31 Jul 2024
The excitement of the competition calendar continued into July with a variety events taking place here in Scotland with SAA Northern Area Double FITA Star, Scottish Tour Stage 3 and Outdoor Championships hosted by Ayr Archery Club and events across the UK including ArcheryGB (AGB) National Tour Stages 3 and 4, AGB National Junior Outdoor Championships and Youth Festival 2024.
It was this event that took place in the opening weekend in July. Five members of the U21 Scottish Pathway Academy travelled down to Lilleshall National Sports Centre to compete This included Joshua Phillips (Links Archers), Kristin Ward (Ayr Archery Club), Olivia Kendal (The Ancient Society of Kilwinning Archers), Shay Boyd (Largs Juniors) and Zac Ibrahim (Derwent Bowmen). The weather was a big factor - huge downpours on both days and cold like a Scottish Summer (Saturday only got up to 14 degrees!). Impressive performances all round in particular Shay who took home two golds. Read the full round up here.
The following weekend on 13th & 14th July, the SAA Northern Area Double FITA Star took place. This competition is an interesting format with two identical FITA rounds shot sequentially over a variety of distances. Lots of close battles across all categories. Well done to the SAA Northern Area for hosting, Kirsty Jackson for organising, the judging team of John Sullivan, Mike Alexander & Andrew Graham as well as Lord Paramount Jules May. You can view the full results here.
On the same weekend, the ArcheryGB National Tour returned with Stage 3 taking place with six archers from Scotland in attendance – Steven Brison, Alastair Shields, Josephine Stewart, Natasha Homer, Shay Boyd and Callum Newlands. Well done to all the archers, particularly Steven of Dundee Archery Club who finished 6th in the Barebow Male category. There was also records being broken with Ella Gibson breaking her own WA 50m world record by three points with an astonishing score of 718 44X! You can read the full round up here.
Back in Scotland on 20th & 21st July, Ayr Archery Club hosted the Scottish Tour Stage 3 and Scottish Outdoor Championships. The events took place at The William J.M.Mowat Playing Fields, Doonside in Ayr. The playing fields were named after local William Mowat who played a significant role in the commercial, educational, sporting and spiritual life of the town. It was a mixed weekend of weather with rain showers throughout the weekend however this did not dampen the spirits of all those involved.
“These events are only made possible by the knowledge, hard work and dedication of our volunteers. A huge well done to Ayr Archery Club for hosting another excellent weekend of archery competition, especially Fiona Acamovic for her first as tournament organiser. Well done to all those who took part” Lyndsay Noon, Scottish Archery's CEO commented on the success of the event and paid thanks to the team who made it possible.
Thanks to the team at Ayr Archery Club for hosting, Judges and to the Volunteer Team across the weekend who made it all run smoothly and efficiently. Read the full round up here.
Meanwhile at this time, Stage 4 of the ArcheryGB National Tour in Barnsley took place with thirteen archers from Scotland competing. Paralympian and Balbardie Archer’s Nathan McQueen who recently been selected to go to 2024 Paris Paralympics took Bronze in the Men’s Compound category after a great performance. Edinburgh University A.C’s Natasha Homer maintained her impressive form from earlier tour stages previously clinching Bronze at the UK Masters went a step further and secured Silver in Stage 4. Natasha reflected on the whirlwind experience and the joy of her recent success:
‘‘Bronze at the UK Masters and a PB of 665 was an amazing way to start the tour, pending ratification that’s a new Scottish record too which was really cool! It’s been awesome knowing I’ve been able to keep up at that sort of pace throughout the tour since then, it’s been a huge learning curve but I’m really grateful for the support I’ve had around me for the whole thing. Barnsley was another good shift, and it was my first gold match at a national level so plenty to learn from that, but chuffed to have taken silver. Absolutely buzzing to be ranked first in the tour at the moment and in a really strong position for tour finals, I never dreamed either of those would be a possibility this season!’’
A well done to all the archers who competed at this stage. Full the full round up of this event, click here.
To round off a busy month, one the main flagship fixtures in the competition calendar for U21’s took place which was 2024 Youth Festival. Archery GB have hosted this annual four-day Youth Festival tournament at the Lilleshall National Sporting Centre since 2014. The goal of the event is to simulate the running of international junior events, much like at European Cups and European Championships. A congratulations to all the youngsters – you did us proud and thanks to the U21 Management Team for looking after the team.
You can check out the individual reports below from the U21 Management Team for each day of the festival:
Day 1 (Saturday 27th July):
AM - World and UK record status WA 720 qualifying round
PM - Individual Head to Heads
Day 2 (Sunday 28th July):
AM Mixed Team for all (teams put in tiers allowing for more matches)
Team Main Event
Late PM International Mixed Teams Matches
Day 3 (Monday 29th July)
Team Round Robin Day
Day 4 & Day 5 (Tuesday 30th July & Wednesday 31st July)
Mixed Team Finals and the Team Finals
Mixed Team Finals and the Team Finals
Coming into August & September, there are some more competitions taking place:
10th & 11th August -
AGB National Tour Stage 5 - British Target Champs
17th & 18th August – Bannockburn Bowmen Open Competition
17th & 18th August - 2024 Home Nations Cup Outdoors Team Event
24th & 25th August – Scottish Tour Stage 4
31st August - 2024 Perth & Kinross Disability Sport Archery Championships
7th & 8th September - AGB National Tour Finals - Wollaton Hall
14th & 15th September - Falkirk Company of Archers SRS Competitions
You can enter or find out more information on what competitions are coming up below as well as view any past results by visiting our Events Calendar on the website, by clicking here.