The county team manager with the assistance of the selection committee and county committee are pleased to publish the procedures that will be followed in selecting all future teams to represent the county at all events.
The following is a list of some known typical submission dates
February indoor match – Dec 31st March field match – Jan 30th April outdoor match – February 28th June outdoor match – April 30th 4-Way field – June 20th National County Team – July 31st
If you want a Golden Records account in order to submit scores please send an email to records@archerykent.org.uk
Questions about the selection procedure should be addressed to the county team manager at captain@archerykent.org.uk
The Kent Field Archery events are open to all Kent Archery members.
You can pay for individual days at a cost of £5 per person or a years membership is available, the planned event on the 12th of November is the last this season.
Archers of any age or bow style are welcome so long as you are able to negotiate the woods, it can be slippery, muddy and you will need to climb up hills and over obstacles. Dress appropriately.
Located at Gore Wood, Pett Rd, near Sittingbourne, https://maps.app.goo.gl/7i4B3GeKDfJVAJ7V6.
If you wish to attend please notify KAF chairman Geoff Barker by emailing, kaf-chairman@archerykent.org.uk, this is especially important if juniors are attending to ensure the correct shooting distances are set out.
Kent judge Erin Barkway travelled to Archery GB headquarters today to sit and pass her county judges exam. Having taken and passed her practical exam at the Pocahontas Shoot at Gravesend Archers she is immediately promoted to county judge. Well done Erin we never doubted it.
We are always in need of judges. If its something you think you would be interested in trying judging we can arrange a taster day for You. Please contact the Judging Liason Officer at judges@scasarchery.org.uk
Following on from the SCAS test event last weekend the next Field day in Kent is on the 12 November 23.
If you want to try a different form of archery come and give it a go, you will need some sight marks from 10m to 60m and you shoot your normal equipment so no special kit required.
You will be paired with an experienced field archer who will giude you through the day.
On Sunday 15th October a team of 8 field archers from Kent attended a trial inter county field match. The match was hosted by Overton Black Arrows at their spectacular field venue on the side of the South Downs in Kingsclere, Hampshire.
Teams were to consist of mixed gender by bowstyle, Compound, Recurve, Barebow and English Longbow. Shooting for Kent, archers were chosen from those that had submitted field scores to the county, where:-
Compound :- Chris Horan and Bob Beaney, due to the latest of confirmation no ladies where available
Recurve : Oliver Sandor-Brown, no other recurves that had submitted scores were available
Barebow: Geoff Barker and Tom Williams
English Longbow: Colin Hind, Michael White and Lindsey Coates
The day started bright, cold and dry as teams from Kent, Hampshire and Sussex shot an initial 12 marked target ranking round.
After the ranking round archers were ranked in 1st, 2nd,3rd and 4th by bow style and county. Archers then shoot a 4 target head to head match against the similarly ranked archers and bow style from the other counties. After 2 targets the lowest scoring archer dropped out, if we had a tie then a single arrow shot off would have been required. After 3 targets the next lowest scoring archer dropped out leaving us with 2 archers to shoot the final target. points where awarded to each county depending on their placing after the head 2 head matches.
Because of the mixed number of archers available from each county, some matches included more than 1 archer from a county. The results for Kent where:
Longbow Match 1 – Michael White 1st
Longbow Match 2 – Lindsey Coates 1st, Colin Hind 2nd
Compound Match 1 – Chris Horan 2nd and Bob Beaney 3rd
Recurve Match 1 – Oliver Sandor-Brown 4th
Kent places 2nd behind Hampshire
Thank you to all those attended.
Keep an eye on this website for have ago field archery sessions next year as well as information about the Kent Field Archery days that are held at Gore Wood, near Sittingbourne during the outdoor season. Kent are actively trying to arrange inter county team field matches. To be in with a chance to compete in these submit your scores via Golden Record. If you don’t have a Golden Records account contact the Kent Records officer at records@archerykent.org.uk.
I just had the honour of representing GB at the European Archery 3D Championships in Italy.
For my first selection, my objectives were simple: gain experience and learn on a bigger stage, understand where I benchmarked and most importantly, enjoy it. I’ll start with the easy one – I LOVED every minute of it (except perhaps for the 5 am email informing me my flight home had been cancelled, but that’s a story for another time!).
A big part of that is thanks to proper prep, the top notch event organisation and a great Team Manager, which combined meant I could focus on shooting and nothing else.
Before the trip, I spent many hours with the kind help of fellow Kent archer Chris Horan, selecting and tuning my equipment and getting a spare bow set up. It’s key going out knowing your kit is as good as it can be and that you have a plan B should anything not go according to plan. As it turns out I didn’t need any of my spare kit, but knowing it was there and working well, gave me the peace of mind to focus on my shooting. And really that’s all it’s about, doing what you’ve done all year and replicating it on the big day.
And we’re off
I travelled to the event with my teammate Ian. We were met at the airport by one of the many volunteers and escorted to our waiting bus. Transport was sleek, organised by the local organisation committee with the help of the local police force.
