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Welsh & Open Field Championships 2013
The 2013 Welsh & Open Field Archery Championships will be hosted by Llantwit Major Archers at their course at Fonmon Estate on 28th and 29th June. The club have stated that they will be operating on both courses over the weekend to give the competitors the best possible experience of the Fonmon slopes.
Archers are reminded that the Welsh Open Championship is fully open to all archers provided they are members of an IFAA affiliated governing body (EFAA England, SFAA Scotland, IFAF Rep of Ireland, NIFAA Northern Ireland). Only WFAA members will be eligible for the Welsh Championship titles.
There will be parking and toilet facilities at the course on both days and hot and cold food and drink will be available throughout.
To view the entry list, click here
For the accommodation list, click here
Welsh Field Masters Tour: Stage 2
With a long awaited day of warm weather finally arriving, the 2nd installment of the Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013 was well attended at Red Kite Field Archers' course near Broadoak, Carmarthenshire.
This year sees the tour take the format of the IFAA World and European Championships with a Marked Animal Round, 2 Hunter and 2 Field rounds. This tough new format was chosen for 2013 in response to requests from the membership for more competitive spot rounds and a requirement for more ranking status shoots.
With the Marked Animal Round having taken place during round 1, the Owain Glyndwr Shoot saw the first of the 2 Hunter rounds on the challenging slopes of the Red Kite course.
The WFAA would like to thank the members of Red Kite Field Archers for another excellent tournament with special thanks to those who did the catering. We would also like to thank the members and guests who supported the shoot.
Click here to view the results
For full details of the Welsh Field Masters Tour, click here
Click here to see the Leaderboard
Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013 Starts at Fonmon
The
Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013 kicked off with a Marked Animal round on Sunday 21st April at Fonmon Estate in the Vale of Glamorgan. This year's tour takes a different format to previous years and will mimic an EFAC/WFAC format with 2 Hunter rounds, 2 Field rounds and a Marked Animal round.
The St David Shoot saw the first outdoor shoot of the year to benefit from good weather conditions. With no wind and just occasional light rain scoring from some was high. Dave Home of Pentref Bowmen made the biggest splash scoring a maximum 360 to win both the first leg of the tour and the Fonmon 560 Plate.
Red Kite Winter Host First Shoot at New Course
Red Kite Field Archers' first shoot at their brand new course near Broad Oak, Carmarthenshire took place on 7th April. The shoot was well attended but the cold weather and blustery wind caused several archers some problems which was reflected across the board in the scorelines which were generally below par. The new course has been rated 3/5 on difficulty and the general consensus was that the competitors enjoyed pitting their wits against Cyril John's legendary course laying skills. Despite looking fairly straight forward, a good number of the targets proved to be more difficult than expected and the windy conditions made them even more challenging.
The WFAA General Committee would like to congratulate Cyril and the members of
Red Kite Field Archers on their new course and on hosting their first tournament at the new venue.Click here to view the results
Welsh Masters Pro Shoot Helpers Needed
The Doinker Welsh Masters Pro Tournament will be held at the new Dan-y-Darren course near Merthyr Tydfil on 14th September and the organisers are once again looking for a large number of volunteers to assist with running the tournament. As with the 2011 and 2012 tournaments, volunteers will be needed for scoring and other support roles to ensure that the tournament goes to plan.
This is the UK's premier professional field archery event and it will attract top profession archers from across the world. Archers who volunteer to help will get to meet some of the world's best shooters and see them doing what they do best.
Anyone who is interested in assisting at this tournament are requested to contact the organisers info@pro-archer.com
Silver Medal for Wales at World Championships
Welsh recurve archer Mat Symmonds took the silver medal at the
IFAA World Field Archery Championships 2012 which took place at Miramar, Argentina, from 28th October to 3rd November.
Left to Right: Willie Marr
(Scotland, Bronze), Timm Hines (USA, Gold) and Wales' Mat Symmonds
Mat Symmonds was the only archer representing Wales, and as at the 2008 World Championships, he was therefore managed by Team Scotland.
With the Argentinian summer fast approaching, high temperatures were anticipated. However, the first round saw damp and foggy conditions making the longer targets extremely challenging. This caused scores to drop across the board from those expected.
Foggy conditions during
Round 1
In the recurve division, there were several early challenges for the lead but US Archer Timm Hines eventually built a healthy lead to close out the first round, with Symmonds in second position and Willie Marr (Scotland) and Jan van Dyke (Netherlands) in joint third place.
