Competition Review - June 2024

For the first time ever the Junior Archery Series The North hosted by the West of Scotland Archery Association was held in Scotland at the Riverside Sports Arena in Ayr. This was Stage 3 of the Junior Series; the aim of the series is to give the juniors a platform like the senior National Tour Events where a qualification round is shot in the morning and Head to Heads are shot in the afternoon.

With a total of 63 junior archers competing including the Scottish U21 Team and representatives of the GBR Team present along with club archers from across the UK shooting Recurve or Compound bow styles. Shay Boyd from Largs Juniors commented that “it was good to have a national competition so close to home'’.  On the Sunday, the 2024 West of Scotland Open Outdoor Championships took place.  You can read the full article here as well link to the results. The fourth out of five stages of the 2024 Junior Archery Series took place at York Archers Society’s grounds.  A total of 80 youth archers travelled to York on 15 June, with just a few deterred by the forecasted thunderstorms.  Read the full round up from ArcheryGB here.  Next up, the fifth and final stage of the Series will take place on 17 August at Wallingford Castle Archers.

On the 8th & 9th June, student archers travelled down to Lilleshall National Sport Centre to compete in the BUCS Outdoor Championships.  Day 1 was Head to Heads and WA900 on Day 2.  A total of 22 students competed across three institutions: Edinburgh University Archery Club (EUAC), University of St Andrew’s Archery Club (USTA) and Dundee University Archery Club (DUAC).  There was quite a bit of success across all the various categories.  EUAC’s Jake Walsh picked up two golds and Xiangun Kong was not far behind clinching a Bronze in the Compound Experience Men category.    EUAC teammate in Novice category Gordon Bratt took double gold closely followed by USTA’s John Hamilton who took Silver. 

Natasha Homer of EUAC picked up Silver & Bronze in the Recurve Experienced Women category.  This was followed with podium places for EUAC archers -  Aleksandra Piperkova (Gold & Silver – Recurve Novice Women) and Ben Moore (Two Silvers – Longbow Novice Men).  Josephine Stewart of USTA continued the consistent form from the BUCS indoors and secured Bronze in the Compound Experienced Women.  DUAC’s William Anderson had a successful weekend with Gold and Silver in the Barebow Novice Men category; with fellow DUAC archer Hannah Grey managing to take the Bronze in the Barebow Novice Women category.

Well done all the competitors and some fantastic scores and looks like a great weekend!  To view results click here and photos, you can view them here.

On the same weekend the Northern Area Double York/Hereford and NA Outdoor Championships took place in Banchory which was a Rose status event.  Big thanks to the Northern Area for organising and to the judges and volunteers.  You can view the results here. 

On 15th & 16th June, Bannockburn Bowmen Clout Weekend Open & Club Championships took place at Strathallan Games Field, Bridge of Allan in Stirling.  Really interesting to see this form of archery being available thanks to Bannockburn Bowmen.  Clout archery is an ancient form of archery that was used as military training in the Middle Ages. The target is the clout, which is a small flag on a vertical stick, stuck in the ground and placed up to 160 metres away  There was a contrast of weather between both Saturday and Sunday but this did not deter from the efforts from all the competitors.  This was a Scottish Record Status event and also an opportunity for tassel award claims along with some record claims too.  The Best Clout The Heather Urquhart Memorial trophy went to Edwin Jones measured on the 6th end of Day 2 at a distance of 4 inches.  Well done to all the competitors, organisers, volunteers and judges.  To view the results, click here.

Coming into July and August, there are some more competitions taking place:

·        13th & 14th July - Northern Area Double FITA Star

·        20th July – Scottish National Tour Stage 3

·        21st July – Scottish Outdoor Championships

·        17th & 18th August – Bannockburn Bowmen Open Competition

·        24th & 25th August – Scottish Tour Stage 4

·        31st August - 2024 Perth & Kinross Disability Sport Archery Championships

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.