Upon arrival we were met by Team Manager Mal Williams, and we then joined our teammates for dinner. Mal gave us a debrief on the schedule, what to expect and where to be and when. On an international trip, you will spend the majority of your time with your team. There are other teams in the same hotel, but you will eat, travel and practice predominantly with the same group of people all week. Your team becomes like a second family.
Official practice and equipment inspection
Day 1 was orientation for Ian, Jed and myself who travelled specifically for the 3Ds. The rest of the team (Mal, Vic, Tom, James and Ollie) also shot the WA field the previous week and already had their accreditations and knew what to expect. Our gazebo for the week was set up between France and Germany, we said our hellos and chatted about kit – and exchanged pin badges. Pin badges are a big thing in 3D. Everyone brings some to swap with their groups and give to the volunteers. It’s not uncommon to see volunteers and archers racing around to try and catch badges from (think Pokemon Go!).
After a quick photo, we picked up our accreditations and set up for official practice. The shoot is nearly 2,000 above sea levels so we expected some small impact to our marks as there’s less drag on the arrows at altitude so it was important to check everything was as it should be. I ended up adjusting my sight tape by half a metre.
During practice, each team was called to equipment inspection which is very much like any UK shoot. Sometimes the judges also check your bag and you can be asked but otherwise it’s all the same as what you can expect from a UK shoot.
After practice, to avoid dragging kit back and forth on the bus, I checked mine into bow storage before heading over to the official opening ceremony, shortly followed by a welcome bevvie and buffet.
Qualifications
Day 2 and 3 were qualification days. On my first day I was randomly assigned to a target with 3 other archers.
After the customary pin swap, we started on the more difficult of the two courses.
My target mates and I agreed to spot for one another. This isn’t a given, some archers prefer silence.
English is the official event language and we were required to use it when competing. The only 4 words we were required to know were good, bad, yes and no. Unlike with UK shoots, there are no tea breaks. You simply continue and dash to use the facilities dotted on the course.
I was very nervous and I didn’t relax properly until perhaps target 8. And this showed. My target mates and I had an equal mix of great and average shots, as well as misses. Unlike my fellow shooters, my lack of experience meant I struggled shaking off the bad shots and carried some of them with me onto the next target. This cost me a few points. I really enjoyed the course and was left a little disappointed with my score but overall I expected I would do better on the second qualification course.
The following day we were ranked according to our first score and put into different groups. We went back out onto our second course, the shorter and flatter of the two. Unfortunately a quarter of that course consisted of deer targets, which I have consistently struggled with all year. And I did once again. One mistake early on caused me to lose all confidence in my shot process, preferring to go for ‘safe’ shots rather than aiming square at the 11. I was left frustrated as a lot of my arrows actually landed where they were aimed, and If I’d simply trusted myself more, I would have had a better overall score.
Unlike other archers who were up on day 1, I was down. Still, it was all to play for as I was through to eliminations along with the rest of the GB team.
Eliminations
Ianseo worked its magic and assigned all of us into pools. Eliminations consists of 6 targets. You shoot your match and if you win, you stay and the next higher ranking archer joins you. There’s really all to play for, and it’s not uncommon for archers to work their way back up during eliminations – but it helps if you’ve done the hard work in qualification!
In my case it was over after the first match and I finished 15th.
Being knocked out in the first round meant I could focus on supporting my team mates and so I joined the big (and fairly noisy) crowd watching the rest of the matches.
If you want to see what it’s all about, the finals are available on World Archery’s YouTube channel . Matches on the finals field are shot over 4 targets, 5 if there’s a shoot off, and there were quite a few of those!
So what now?
I can’t say I’m not disappointed with my overall score, but it’s been a fantastic experience and it’s made me even more determined to improve and come back better.
Archers are a really friendly bunch and this is especially true of field archers. Irrespective of the country you represent, you’ll always find someone cheering for you and sharing tips and advice to help you progress. I have come home with some things to work on and some good advice.
3D is growing in popularity and it would be great to see more Kent archers give it a try. There are more and more courses available and taster sessions being organised across the country over the Winter. Check out the GB & NI Field Archery Facebook Group for more info about tasters and shoots.
This weekend, Exmouth Archers hosted the English Field Archery championship as part of their annual shoot near Exmouth, Devon.
The shoot consisted of a World Archery, 2 day mixed round, that is 24 targets, 12 with marked distances and 12 with un-marked distances, using the standard black and yellow field faces. Shooting 3 arrows per target, with scoring from 1 to 6. That means 72 arrows per round.
At the end of day 1, Chris, gents compound, lay 2nd with a score of 374, 1 point ahead of Hampshire’s John Foley.
At the end of day 2, Chris had stretched his lead over John to 16 points, cementing his 2nd place.
Congratulation Chris
All pictures courtesy of Chris Horan
Keep an eye on this website for have ago field archery sessions next year as well as information about the Kent Field Archery days that are held at Gore Wood, near Sittingbourne during the outdoor season. Kent are actively trying to arrange inter county team field matches. To be in with a chance to compete in these submit your scores via Golden Record. If you don’t have a Golden Records account contact the Kent Records officer at records@archerykent.org.uk.