It was all change for round 2 as the sun came out and temperatures quickly topped 90 degrees. After round 2, Hines had increased his lead in first place. Round 3, the animal round, saw Symmonds take a substantial early lead which he held throughout the round. However, he made two critical errors with a gradient cut and then incorrect sight mark on the last end which enabled Timm Hines to draw level.
Mat tackles a 60 yard shot
during Round 3
Rounds 4 and 5 saw some sublime shooting from former US National Champion to achieve a thoroughly well earned World Championship title. Meanwhile the Welshman managed to increase the gap between himself and 3rd placed archer Wille Marr to land the silver.
The WFAA General Committee wishes to offer special thanks to Team Scotland for taking care of our lone Welsh archer. We would also like to thank Glen Hardman, Daniel Ray and Alec James of the EFAA for stepping in the organisation of the courses at short notice. Thanks also to the several archers who assisted the host nation with final arrangements. Lastly, thanks to Linda Laichbury of the New Zealand Black Arrows for arranging the post tournament dinner.
Torrential Rain Blights Final Stage of Masters Tour
The fifth and final stage of the Welsh Field Masters Tour took place on Sunday 23rd September at Fonmon Estate in the Vale of Glamorgan. Hosted by Llantwit Major Archers, this one was hotly anticipated due to the challenge of the course and the high scoring nature of the Marked Forester round. However, in the event, the weather caused huge problems with torrential rain from the start.
Some 3 hours into the shoot and the butts began to saturate with rain water and some compound and recurve archers began to experience pass throughs. The decision was then taken to reduce the course from 28 to 14 targets due to safety concerns with both the butts and the underfoot conditions.
The WFAA General Committee congratulates the archers who braved the inclement weather to complete the tournament. We would also like to congratulate all of the 2012 Welsh Field Masters who earned their titles this year with several challenging stages, culminating in the Marked Forrester round at Fonmon in September. Well done all!
Welsh Masters Pro Shoot Showcases Wales
The Doinker Welsh Masters pro tournament took place for the second time at Canada Lake, Creigau on 21st and 22nd April. The 2011 tournament was met with rave reviews from the archers and supporters alike and it is safe to say that this year was even better received, putting Wales of the world map once again.
The tournament was run by A2TV, who streamed footage of the shooting on the internet throughout the weekend, drawing thousands of viewers from across the world.
There was a wide variety of archers from countries all over the world and the quality of shooting was very high. Whilst the pro shooters were well able to cope with the difficulty of the course, it was the very windy conditions that caused the more problems for them. That said, a number of archers coped with the conditions extremely well, recording high scores. The Gents Unlimited division was won by former World Champion Dave Cousins of the USA who shot superbly well throughout, making his experience count in windy conditions.
Lucy Holderness (left) of England and Linda Laichbury of
New
Zealand tackle a 60 yard shot over the lake during round 2
Ivan Buden of Croatia won the Ladies Unlimited group, again coping very well in very difficult shooting conditions. The WFAA General Committee wishes to congratulate Tony Goodwin and his staff at A2TV for an outstanding event. We also congratulate Geraint Thomas, who coordinated the course preparations. Lastly, thankyou to our members who volunteered to help with scoring and marshalling.
Canada Lake, Wales' most difficult field archery course
For results and more info on the tournament and European Pro archery, click here
UKIFAC 2013 Details Published
The SFAA have now issued full information on the
UK and Ireland Field Archery Championships 2013 (UKIFAC). The tournament will take place at the Cluny, Fife, in Scotland at the home of Forest Spirit Archers on 3rd and 4th August.The tournament has been fully subscribed for the past 6 years on the bounce and we fully anticipate that places for this year will also be in high demand. The hosts will be putting on 2 x 28 target courses with a capacity of approximately 220 archers which means that spaces will be at a premium. We therefore advise all Welsh archers who are intending to shoot the tournament to get their entries in without delay.
Members are also advised that we are planning to put on buses to get our members to the tournament subject to sufficient demand. However, we need to know well in advance how many people are interested so that we can get quotations accordingly. Can all archers who are interested in travelling by organised bus and hotel to the tournament, please email Mat Symmonds without delay so that we can get the ball rolling.
