11 Aug 2025
Photo Credits: Malcolm Rees
A typical Lilleshall day greeted our young archers with the remnants of Storm Florin creating the ‘Lilleshall Swirl’ mixed with clouds and cool temperatures. Our small but competitive squad set about today’s qualifying 720 with good spirits having been led through the team warm-up by this season’s new captain, William Anderson.
The unpredictable winds made it a tough shoot for most competitors with our U21 recurve pair, Shay Boyd and Kristin Ward qualifying 4th and 8th respectively and booking their place in the top tier of Wednesday’s mixed teams. In U18 recurve, Zac Ibrahim put in a strong 564 to finish 7th, with new cap Liv Morledge and Sarah Macleod finishing 13th and 19th in a packed field. On the compound field, Cairn Boyd continued his progress by shooting a 546 to qualify 9th, with Olivia Kendal and Izzy Killin both nursing knee issues and finishing 9th and 10th respectively. Following a highly promising start, Mollie Joyce was forced to stop at end 3 with a shoulder injury and despite treatment was sadly unable to return to the competition. On the barebow targets, team captain William Anderson finished one point behind the top qualifier to take 2nd place, with Kaitlyn Mason an admirable 6th after shooting a 437.
As the weather progressively improved, the shooting moved onto Teams rounds, where our archers were paired with their peers based on qualifying scores. As is a tradition at Youth Festival, teams are named after children’s TV characters. At U21 recurve, Shay’s team Cuthbert were beaten 6-2 by team Dibble in the semi-finals, eventually finishing 4th behind team Barney McGrew. Kristin’s team George were also beaten in the semi’s 5-1 by team Timmy but rallied to beat team Richard 6-0 to take Bronze. U18 recurve saw Zac’s team Mr Slow beat Mr Silly 6-0, followed by a 5-3 win against Mr Bump and so will compete against Mr Tickle in Thursday’s Gold medal match. Sarah’s Miss Splendid beat Miss Chatterbox 6-0 in the 1/8th but fell 6-0 to Miss Curious in the quarters. Liv’s team Miss Magic had a bye to the quarters but succumbed 6-0 to Miss Scary.
On the compound field, Cairn’s team Beaker lost in the semis by a narrow margin to Pepe, and then narrowly to Waldorf in the Bronze final to finish 4th. Olivia and Izzy, both requiring an agent guided struggled through their injuries, but withdrew from the Bronze final to prioritize the Home Nations shoot later, handing team Fozzy a bye to the Bronze. In the Barebow, William’s team Rolly demolished Dizzy 6-0 and will face team Bob in Thursday’s gold medal match. Kaitlyn’s team Private fought hard in the semi’s, narrowly losing to team Kowalski 5-3, but rallied to overcome Rico 5-4 and take the Bronze medal.
Scotland medal count – Teams – 2 Gold/Silver, 2 Bronze
Home Nations Cup
As the sun finally broke through to offer us a pleasant, warm evening, our Scotland Youth team set out their stall against the best from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. With Wales short a compound shooter, Scot Izzy Killin joined their team for a temporary appearance.
U21 Recurve
Experienced pairing Kristin and Shay saw off the Northern Ireland pairing of Marjan Abdelfattah and Sienna Foster 6-2 in the semis to set up a gold final against the English pairing of Darragh Joyce and Abigail Speltinckx. The pair fought valiantly, but lost each end by a narrow margin to finish in Silver position
U18 Recurve
Scottish pair Zac and Sarah opened against Wales, drawing the first end, but finishing a close second to GB-archer Saffron Knowles and her teammate Fflur Thomas. Shaking off the defeat, our young Scots took on Northern Ireland in the Bronze match and emerged victorious, beating Evie Barker and Ethan Mckinney 5-3.
Compound
With Olivia bravely shooting on alongside Cairn, England’s experienced pair of Maetha Edwards and Evan Clarke pushed Scotland into the Bronze match. However, not to be denied, they pushed on to win 131-90 against the duo representing Wales of Isabella Bruguier and Izzy Killin, taking Bronze for their efforts.
Barebow
Our barebow pairing of Kaitlyn and William were pitted against a strong English pair of Samuel Bowden and Alexis Williams but delivered great arrows to win through 6-2 and gained the chance to shoot for gold. In the final against Welsh pairing Jessica Lethbridge and Steffan Rayner Owen, the Scots showed real class to take the gold with another 6-2 win.
Overall Championship
With all Scottish archers medalling in their categories, it was a tense totting up before the Home Nations Cup was announced. Of the 12 medals available, Scotland and England took 4 each and so tied for first place, with the Cup awarded to England due to their 2 silvers to Scotland’s one. Second place and a great result for the team.
New Scotland U21 Team Manager, Keith Radigan, said, “Very proud of everyone today. The shooting was great; the atmosphere of the team was brilliant; and especially proud of those who shot the Home Nations. Given the time we had to bring a squad together, this is an amazing result. Also seeing all our archers medal made me even happier. This is a definite proud manager moment!”
A well done to all the archers competing and to new management team Keith Radigan and Lucy Coutts in their first event!
For full results from the event click here.
To view photos courtesy of Malcolm Rees from the event, click here.