The Worcester round of February 12th produced a lot of excitement for one of the oldest club members and one of the youngest but went unreported due to the illness of the Records Officer. The Worcester is an unusual round in that it is shot on a black and white target with scoring zones from 5 down to 1. Arrows are shot in groups of five instead of the usual three for indoors, and the maximum score is 300.

Dave and Rhys Moore and Pete Mumford were the only competitors in the Gents Compound division and all three shot up a storm.

Dave and Rhys ended up tied on 297 having dropped only three points each. Dave was hampered somewhat by the sun suddenly coming out and shining full into his face; Rhys offered no excuse. But the day belonged to septuagenarian Pete Mumford who recorded a perfect round of 300, a feat he had managed only once before in January 1999. Even Charlotte Harris’ comment that the first time Pete had shot a maximum had occurred three months before she was born, could not take the shine off his achievement or the grin off his face.

Carl Moon made a welcome return to the Gents Recurve after a four year break from archery. He put in a solid round but had to be content with fourth place. Danny Cowin took the win ahead of Tony Hartley, with Matt Elliott in third. Colin Moore elected to shoot the round Barebow and recorded another solid score.

The largest field of the day came in the Junior Gents Recurve with seven archers vying for the honours. Jacob Brookes was a little erratic, failing to find the target five time but managed to secure third place, with Joseph Reaney, who also had a couple of misses, in second. The winner, adding a terrific 20 points to his pb, was Toby Young. Toby outshot his nearest rival by 49 points, and equalled the winning score of Danny Cowin in the Gents Recurve. In fact the 14 year old Toby would have beaten Danny by virtue of number of golds hit, had he been competing against the senior archer.

Results – Worcester: Gents Compound – 1. P.Mumford 60/300/60, =2. D. and R. Moore 60/297/57. Ladies Compound – J.Gough 59/285/49. Gents Recurve – 1. D.Cowin 60/275/37, 2. T.Hartley 60/263/27, 3. M.Elliot 60/254/24, 4. C.Moon 60/237/16, 5. D.Smith 51/126/3. Gents Barebow – C.Moore 59/227/15. Junior Gents – 1. T.Young 60/275/38pb, 2. J.Reaney 58/226/15, 3. J.Brookes 55/178/10, 4. J.Hill 54/163/6, 5. A.Pannell-Cottier 52/163/5, 6. N.Kinrade  56/150/2, B.Hill 27/54/0pb. Junior Ladies – T.Ashton 57/173/7.

Last weekend the archers took a break from competition and utilized the expertise of the English Coaches Clive and Tony. Their annual visit is eagerly anticipated and their skill at ironing out problems with form and fettling of bows is invaluable. It was good to see so many club members taking advantage of this opportunity.

Also Congratulations to Lesley Sleight who won the IFAA English Indoor Archery Championships at the weekend and who was also award the Trophy for highest scoring lady using wooden arrows.