Welsh Squad Makes Steady Progress
The Welsh National Squad, '
the Ddraig', have made steady progress throughout the winter months with its members working hard on various aspects of their shooting in readiness for the start of the tournament season. Recent years has seen a surge in the quality of shooting by Welsh archers and this has been helped in no small measure by the work of our National Coach, Ray Howells, who has rolled out a range of initiatives to make our top archers even better.
This year's squad training sessions have featured a session devoted entirely to the Kisik Lee shot cycle, followed up by a fitness training weekend which was run by Lisa Power, a specialist fitness coach. The Squad members were also given a session to aid development of their training plans by Marian Howells. The final training weekend took place on 23rd and 24th of March at Red Kite's brand new course near Llandeilo. The weekend focused on all aspects of field craft and was attended by the European Bowhunter Champion, Chris Pleasants and Great Britain international, and former FITA World Champion, Jon Shales, both of whom shared their knowledge and experience with the members of the squad. Despite the bitterly cold weather on both days, the Squad members took the opportunity to practice slope shooting, gaps, distance judging and other aspects of field craft and soaked up the valuable insight provided by the distinguished guests.
On behalf of the General Committee and the National Coach, Ray Howells, I would like to thank Lisa, Marian, Chris and Jon for their valuable contributions to the Squad and the development of its members. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ray for his continued support and revolutionary approach to coaching which is making such a difference to the quality of Welsh archers on the international tournament circuit!
Mat Symmonds
Welsh Squad and Team Manager
Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013
Get ready for the 2013 Welsh Field Masters Tour. This year's tournament follows the same format as the World and European Championships with 2 hunter rounds, 2 field rounds and a marked animal round. With each round shot at a different course, the 2013 Tour promises to be another big challenge!
Are
you up to the Challenge?
Sad News
We regret to inform the membership of the passing of Tony Knowler. As an archer Tony gained legendary status for his abilities and he enjoyed a long and successful international career shooting for England. Tony was also a regular attendee of shoots here in Wales and was well known and well liked, and was a true character of our sport. Tony will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with his family and many friends at this time.
Archers Brave Arctic Conditions at Fonmon
The first outdoor shoot of the year took place at a bitterly cold Fonmon course on 24th February. With the temperature barely above freezing, the turnout was surprisingly good for the shoot which featured a Marked Forester round.
The still conditions made for some high scores and not surprisingly the groups did not take their time getting around the course!
The WFAA would like to thank Llantwit Major Archers for organising the shoot and preparing the course, with special thanks to Cath Trew who did a sterling job with the catering!
Geraint Shoots on Par at Nimes
Geraint Thomas, Wales' only entrant at the Nimes Professional Indoor Tournament this year, shot well on 19th January to finish in 53rd position in the qualifying round. With an extremely high standard at this year's tournament, scores were very high at qualification with more than 300 archers shooting in the Gents Unlimited division. Geraint was the sixth highest finishing British archer behind Liam Grimwood, Adam Ravenscoft, James Bingham and Colin Geenes, all of England and Alistair Whittingham of Scotland.
Welsh & Open Indoor Championships 2013
Sponsored by Wales Archery
Specialist
Following last year's success, the
Welsh & Open Indoor Championships 2013 once again took place at the home of Pentref Bowmen, at Ton Pentre, Rhondda.This year once again saw a full compliment of archers and a number of new Welsh records were set. As per previous years, there was also a number of archers who made the journey from England and Scotland, making it a truly international affair.
The WFAA General would like to congratulate Neil Bowdler, Emily Williams and Neil Vodden for their superb organising and management of the tournament. We would also like to thank Pentref Bowmen for hosting the tournament and Kath Trew for running the refreshments. Lastly, we would like to thanks Wales Archery Specialist for sponsoring the event.
Click here to view the results
Wales' First Level 1 Coaches Get Qualified
The WFAA General Committee congratulates the first of our home grown IFAA Level 1 Coaches who gained their qualification at the first coach training weekend at Llanharan, south Wales.
The National Director for Training and Coaching in Wales, Ray Howells, together with Marian Howells, ran the very first coach training weekend at the home of Blandy Jenkins Archers on 15th and 16th September. The Level 1 course is designed to enable coaches to take on beginners and get them started in the sport. The course included all aspects of bringing on beginners, including safety aspects, range layout, coaching techniques and identifying and resolving common challenges that beginners face when taking up the sport.
