Another great day at the county championships and the progress many of our archers are making was no better demonstrated than in the Compound Sections. With James away at the European Indoor Championships where he lost out in the Bronze Medal matches in individual and team finals and Lucy still recovering from her recent operation, 5 of our ladies recorded more than 552 we certainly took the 3 medal positions and may well have got the top 5 positions!
GL1 – Great venue, great organisation!
Remembering this is a senior event (adult category only) and that the ages of our archers ranged from 12 to 19 bodes well for the future! Ella Gibson become County Champion and in the process broke Steph Gills Junior Double County Record that had stood since 2005 by 50 points with two scores of 573. This impressive display was almost matches as she was just a couple of points ahead of Amelia Williams, and Holly Clifford who was just a few points further back.
A few of our archers that competed in the County Indoor Championships.
Another great performance by Chloe A’Bear with 552, aged just 12, who is just starting to adapt to her new bow and getting better by the week!
Grace Chappell was our other score over 552 and earlier this week Grace had formal notification that she has been selected to join the Archery GB Paralympic Academy!
Another of our juniors, Josh Uzzell (16), finished 3rd in the Senior Men’s Compound with 570 and that will give him great confidence as we approach the outdoor season.
We were well represented at the county championships.
We won both the longbow categories with David Ponton recording the best score for many years in the County Championships with a score of 454 which was a pain for our own John Craigie who finished second with 437 which would have won it many times in the past. Lynn Benfield took the ladies title with 356 some 58 points behind her personal best.
John Dalton won the Gents Barebow scoring 549 and missing out on the county record by just one point! He did however break his own Double Portsmouth county record by some 30 points.
Our thanks go to Edward Kain and his team for organising the event.
David Ponton with the Longbow trophy presented to him by Mavis Reynolds.
James Howse so close to double European Bronze in Vittel France.
As reported above James Howse narrowly missed out on medalling both in the individual and team events.
After a disappointing qualification round by James’s high standards qualifying in 22nd place he quickly set about putting the records straight. He disposed of number 11 seed Simon Olson from Denmark 147-144 and then the number 6 seed Jesse Sut from Italy 144-143. Then beat the number 3 seed Stefan Heincz from Austria 144-141 putting him against the odds into the semi-final. Unfortunately that opponent who had also stormed through the rounds, Nicolas Girad from France was too strong on the day. James lost to Gokse Altintas from Turkey in the Bronze Medal Match on Sunday but should certainly be pleased with his overall performance.
James in qualification
Hosting an Archery GB Coaching Plan Consultation event
Last weekend we hosted an Archery GB coaching consultation event led by David Tillotson- Performance Director and supported by Michael Peart – Paralympic Head Coach and Lloyd Brown- Olympic Coach. The event was aimed at gaining inputs and views on the plan to develop a British approach to coaching, tactics for implementation and explore some current practical approaches.
The consultation involves a number of events across the UK with a good representation of senior coaches. As hosts we were fortunate enough to have 4 coaches present and all found it very informative and are very excited by the plan. We look forward to working with Archery GB on its implementation.
As a club we have 31 coaches, all at differing levels of experience and development, just attending this session highlights how much we have to learn and there is no doubt that an approach like this will be a real boost for our sport.
