Archery, medieval style.

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Tuesday 19th August 2008

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Companions Trophy Final

 

Forget the Olympics in Beijing, forget the start of the new football season, because where it was all happening last Saturday was at Roves Farm for the long awaited Companions of the Longbow Trophy Final.

 

A little reminder; this competition was set over twenty six weeks where our archers would compete for points that would enable them to qualify for the week twenty seven final.  After wrapping up the six month qualifying stage just before the Sherwood Forest shoot in July, we needed a clear weekend when enough of the finalists would be able to compete.  Members can see the score table and the rules for the competition in the Members Area under Companions Trophy.

 

There were eleven finalists Ade, Alina, Andy TB, Dave A, Ian, Jeff, Jenni, Mark, Nigel P and Richard.  Unfortunately Jeff, Nigel P and Ian could not attend the 16th August and time was running out.  Therefore regrettably the final had to go ahead with the seven remaining finalists; Ade, Alina, Andy TB, Dave A, Jenni, Mark, and Richard.

The 2007/08 Companions Trophy Final consisted of the following rounds:-

 

1st Round Target Shoot: Three rounds of six arrows at a standard FITA targets from a 30 paces shooting line.  The scores for the three rounds were totalled to find the overall leader.

 

2nd Round Flag Shoot: This was a distance shoot with weight of bow has been neutralised by shooting away from the flag with 3 arrows to determine the average distance from the flag for each archer.  At the average distance the archer then had to shoot 3 arrows and get nearest the flag to obtain the points.  One point was awarded for nearest arrow and seven points for furthest away, so lowest number of points won the round.

 

3rd Round Wolf Shoot: Classic Field archery shoot, 3 arrows are shot and scored over three rounds. For each arrow hitting the target additional points were awarded for outer and inner kill zones

 

4th Round Quintaine:  Typical Companions shoot at the quintaine with as many arrows as possible on the target faces whilst the quintaine was still moving.  This target was shot twice by each finalist.

 

5th Round Hog Shoot: This time the object of the exercise was to score as many hits as possible within a given time.  There were no limitations on the number of arrows that could be shot in the given time.

 

So how did we all do?

Well, all competing archers would receive a certificate and for the top four places there were medals.  Also for the top two places were the 1st and 2nd place trophies which would be held until the next final.  So, there was plenty to play for.

 

In the first round Mark scored the highest number of points and took the lead.  The second round, the Flag Shoot, saw the places spread more evenly spread (although I don’t have the name of the winner for the Flag Shoot I believe it was probably either Alina or Andy TB).  The third round, the Wolf Shoot, was convincingly won by Dave A, cheered on by the watching cows.

 

By the tea break the scores were read out it looked like Mark and Dave A were jostling for the top spot.  The last two rounds (unbeknown to any of the competitors) relied on a certain amount of speed shooting and speed shooting are what Dave A. is best at.  However in Mark’s favour was the fact that Dave was using an old bow because his faster bamboo backed bow was awaiting repair.

 

So round 4 and the quintaine shoot.  Here a certain amount of tactics were employed by Mark, perhaps unbeknown to the other competitors.  As this is being written in the 3rd person by Mark I only think it’s fair to come out of the shadows and divulge my method.

 

There were four archers allowed on the shooting line which meant that some archers who were not taking part in the competition were mixed in with those who were.  Of these I was fortunate enough to end up in a group that consisted of archers who drew higher bow weights than, for example Dave’s group.  How did this help?  Well the quintaine was spun and shooting was allowed right up until it stopped spinning.  Under normal circumstances this would be about three or four revolutions but by having some of the bigger bows slamming into the quintaine on the left hand side (because it was revolving clockwise if you were to view the range from the top) it meant the quintaine revolved a couple more turns than normal.  All I had to do was place myself on the right hand side of the shooting line and force the bigger bows to shoot on the left to keep it spinning.  Of course they could have shot across the quintaine at the target revolving into view (and would’ve slowed it down in doing so) but luck was on my side.  Shooting two arrows off the same string at the start also helped!  (So now you know my secret Andrew can divulge the scores that showed I was not the highest scoring archer for that round!)

 

By the fifth and final round no one know who was in the lead, but there was plenty of cursing during the Hog Shoot (or maybe that was just me).  After a brief interlude the scores were tallied up and the results announce as follows;

 

1st        Mark                47 pts

2nd        Dave                46 pts

3rd        Andy TB         40 pts

4th        Alina               37 pts

5th        Ade                 34 pts

6th        Richard           33 pts

7th        Jenni                31 pts 

 

So with just one point in it, congratulations me!  As I said on the day though there were plenty of shots (especially from new members) that were better than mine but did not count because they hadn’t qualified for the final.  So thanks to Andrew for running the competition and Jenni for getting all the goodies and good luck everyone in the 2008/09 Companions Trophy!

Roves Farm Have A Go This Weekend

 

It’s Robin Hood weekend at Roves Farm so we’re setting up a Have A Go range.  Setup on the Saturday will be 11am and finish will be around 4.30pm.  On the Sunday it’ll be a 12.00pm start and a 4.30pm finish.

 

Three things members need to know;

 

(1)   If you’re not taking part there will still be a shoot on the Saturday morning but because of the reduced numbers the Retinue League will be postponed until next week.

(2)   If you want to help out and have medieval kit it’d be nice if you can wear it (because it’s supposed to be Robin Hood).

        However …

(3)   If you haven’t got medieval kit or don’t want to wear it you don’t have to.  Companions logo stuff with jeans and the more the merrier.

 

Happy Birthday Ade

 

Happy birthday to Ade for this Friday 22nd August!

E-mail Login Change for Committee Members

 

Committee members who have e-mail addresses may have noticed that they’re direct login may not work.  The front end of the e-mail system has changed slightly and can now be accessed via http://webmail.companionsofthelongbow.co.uk/  Those who opted fro mail forwarders should be unaffected.

 

And Finally …

 

As always … got a suggestion or question for the club (or committee)?  Send it to suggestions@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk or send them direct to any of the committee members e-mail address (see Contact Us page for these).   There’s also a Suggestions Box in the first shed at the Roundel.  It’s tucked in on the right hand side of the door, is blue and is marked “Suggestions Box”.