The successful coaches with the National Coach, Ray Howells
Left to right: Nathan Trew, Patrick Norris, Nigel
Kent, Bridget Midwinter, Brian Saunders, Ray Howells, Barbara Johnston,
Stuart Barrett-Rees, Mat Symmonds, Rick Preece, Angela Holdford, Bob
Marriott
Ray himself became Wales' first IFAA coach when he attended and qualified as a Level 4 Master Coach at the Easton Centre in Dakota, USA last year. The intervening time has seen Ray and Marian working hard behind the scenes to get the Level 1 course organised and arranged. The weekend of the 15th and 16th September saw the culmination of that effort as 11 club coaches arrived for the course. We are pleased to announce that all of those who attended passed the course.
We would like to congratulate all of those eager coaches who attended the course and completed it successfully. We would also like to offer congratulations to Ray and Marian on a job well done!
The Hungarian Archery Association have launched the official website for the IFAA European Field Archery Championshps 2013. The tournament will be held from 9th to 13th July at Sopron, Hungary.
UK & Ireland Field Archery Championships
The
UK & Ireland Field Archery Championships was hosted by England this year at Kings Forest Bowmen's courses at Wordwell, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.With no wind and very little rain over the weekend the Championships managed to dodge the bad weather that affected most of the rest of the UK and the competitors enjoyed near perfect shooting conditions. It was not therefore surprising that there were some very high scores at this year's event.
Team Wales at UKIFAC 2012
A number of Welsh archers finished in the medals for an all round good weekend for Wales. Unfortunately, we were outmatched in the Home Nations Team Event with Wales finishing in third place. The finishing positions of the team were:
Geraint Thomas, AMFU 1st, Champion
Claire Hamilton-Jones AFFU, 4th
Dave Home, AMFU (c), 7th
Colin Ketley, AMFU, 14th
Langdon Davies, VMFU, DNF
Susan Davies, VFFU, DNF
Mat Symmonds AMFSR, 2nd, Silver
Richard Doore AMFSR, 5th
Nathan Trew AMFSR, 7th
Peter Hatherley AMFSR, 8th
Dave Gray AMFSR, 11th
Chris Gray, JMFSR, 1st, Champion
Paul Watson, AMBBR, 2nd, Silver
Mike Lawson, VMBHR, 2nd, Silver
Sandra Russell, AFHB, 1st Champion
Graham Anderson, AMHB, 3rd, Bronze
Mike Mattingley, AMHB, 4th
Sally Mattingley, AFHB, 5th
Elise Mattingley, JFLB, 2nd, Silver
Anna Ritchie, JFLB, 3rd Bronze
Kathryn Mattingley, CFLB, 1st, Champion
The WFAA General Committee congratulates the team for doing Wales proud!
Click here to view the full results sheet
Classification Cards
The IFAA had advised that archers will henceforward be required to produce their classification cards at all international tournaments, including bowhunter and indoor championships. This requirement is now being enforced because your classification card is your record of achieved scores and it demonstrates competency. We will therefore be asking archers to produce their classification cards at all regional and national level tournaments and at classification/club shoots. Please remember that if you cannot produce your classification card, you will not be permitted to shoot.
Anyone who has misplaced their classification card must contact the Membership Secretary and request a replacement.
Interested in starting archery?
Are you up to the Challenge?
Upcoming Tournaments:
The
Cartel Classic Pro Shoot
Mullenborn, Germany
June 22nd - 23rd
Welsh Field Champs
Fonmon, Vale of Glamorgan
June 29th - 30th
Recent Results:
Broad Oak, Carmarthenshire
May 15th
Fonmon, Vale of Glamorgan
April 21st
Broad Oak, Carmarthenshire
April 7th
Fonmon Winter Shoot
Fonmon, Vale of Glamorgan
February 24th
Welsh & Open Indoor Championships 2013
Glyncornel Centre, Rhondda
January 13th
Welsh & Open Championships
Fonmon, Vale of Glamorgan
April 28th - 29th
The Fonmon Challenge
Fonmon,
Vale of Glamorgan
March 25th
The Dinefwr Winter Shoot
Llanwrdda, Carmarthenshire
February 26th
The Red Kite Winter Shoot
Broad Oak, Carmarthenshire
January 29th
Welsh & Open Indoor Champs
Pentref Bowmen
January 16th
Features and Info:
Professional Field
Archery in
Europe
Last Update 27.05.2013