14th July - Senior Euronations - Belfast 2008

5-6 July 2008

Team Managers Report.

This year the Selection Committee sent a team of 15 Archers to represent Scotland at the Senior Euronations weekend competitions which was to be hosted by Northern Ireland Archery Society at the Greenmount Agricultural College, a venue just outside Belfast,

The designated practise field was available to all teams during the Friday afternoon.  It gives the competitors a change to shoot some arrows, check the bows and equipment after being dealt with by aircraft baggage handlers, meet old and new friends and generally get into competition mode.  The sun was splitting the sky and it relatively calm. Was this weather to lull the teams into a false sense of security - most definitely yes!

The Euronations event, a FITA round, takes place on the first day of competition.  Saturday dawned with a strong gusty cross wind and during the day some occasional showers just for good measure.  Despite the less than ideal, challenging shooting conditions all the Scottish team members gave their best efforts with good individual performances from Andy Ward and Simon Needham, both of whom won their individual disciplines. Andy’s performance together with the other members of the Gents Compound team ensured that Scotland’s Gents Compound team won their team trophy and then together with the Scottish Ladies also took home the combined team compound trophy.

The second day of the Euronations weekend consists of individual 720 round followed by a head to head tournament.  At the conclusion of the 720 round Simon topped the recurve gents discipline with Andy Ward sitting in third place in the gents compound. In the head to head competition, Scotland faired extremely well with Simon, Andy and Lorna Provan taking top honours. Susan Maitland just missed bronze by one point.  Again the weather impacted on the scores and performances as it was yet another challenging shooting day.  As ever the Scottish archers selected to take part in the tournament put in yet another solid, sterling performance.

Photos from left to right - Andy Ward receiving his first place medal from the Councillor for County Antrim; The Compound Gents Team of Billie Finnie, Tim Keppie, Andrew Ward and Andrew O'Connor receiving their team trophy and medals; Lorna Provan receiving her first place Head to Head medal from Lynne Evan Chair of GNAS Board of Director and Lady Patron for the weekend.

7th July - Edinburgh to host 2010 World Cup Finals

Edinburgh has been chosen as the host for the Archery World Cup Finals in 2010.

The event, which will see the best archers in the world competing for the biggest prize money in the sport, can be broadcast to up to 250 million viewers via TV and internet and offers a great opportunity to showcase both the city of Edinburgh and Scotland.

The Archery World Cup consists of four group stages held in venues around the world. This year's World Cup Final will be held in September in the Olympic capital, Lausanne, Switzerland, following qualifying events in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Porec (Croatia), Antalya (Turkey) and Boe (France).. Full story from GNAS site.

24th June - Hannah and Fraser selected for Youth World Championship

Congratulation to Hannah Stuart from Links and Fraser Young from Eastcote. Both will be flying out to Turkey in October to shoot for Team GB in the Youth World Championships. Full story from GNAS site.

24th June - Euronations 2008 in Northern Ireland

This year the Euronations Tournament takes place from the the 4-6th July in Northern Ireland where it celebrates its 25th Aniversary, so we are all sure of some excellent hospitality from our Northern Irish hosts and the Northern Ireland Sports Minister will be visiting the event. Congratulations to those selected.

The teams are :-
Gents Recurve Simon Needham(Links), James Laing(Links), Malcolm Alexander(Grampian) and Alan Wood(Links),
Gents Compound Andrew Ward (EUAAC), Tim Keppie(EUAAC), Billie Finnie(Shetland), Andy O'Connor (EUAC)
Ladies Recurve Lorna Provan (Links), Tina James (Penicuik), Cherry Lyne (Neptune)
Ladies Compound Claudine Jennings (EUAAC), Elayne McLean (Penicuik), Susan Maitland (Penicuik), Muriel Kirkwood (Pentland)

24th June - Emma Olympic reserve

After an extensive series of shoot off events held at Lilleshall. Emma Downie of EUAAC made it to the final four of the Ladies Recurves and is now the reserve for the Olympic Team. Emma is currently competing along with the team members at the 4th Stage of the FITA World Cup in Bow in France.GNAS News and Archery World Cup.