Recurve and Longbow Saturday was Recurve and Longbow day, and Archery GB’s Penny Healey set a new World Record for the U18 Women’s Recurve round with a score of 687 in qualifying. In the head-to-heads top seeds Penny Healey and Lewis Bodkin of Audco Archers won the U18 Women and U14 Men Recurve categories, respectively. James Woodgate of Woking Archery Club won the U21 title 6-4 by a single point after finishing second in qualifying, also by a single point. Wallingford Castle Archers’ Ellie Wortley overcame a 49-point deficit from qualifying to depose the top seed and win the U12 Recurve Ladi ..read more

Barebow The first match to open the day’s shooting was the gold final between barebow women Helen Brown and Kim Doherty. For end one and end two, Helen shot two consecutive 23s to Kim’s consecutive 22s to take the match to 4-0. They then tied the third end on 21s, bringing the set points to 5-1. Kim then shot a 22 to Helen’s 21 to bring back two set points. In the final end, a tie on 23 apiece was enough for Helen to take the match to 6-4, naming her the first barebow women champion of The National Tour Final. Onto the barebow men’s gold final, we saw Ralph Barwise shoot against Wilco van Klee ..read more

Recurve Men The morning session of day one of The National Tour Finals saw the top eight recurve men fight it out for the coveted title. Up first were the quarter final rounds, starting with the match between 1st ranked archer James Woodgate and 8th ranked Tom Hall. Tom got off to a flying start, opening the match with a 29 to James’s 26, taking the first lot of set points. James then responded in end two with a 29 to Tom’s 28, bringing scores all square at two points apiece. Both men then tied the third end on 28s to keep the points equal at 3-3. In the fourth end, James shot 18 points to whi ..read more

W1 Open W1 Open man Martin Saych faced Hungary’s Tamás Gáspár in the gold final. Both archers opened the match with 26 points, followed by another 26 from Gáspár and a 27 from Martin. Gáspár came back in the third end with a 29 to Martin’s 28 to bring the match to all square on 81-81. In the fourth end, Martin gained a four point lead by shooting a 28 end to the Hungarian’s 24. A 26 in the final end was enough for Martin to beat Gáspár’s 25, finishing the match on 135-130 to take the gold medal.  “It’s an amazing day, and just the feeling of shooting in the UK is great. I’m just so happy ..read more

Six team members made it through the top 22 cut following the two qualification days with Jed Cullen in the Traditional men’s category taking the top spot and qualifying in 1st place. Scores from the two days of qualification also ensured that Sarah Monteith and Jed Cullen made it into the top 4 of the Traditional Mixed Team event, eventually finishing in 4th place following two hard fought matches. Success came for Jed Cullen in the form of the Silver medal, his final match against Klaus Grunsteidl of Austria for the Gold medal ended in a 1 point deficit by the narrowest of margins. In the sa ..read more

A number of athletes were keen to talk about the effect of the event, and the impact it’s had on their archery careers. Daniel O’Connor, member of Bromyard Bowmen and previous Invictus Games competitor, attended the Disability Games a few years ago as a Novice. This year, he returned as a Senior. “It’s really helpful to come to this event. Everyone’s competing against each other, but at the same time you’re talking to more people in the community who are in the same position as you.” Daniel, who went on to win bronze in the Recurve Men (Unclassified) category, spoke about how the day was a “l ..read more

Coordinator Shannon Russell Cowan and volunteers from City of Belfast came together to deliver the first hour and half session aimed at young men invited by the charity Migrant Help. Sessions will continue for six weeks. “It was one of the most enjoyable and humbling archery sessions I have ever attended,” says Lisa Wheeler, AGB’s Regional Development Coordinator for NI. “Everyone there really got into the spirit of things, and it didn’t take long for a winner to appear in the fun competition to be the first to get gold. We have a really fun and competitive group.” The attendees on the night ..read more

There are two routes open to young compound archers: The Youth Development Compound Squad is for archers that show the potential to reach international standards. This could be based either on your current score level or evidence of your commitment. The Youth National Compound Squad will consist of archers we feel are ready for international competition. The support the squads will receive reflects where the archers are on their journeys. How do I apply for the Youth Development or National Compound Squads? If you wish to be considered for either of the youth squads, you’ll need to complete ..read more

On Friday 26 August, Radley College in Oxford held the 2022 European Transplant & Dialysis Games’ archery event. With outstanding performances from all our archers, archery helped the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team top the Games’ medal table. Archery added 10 medals to the GB & NI medal count: four golds, three silvers and three bronzes. Donna Barrington-Smith of Reigate Priory Bowmen (RPB) was responsible for one of those gold medals after an excellent performance at the Games. RPB shared: “We’re all very proud of Donna and her achievements in Transplant Sport over the years ..read more

“I see the NTDP as probably one of the biggest benefits of Archery GB membership for youth archers. The archers get a full day of coaching and fitness training, with additional sessions on nutrition and mental preparation. This is invaluable for those archers who really want to improve.” – 2021/22 Youth NTDP parent. The Youth NTDP provides bimonthly training days for young recurve and compound archers at four regional centres across England (north, south and central) and Northern Ireland. The programme provides specialist technical coaching as well as a wide range of athlete development suppor ..read more