Field archery returned to the district with the marked 24 target World Archery competition at Duram Park, Allansford over the weekend. Competition was fierce over the four divisions as the blustery conditions played havoc with both arrow and archer. Strong winds, gusting up to 40kmh, made sure that the course record was in no danger of being bested on the newly refurbished layout of the John Goodwin Field Course.
Club Captain Dave Reid won his division by the barest of margins from Connor Barbary and Alex Nesic, although all archers submitted scores that were considerably lower than expected.
2019 Recurve Shooter of the Year Paul Minifie continued on his winning way in the recurve division, confirming his place as one of the top recurve archers in the district.
President Mike Clark, shooting the new course layout for the first time, showed that he can still find the gold under any conditions with a convincing win in his division.
Jess Reid was the best of the ladies despite returning a scorecard well below her personal best. Reid, shooting a Quest Radical compound bow, said that the wind was “strong enough to blow the milk out of her coffee” after losing an arrow on the 16th target.
Chris Densley also had a day to forget. Densley, one the the most improved archers over the last eighteen months, made the switch from being a barebow recurve archer to shooting a brand new Mathews Tactic compound bow and lost four arrows on the very challenging course. He has vowed to do better when the club hosts it’s next field shoot on January 2 next year. Based on Densley’s improvement over the last year in particular, that course record may be in danger after all.