (Meriden) was well ahead in the men’s compound section with an excellent 1381. Clubmates Garry Fowler, Brett Walker and Paul Taylor followed him with 1351, 1350 and 1344 respectively. There was little competition in the ladies’ compound section, but Janette Ross (Meriden) was easy winner with a good 1306.
There was also a men’s longbow event, which was won by Mark Alley (Solihull) 367, followed very closely by Stuart Tongue (Solihull) 364.
A number of juniors shot the appropriate metric round for their age. The highest scoring boy was 12 year old Henry Scott (Leamington) 1141. Steve Chetwynd (Meriden) was second with 1090. Thirteen year old Caitlin McCarthy (Leamington) topped the girls’ ranks with 1112 and Amy Walton (Bowflights) was second with 966.
The first county match of the year will be on 17th May against Cheshire and Lancashire.
Folkard Returns to Competition after Shoulder Op
Leamington’s two time Olympic archer, Naomi Folkard, after surgery on her shoulder at the end of 2008, last weekend started to ease her way back into competitive archery. She made her mark by breaking two national records.
Folkard unable to shoot for 3 months, following surgery to rectify a long standing shoulder injury, is now shooting a very lightweight bow (26 lbs drawweight compared to the 40/42lbs drawweight she normally has in international competition). She returned to competition last weekend in Essex, at the Panther Bowhunters’ 2 day Field Archery tournament of FITA mixed rounds. Shooting just 6 dozen arrows each day, over a maximum distance of just 60 metres was well suited to Folkard’s current position.
The competition each day on a heavily wooded course, involved shooting 3 arrows at 24 targets, twelve at unmarked distances and twelve at marked. In the circumstances, which included using hastily borrowed equipment, Folkard put in an amazingly good performance. On day 1 she shot 360 adding 19 points to the existing national record. Although she could only manage 336 on the second day, it gave her a total score for the combined rounds of 696, breaking the existing national record of 678. This gave her first place in the competition, ahead of Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) second on 621 and Jackie Wilkinson (Maryport) third on 607. Folkard also beat all the recurve men shooting last weekend, including a number of top internationals, and this now puts her in a good position for selection for the European Field Championships later this year.
Also shooting last weekend was top Warwickshire compound archer, Chris White (Rugby). He likewise showed his quality by finishing top of his class. 415 on Day 1 and 412 on day 2 gave him a combined total of 827, just short of the national record, currently standing at 829. Tom Duncan (Birstall) was second with 680 and Pete Frost (Birstall) third with 674.
Warwick University Silver at BUSA Indoor
The Warwick University team, with some very talented young archers shot its way to the silver medal in the British Universities and Colleges Sport Indoor Archery Championships last weekend. The event, held at Loughborough University, which attracted students from all over the British Isles, involved the Portsmouth round.
The Warwick University recurve team comprised Chris Wells (578), Phil King (570), Alex Stuart (569) and Matt Dale (560). Both Phil and Alex shoot regularly at the Leamington club, where they are members. The Warwick team, with a combined total of 2277 points was on hard on the heels of Edinburgh University who took gold with 2292. Oxford was third with 2230.
